Into the Wild

1. Intitial impression: I don't really like this book so far, although i find the plot and character of Chris of be interesting, i don't like the writing style. It is too impersonal and documentary-like to engage me so far.
2. I would describe Chris as resistant. The whole book is a consequence of him resisting society and the normality. He resists, obviously, by running off to live in the wilderness.
3.Themes: I definitly think that social conformity is a huge theme in this book. As i mentioned before, Chris defies his parents and their desire for him to conform and adherr to an socially "acceptable" way of life. He shows great independence in his ability to break free of society, because most people feel that society presents them with a comforting sense of routine and security. In my opinion, it is amazing that Chris is able to break all physical and emotional ties that he has to society.
4. Text-to-test: This book sort of reminds me of "Catcher in the Rye" because, similar to how Chris attempts to escape the limitations of society, Holden runs away from school in hopes of escaping the conformity(and adult world) that it represents.
5.Test-to-life: I had a similar experience to Chris's wilderness travels. When i was 11 my family went camping with my cousins, and one day my cousin Danny and i decided to go exploring. We climbed of the hiking paths and explored the forest, but it wasn't long before we got lost. Eventually we were lucky enough to stumble upon a farmiliar hiking trail and we followed that home.This reminds me of when chris is taken off his original path by the flash floods, and he ends up in a place he doesn't recognize.
6.Text-to-world comparison: "Into the Wild" can be compared to the real world because i believe that everyone has a small part of them that secretly wishes they could do what Chris does. Everyone wonders what it would be like to leave everything behind and go start annew. I imagine that if a person was actually able to feed themselves and provide for their basic needs, then the feeling of being cut off from society, and limitations, and rules would be quite liberating.