I recently went to Hawaii on vacation and since I knew that I had a long flight to make it through I took along a book, one skinny enough that I could finish it on the plane. The book I took was "Into the Wild". What a great and tragic story! This tale depicts the journey of a young man named Chris McCandless that upon graduating from college decided to leave the human society and live in a large part by himself in the wilderness. On occasion he would return and make friends and socialize with them, but for the most part he spent a couple of years alone. His journeying took him down the Colorado River in a canoe, into the northern plains to harvest sunflowers, up and down the west coast, but primarily he spent his time in the desert of the southwest. What he planed to be his biggest and last adventure, living off the land in the wilds of Alaska, turned out to be his finale as he perished of starvation.
What I liked most about this book was the description of the male's inherent desire to "rage against the machine" so to speak. The desire to turn our backs on what so often seems like a constraining society of eight-to-five, work five days to get two, suburbia nightmare. I myself have often had this same desire and thought I was alone in that until I read this book. There was a certain satisfaction in reading this and knowing that I am not the only one who gets an overwhelming urge to burn all the money in my wallet just because whoever made up money sucks, or that gets an overwhelming feeling to throw up every time I enter a mall. I believe it is that same male instinct that makes a certain scene in Good Will Hunting one of my favorite scenes of all cinema. It was when Matt Damon's character is talking with Robin Williams' and he says, "my dad used to come home and put a belt, a stick, and a wrench on the table and would have me choose one". Robin Williams' character responds and says, "Oh, I'd have to go with the belt". Matt Damon's character responds, "Nah, I would choose the wrench". "Why?" "Because, @%^& him! That's why." I so get it! And I so get why Chris McCandless said the same thing to society.
It didn't help that I read this book on my way to Hawaii, a wonderfully warm, green, inviting area. And that to get to our hotel we had to drive along the western coast of Oahu where all of the homeless and vagabond camp and live. I admit that reading this book, and seeing such a wonderful area such as Hawaii, made me want to get out of the car and join the ranks of those people who were living in tents. The urge that always gnaws at me.
A few days ago I returned from Hawaii. While in Hawaii I found a necklace on the north shore that I put on our first day there, and I hadn't shaved the entire time. I must say, it took me most of that day to tell myself to shave and to remove the necklace. Much like a child who won't go to bed, I didn't want to fully come back to my routine. But I gave in, shaved, and took off the necklace. I am now fully back. This morning I woke up in a nice bed, had a hot shower, drove my car up to Park City, and moved into a newly remodeled office. And as I was scarfing down a plate of Mexican food at the restaurant kiddy corner from my office, I realized that: Society, although binding in many ways, does have its privileges and that in order to have them, we males have to swallow some of our "Lord of the Flies" pride and submit. A big plate of Mexican food is much more appealing than starving to death. But that doesn't mean that those tents on the beach aren't still appealing as well.
What I liked most about this book was the description of the male's inherent desire to "rage against the machine" so to speak. The desire to turn our backs on what so often seems like a constraining society of eight-to-five, work five days to get two, suburbia nightmare. I myself have often had this same desire and thought I was alone in that until I read this book. There was a certain satisfaction in reading this and knowing that I am not the only one who gets an overwhelming urge to burn all the money in my wallet just because whoever made up money sucks, or that gets an overwhelming feeling to throw up every time I enter a mall. I believe it is that same male instinct that makes a certain scene in Good Will Hunting one of my favorite scenes of all cinema. It was when Matt Damon's character is talking with Robin Williams' and he says, "my dad used to come home and put a belt, a stick, and a wrench on the table and would have me choose one". Robin Williams' character responds and says, "Oh, I'd have to go with the belt". Matt Damon's character responds, "Nah, I would choose the wrench". "Why?" "Because, @%^& him! That's why." I so get it! And I so get why Chris McCandless said the same thing to society.
It didn't help that I read this book on my way to Hawaii, a wonderfully warm, green, inviting area. And that to get to our hotel we had to drive along the western coast of Oahu where all of the homeless and vagabond camp and live. I admit that reading this book, and seeing such a wonderful area such as Hawaii, made me want to get out of the car and join the ranks of those people who were living in tents. The urge that always gnaws at me.
A few days ago I returned from Hawaii. While in Hawaii I found a necklace on the north shore that I put on our first day there, and I hadn't shaved the entire time. I must say, it took me most of that day to tell myself to shave and to remove the necklace. Much like a child who won't go to bed, I didn't want to fully come back to my routine. But I gave in, shaved, and took off the necklace. I am now fully back. This morning I woke up in a nice bed, had a hot shower, drove my car up to Park City, and moved into a newly remodeled office. And as I was scarfing down a plate of Mexican food at the restaurant kiddy corner from my office, I realized that: Society, although binding in many ways, does have its privileges and that in order to have them, we males have to swallow some of our "Lord of the Flies" pride and submit. A big plate of Mexican food is much more appealing than starving to death. But that doesn't mean that those tents on the beach aren't still appealing as well.
1 comment:
Awesome to see you blogging Dean! You are a fantastic writer. I hope you don't start writing session reports and ratting me out for my poor moves in AGoT...
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