Universal Truths Missed in "Into the Wild" and "Fight Club"
DISCLAIMER: The following blog is a commentary on the 1996 novel Into the Wild and 1999 film Fight Club. Readers who are not well-versed in these items are expected to dedicate the next twenty-four hours to correcting this fact. Furthermore, this blogger is willing to break the first rule in fight club—to not talk about fight club—for science. Please proceed with caution of HEAVY TOPICS and SPOILERS.
INTRODUCTION
On September 6, 1992, Christopher Johnson McCandless was discovered by moose hunters in the Alaskan wilderness. Dead. McCandless, also known by his pseudonym “Alexander Supertramp,” was an American adventurer who favored a simplistic, nomadic lifestyle. Moreover, he was the main focus in Jon Krakauer’s controversial bestseller Into the Wild (1996) which outlined McCandless’ worldly perspectives and the events that led him to the final months of his life. Into the Wild is considered by many to be a modern classic.
Published that same year was Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club (1996), which detailed the experiences of an insomniac office worker known solely as “the Narrator” by readers. Palahniuk’s novel was later adapted into an American film starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. In the film, the Narrator encounters Tyler Durden, the defiant manifestation of the Narrator’s subconscious, who partners in the creation of an underground fighting ring for men bored with their lives.
While Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction novel and the movie directed by David Fincher have stark differences, both items serve as a commentary on cultural norms in America and share themes of individualism. The real-life Christopher McCandless and the make-believe Narrator in Fight Club diverge from societal expectations to pursue real or “raw” experiences, both to escape comfort.
SOCIETY CONDITIONS SECURITY
Firstly, in a letter from McCandless to his acquaintance, Ronald Franz, he reasons that “[s]o many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future” (Krakauer 57). Here, McCandless addresses the expectations of modern culture, namely, the expectation of obtaining a stable occupation and livelihood. He advocates that the security modern culture conditions people for is detrimental to youthful vigor. According to McCandless, Ronald Franz is a product of the society he lives in—stubborn, comfortable, and lacking the initiative to seize the life he desires.
The Narrator reaches a similar revelation after losing his condo and material possessions to a fire. In Lou’s Tavern, where the secret fight club is later established, he reasons to Tyler Durden: “You buy furniture. You tell yourself: this is the last sofa I'll ever need. No matter what else happens, I've got the sofa issue handled. Then, the right set of dishes. The right dinette.” Tyler responds, “This is how we fill up our lives [...] And, now it's gone” (Fight Club 29:23). Before this scene, the Narrator led a life of comfort, conformity, and excessive consumerism, much like Ronald Franz. Tyler Durden and Christopher McCandless are conscious of how societal norms influence the individual and choose to abandon the American Dream of financial security.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRUTHS EXCEED MATERIAL CULTURE
Amid a society that conditions both security and conformity, the pursuit of philosophical truths is dramatically undervalued. An excerpt of Robinson Jeffers’s poem, “Wise Men in There Bad Hours,” that McCandless tore from a memoir, reads, “Death's a fierce meadowlark: but to die having made [s]omething more equal to the centuries [t]han muscle and bone, is mostly to shed weakness” (Krakauer 199). Essentially, this verse communicates that the most valuable feats reach past what is human. It embodies the thrill of life that McCandless sought—raw and uncomfortable, which are so unlike a civilization that romanticizes stability. Jeffers empathizes that this lifestyle will strengthen one’s character, shedding weakness such as insecurity, temptation, and guilt. The excerpt advocates for individuals to expand past the walls of societal expectations and scourge the world for something timeless. All in all, Diana Saverin explains how “It is less acceptable to take chances in search of a more philosophical way of life” as opposed to merely living from the land. In addition to discomfort, the nomadic, self-discovery life is oftentimes associated with homelessness, starvation, drugs, and debt. Put simply, the life McCandless pursued is associated with failure. This prompts the question of what a firm sense of identity is worth. To Christopher McCandless, it was worth more than his life.
After calling their generation “slaves with white collars,” Tyler Durden claims: “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact” (Fight Club 1:10:11).
“YOU’RE NOT YOUR F*****G KHAKIS”
Both Into the Wild and Fight Club reveal a profound truth about modern American society: the pursuit of comfort and security often comes at the cost of living authentically. While McCandless sought his truth in the wilderness and the Narrator found his through Tyler Durden's anarchistic philosophy, challenging the notion that material possessions lead to personal fulfillment. Their rejection of societal norms—though expressed through drastically different means—underscore a shared revelation that the standardized path of security, conformity, and consumerism can suffocate the human spirit's innate desire to know oneself and experience true life.
Fight Club. Directed by David Fincher, Fox 2000 Pictures, New Regency Productions, Linson Films, Atman Entertainment, Knickerbocker Films, and Taurus Film, 15 Oct. 1999.
Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. 1996. New York, Anchor Books, 13 Jan. 1996.
Saverin, Diana. “The Chris McCandless Obsession Problem.” Outside Online, 18 Dec. 2013, www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/destinations/north-america/chris-mccandless-obsession-problem/.
