If one wants to gain something or to have a better future, they should embark on odysseys some of which are small while others are more extensive. One of such odysseys is school which prepares us for the greater future (of course, if we’ll take full advantage of it). Still some go on life journeys which have larger meaning to their existence; such people search for something far more extreme than what is universally accepted. In Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonists embark on a quest for purpose of their lives. The manner in which they apply themselves to the people they meet on their journeys, the obstacles they encounter, and their moments of enlightenment are instrumental in determining their ultimate fates.
What follows is an account of the major events which define the lives of Chris and Holden. While these events are parallel and similar effects can be observed, they are very different in relation to the past experiences of the protagonist involved.
These heroes begin their journeys very differently. Christopher McCandless, a respectable boy from Washington D.C., realizes early in his life that he must take a different path. The discovery of his father’s dishonesty prompts his fall, and will eventually become his unhealable wound. However, he is able to control his anger and turn it into a passion for something else: the wild. His sister Carine explains this perfectly: “‘If something bothered him, he wouldn’t come right out and say it. He’d keep it to himself, harboring his resentment, letting the bad feelings build and build’” (Krakauer 122). This built-up anger is converted into a resentment for civilization in anticipation of treachery’s return. As a result, his journey always focuses on separation from the typical world and isolation in the wilderness. His new life begins with him leaving home, abandoning his material possessions, and focusing his actions on the eventual goal of surviving in Alaska.
The alternative is well displayed in Holden Caulfield. His life began in a very similar fashion, but his fall and what followed was dramatically different. The death of Holden’s brother Allie causes immeasurable grief in Holden’s life. However, where Chris focused this trauma and used it to his advantage, Holden lets it take over his life and, in essence, destroy it. The immediate effect of this is his breaking the windows in the garage. While this is a way for Holden to purge his anger, it ironically prevents him from that very benefit: “They all came when Allie died…I wasn’t there. I was still in the hospital…after I hurt my hand” (Salinger 171). He wasn’t able to properly say goodbye to Allie because of his earlier actions. The windows are also a metaphor for his life: they began intact and in good condition, but one event caused them to shatter. The later effects are a result of Holden’s approach to his life after his brother’s death.
Each boy faces a starting point in their eventual life-changing journeys. For Chris, this initiation occurs after he leaves college. The first step in his progress towards isolation is the donation of his money to the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief: “He would shortly donate all the money in his college fund to OXFAM America, a charity dedicated to fighting hunger” (Krakauer 20). With no money, he can no longer buy food when he needs it, he must find it himself. He is forcing himself towards his philosophical victory of unity with nature. Another example of Chris’ determination is evident in this process. Second, Chris burns his money in the desert after leaving his car behind. This twofold declaration is the process of getting rid of the small reminders of his former life. His car, one that he bought himself and refused to give up, is a memento of his perseverance in the civilized world. The breaking of this bond is Chris’ final separation from the material world.