We had to watch Into the Wild for another one of my classes this week, American Autobiographies. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the film at all, given the conflicting reviews I had heard from other people. I was actually struck by how much I did enjoy the movie. The most poignant thing I walked away with was this: Nature could not care less about humans. We make ourselves out to be such amazing creatures, so complicated and violent. But when we are pitted against nature and nature alone, we will never win. We have become ingrained into civilized society for long that most of us would not know the first thing about surviving in a completely desolate area. Animals are raised from birth with the understanding of their space on the food chain. They learn first-hand what they need to do to survive through blazing hot seasons and freezing winters. Humans truly are not built to withstand such a torment.
The character Alex would never have been able to survive in Alaska had he not stumbled upon an abandoned van pre-built with the homey comforts necessary to continue living in such an environment. Personally, when he walked into the van, my first thought was “Thoreau could have lived in there.” We, just the other day in class, were shown photos of what Thoreau’s cabin would have looked like during his stay at Walden Pond. So when Alex came across the van, I was struck by its similarity to Thoreau’s living quarters.
Towards the beginning of his stay in Alaska, Alex takes his rifle and goes hunting for food. At first, he can only seem to kill squirrels and small game. Then he happens across a moose but refuses to shoot it once he notices there is a baby following after. This is all well and good, but Alex refuses to see the harsh conditions in which he lives and refuses to note himself as an animal, equal to the moose. Any large predator out in nature would not have hesitated to kill that moose for food. It’s an instinct and it’s necessary calories to survive. But Alex doesn’t see this and lets the food get away. However, much later in the film, he shoots a very large moose and does his best to take it apart and eat it before the insects come, just like he was taught. Yet he fails miserably and states that he deeply regrets shooting the moose, that it was his biggest mistake. Nature won. The maggots and flies got to the moose before Alex could properly prepare the food to eat. Once he gave up, the wolves and birds moved in to eat the rest.
At the end of his journey, Alex has deemed his experiment finished and tries to make his way back home. Due to his lack of natural experience and knowledge of the area, springs comes upon Alex quickly and traps him in. The small creek he passed through in winter is now a raging river in springtime. There’s no way Alex can safely traverse the waters and he finds himself trapped without food and without escape. To salvage what food he can, he uses a book he has of the natural flora and fauna to find leaves and berries. Yet, nature wins again. He doesn’t know enough about the area to distinguish two similar leaves. He doesn’t have the instincts of other animals and eats the inedible wild potato root. The seeds are poisonous and affect his system in such a way that he can no longer digest food. He starves to death alone in the tundra.
It’s a shockingly harsh reality that we can never win. We’re not suited for any real “wild” lifestyle. Without years of experience or years of study, most of humanity would not be able to make it out there. And yet somehow, we’re still disrespectful towards this amazing, powerful Earth.
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