Escaping Society: A Response to Krakauer's "Into the Wild"

The commencing anecdote to Krakauer's "Into the Wild" defines wilderness as an "escape from society."  I can't help but to question why, in most of our readings, the main characters have felt the urge to escape from society, into the wild.  In regarding "Into the Wild" and Kipling's "The Jungle Book," I've boiled this universal longing to escape society to one main cause: structure within many aspects of society.

It is evident that Chris in "Into the Wild," yearns to escape education's structure.  He has the option to continue into law school free of charge, however he feels the need to shatter education's structure to pursue a more liberating existence "west of Atlanta," to "invent an utterly new life for himself... free to wallow in unfiltered experience, [to be] master of his own destiny."  Evidently, Chris regards education as a very filtered experience, thus he seeks to break away from this institution and into the unknown.

Mowgli, in "The Jungle Book," seeks to escape two fairly opposite, yet structured societies: the "Man-Pack" and the "Wolf-Pack."  Each of these societies has a defined way of operating, subsequently resulting in inevitable structure.  Mowgli becomes an outcast as a result of rigid structure within both societies, and consequently escapes into the wild, claiming "Man-Pack and Wolf-Pack have cast me out.  Now I will hunt alone in the Jungle."

There you have it.  Society is inevitably structured.  Those who can't handle the structure choose the path of least resistance: they escape to the wild.  You know what they say... if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.  Chris and Mowgli obviously can't stand the heat...

Emotional Roller Coaster Ride: A Response to Bellow's "Henderson the Rain King"

While reading this chapter from Bellow's "Henderson the Rain King," I was greatly affected by Gene, the protagonist's, many displays of emotion.  It was as if I was riding on an emotional roller coaster with him during his journey.  First, there were several times throughout the text wherein I questioned Gene's sanity.  He sounds completely illogical while on the plane to Africa when he says, "and I dreamed down at the clouds, and thought that when I was a kid I had dreamed up at them, and having dreamed at the clouds from both sides as no other generation of men has done, one should be able to accept his death very easily."  This phrase just does not sound coherent; Gene sounds schizophrenic talking about clouds and death in the same sentence.  I also questioned Gene's sanity when he decided to burn a bush to amuse children;  it doesn't seem sane to attempt to compensate not having a gift by destructing nature.

Now, for Gene's emotions.  It is clear that Gene pities himself.  He feels detached from the world and expresses that "the world was glad to lose track of [him] too for a while."  Gene also blames himself for circumstances that do not even concern him.  When a young woman, reminiscent of his daughter, begins to cry in front of him, Gene immediately and unthinkingly attributes her sorrow to his doing.  He goes as far as to say "[I shall] run back into the desert and stay there until the devil has passed out of me and I am fit to meet human kind again without driving it to despair at the first look."  This is a little excessive and dramatic...  Gene completely misconstrues others' emotions.  Gene also possesses an air of self-defeat.  As a result of his perceived detachment from society as well as his tendency to constantly blame himself, it is the path of least resistance for him to simply give up.  He displays self-defeat after the episode of the young girl bursting into tears when he expressed, "I was still not ready for society.  Society is what beats me."  Self-pity, self-blame, and self-defeat; definitely an emotional roller coaster ride with Gene Henderson.

A Response to 'Let the Right One In'

I have never been one to jump at the opportunity to watch a horror film.  After watching "Let the Right One In," my preference to avoid horror films remains steadfast.  I found myself constantly cringing in fright at the gory scenes, as well as questioning the educational institution Oskar attended.  Why would the school inform innocent children about house fires, murders, and drugs.  It is clear that as a result of being surrounded by murder and violence, Oskar, himself, is a violent soul.  It is not often that a 12-year old boy is emphatically obsessed with murder and knives to the point where he constantly carries a knife with him in his pocket.  He is so preoccupied with violence, in fact, that he keeps somewhat of a diary to document murders and weaponry.  Odd.  I found it especially surprising that Oskar was not initially able to stand up for himself in the face of the ruthless school bullies, given his inclination toward violence.  When he does eventually defend himself from the bullies, albeit a violent episode, Oskar demonstrated unwavering strength that had been boiling in his coveted blood.  This sudden spurt of confidence can be attributed to one entity: his vampire love interest, Eli.       

I did notice a resemblance between "Let the Right One In" and the 2008 vampire flick, "Twilight."  Both films incorporated a storyline of romance that provided a rather tender outlet apart from the more horrifying film aspects.  One scene I found particularly sweet and innocent was that in which Oskar gave Eli his Rubix Cube.  A Rubix Cube symbolizes innocence in it that it is a childhood toy and in that it is colorful, rather than bleak and gray.  Although Eli represents the furthest thing from innocence, this moment is arguably one of the only scenes throughout the movie that displays qualities uncharacteristic of horror films.