Picture 1: an old man lost in thought.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/littleboyfound/121066646/in/set-715335/
Uploaded on March 31, 2006
“When Alex left for Alaska, I prayed. I asked God to keep his finger on the shoulder of that one; I told him that boy was special. But he let Alex die. So on December 26, when I learned what happened, I renounced the Lord. I withdrew my church membership and became an atheist. I decided I couldn’t believe in a God who would let something that terrible happen to a boy like Alex.” (p60)
This photograph shows an older gentlemen deep in contemplation. The quote that the picture matches was so vivid and tragic to me that I had to find a picture to go along with it. Franz, the old man, wound up being such a sad figure of hope in the novel to me: he had nothing for so long, then found Alex, whom he considered like a son. When Alex sent him his last letter imploring him to abandon his life and go out on the road, Franz, so enamored with Alex’s personality, chose to actually do so. The picture depicts the thoughts that Franz may have had when deciding to leave the church: if you look closely, you can actually see prayer beads in the old man’s hands. Ultimately, Alex and Franz are alike in several ways. They both can be impulsive and rash, and make irrational decisions, and make huge changes in their lives without thinking about the consequences.
Picture 2: Beat up.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoneth/117109413/
Uploaded on March 24, 2006
by Stoneth
“Can this be the same Alex that set out in July, 1990? Malnutrition and the road have taken their toll on his body. Over 25 pounds lost. But his spirit is soaring.” (p37)
This quote simply jumps off the page when I read it. It seems to capture Alex’s state of mind perfectly and lets the reader know that despite his ailments, at least at this point, he is still finding all his troubles worthwhile. The reality, of course, is that he was found dead in his sleeping bag, starved to death. I feel that this picture embodies the ironic truth of Alex’s condition: despite his philosophical ruminations and the transcendental state he felt he was in, he couldn’t transcend the fact of hunger and the ravages of the wild. The man’s face (who happens to be homeless) is simply trashed by his existence, and the grimace on his face might denote happiness or madness.
Picture 3: A post in the sea, surrounded by fog.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ichor/129760324/
Uploaded April 16, 2006
by Ichor
“When his camera was ruined and McCandless stopped taking photographs, he also stopped keeping a journal, a practice he didn’t resume until he went to Alaska the next year. Not a great deal is known, therefore, about where he traveled after departing Las Vegas in May 1991.” (p38)
Despite all that we know about McCandless through his letters, the people he met, and the speculation of professional mountain climbers / writers, there is so much that we do not. He is still a mystery to me at least, and when the assistance that he provides us from beyond the grave is gone (namely, his journal and pictures), we are left at a loss. He seemed so free and unencumbered by life that he literally could have done anything in that period and not have been out of character. I chose this photo because it both embodies the mystery of this missing time from our McCandless timeline and it metaphorically represents the hazy, aimless goals that Alex may or may not have had for himself.
Picture 4: One fat happy baby and his family.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilli/100700873/Â
Uploaded February 16, 2006
“It’s somewhat surprising that Chris ceded to pressure from Walt and Billie about attending college when he refused to listen to them about so many other things. But there was never a shortage of apparent contradictions in the relationship between Chris and his parents.” (p115)
Chris McCandless had a terrible relationship with his parents, and he did the unthinkable: he completely deserted them without warning or consideration. He may have hated his parents, but he also abandoned his beloved sister. The photo, by contrast, shows a happy homely couple with their laughing baby. This is ironic in part because of the testy relationship that developed between McCandless and his parents, but it may in part be appropriate because it recalls a time when the family was happy together. I can only assume Chris didn’t hate his folks from the womb and that he learned his distaste later on in his life. Lastly, the fat baby in the photo stands in direct contrast to Chris’ characterization of “hungry” throughout the entirety of the book.
Synthesis: I really enjoyed exploring the two different worlds of photography and creative writing. The most interesting thing was being able to explore and find new interpretations of text which I would have never attempted or thought of without this assignment. Oftentimes when reading, I develop a mental image in my mind of the subject at hand: oftentimes I am severely disappointed by an adaptation of a book to another form (say, a movie or a play), because I had such a strong idea of what it should be like. By finding photos that aren’t attempting to replicate exactly the original idea, however, the similarities are more readily noticed and the differences (from where their photos diverge from the text or from my ideas of the text) are not as important.
In terms of quotes, I didn’t really knock myself out thinking of captions, but the quotes themselves do a wonderful job of describing the photos (not only mine, but all of these). By taking the quote out of context, we run the risk of deceiving the reader which will in turn alienate them, but this may be worth it to the novelist to make the story more exciting or attract more readers to his story.
I agree, I think McCandless is still a mystery because of all the things that are not mentioned in Krakauer’s short book. There is so much detail left out, which creates this gray & hazy perception of McCandless. I think the picture (picture 3) fits the quote nicely. I feel it could also somewhat represent the whole book Into the Wild. After noticing how freely Krakauer manipulated information and used intertextual references to create his desired image of Alex’s expedition, my perception of the book has somewhat become hazy.
About Alex’s goals, I would agree that his physically conceivable goals were hazy in the sense that he did not exactly know what he wanted to do in the wild. But I think that the mental state/satisfaction that he wanted to get was not hazy. I think he knew what he wanted; he just didn’t know how to achieve it.
I really enjoyed the first two pictures that you used. The first one, of Franz, seems especially fitting. I found that particular part of the novel very compelling; the fact that the old man became so attached to Chris and would do almost anything for him. To me, this really personalized Chris’ story because his journey didn’t just affect him anymore, but it also had serious implications on the old man’s life. I view the image you have chosen as a very keen depiction of what Franz might have looked like after being broken by the death of McCandless and moving into the wild himself.
I didn’t know what kind of a picture to expect after reading your second caption and was kind of shocked by what appeared. I never really thought of Chris as being that dirty, but I guess he probably had to be at some point. The image ractually changed how I view McCandless. Even close to the time of his death, for some reason, I pictured a guy who was in shape and presentable. I really like this image choice for the “soaring spirit” aspect: I always pictured McCandless as having that kind of ambiguous grin on his face.