On the Road & Into the Wild; The Need to Escape from Life

Abstract

The need to escape from life, or to avoid facing problems and responsibilities, is
sometimes connected to travel. Throughout history, many have embarked in different
journeys in order to reflect on themselves, to search for answers, to leave behind duties or
their past or to move forward with their lives. Thus, this paper tries to explore and analyze
the existential issues that might trigger a need to escape from one’s own reality.
I have compared two grand novels: Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (1957) and Jon
Krakauer’s Into the Wild (1996). On the Road, a highly autobiographical novel, narrates a
period of intense travel across the United States, laced with drugs, music, and sex. Into the
Wild focuses on the fatal experience of the young and courageous Christopher McCandless,
who tragically ended his journey upon meeting death due to starvation in his beloved Alaska.
This paper also explores the main differences of these great men’s generations: Jack
Kerouac’s Beat Generation, and Christopher McCandless’ Generation X.
To sum up, the main difference between both male heroes is that Kerouac was more
of a consumer of experiences, an extrovert and a hedonist man, while McCandless was a
highly spiritual man, an introvert who sought his own truth.