Escape: to slip or get away, as from confinement or restraint (www.dictionary.com). At some point in ones life, one must escape from reality. Even if only for a few moments, it is necessary for every human being. This could be as simple as day-dreaming or as drastic as taking a vision quest somewhere in the outdoors. Why is it that people feel the need to escape from the reality of their repetitive lifestyles and allude to another world, whether it is a “real world” or a “made-up world”? Wallace Stevens, the writer of the poem “The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain”, and Chris McCandless, the main character in the story Into the Wild, both find it very necessary to escape from the hustle and bustle of their busy lives and go to a place where they feel free.
In the poem “The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain”, Wallace Stevens describes how he climbs a mountain and looks out over the sea. Although the poem makes it sound like he is just taking a hike, there is a much greater meaning to all of it. “The exact rock where his inexactness would discover, at last, the view toward which they had edged, where he could lie and, gazing down at the sea, recognize his unique and solitary home” (Stevens 1). In this excerpt from the poem, Stevens explains how this mountain is his solitary home, where he can escape from his business life and focus on writing.
In the book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer re-lives Chris McCandless’s journey through the wild Alaskan wilderness. Throughout the story, Krakauer realizes how ill-prepared McCandless really was, and wonders why anyone would ever attempt to do something like this with very little knowledge of the wilderness. Although Krakauer is disappointed in some of the choices McCandless makes, he begins to understand why McCandless did what he did. McCandless didn’t just go out on this journey just to say that he survived in the wild for a few months, he wanted to get away from it all. The Alaskan wilderness was his escape from reality, a place he could go to clear his mind and soul and just be free. McCandless wasn’t seeking fame; he was looking for an escape from the real world.Getting away from our usual, routine lives is key to a successful life. You cannot always focus on your job, school, or whatever it is that you are doing. Everyone needs to escape and do something that they enjoy. Stevens uses his mountain as an escape to work on his poetry and focus on what is really important to him. McCandless escapes reality by traveling through the Alaskan Wilderness and living off of nature. Although he dies in the end, he learns a lot about himself and he enjoys the feeling of being free. We must all escape reality to be free.
In the poem “The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain”, Wallace Stevens describes how he climbs a mountain and looks out over the sea. Although the poem makes it sound like he is just taking a hike, there is a much greater meaning to all of it. “The exact rock where his inexactness would discover, at last, the view toward which they had edged, where he could lie and, gazing down at the sea, recognize his unique and solitary home” (Stevens 1). In this excerpt from the poem, Stevens explains how this mountain is his solitary home, where he can escape from his business life and focus on writing.
In the book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer re-lives Chris McCandless’s journey through the wild Alaskan wilderness. Throughout the story, Krakauer realizes how ill-prepared McCandless really was, and wonders why anyone would ever attempt to do something like this with very little knowledge of the wilderness. Although Krakauer is disappointed in some of the choices McCandless makes, he begins to understand why McCandless did what he did. McCandless didn’t just go out on this journey just to say that he survived in the wild for a few months, he wanted to get away from it all. The Alaskan wilderness was his escape from reality, a place he could go to clear his mind and soul and just be free. McCandless wasn’t seeking fame; he was looking for an escape from the real world.Getting away from our usual, routine lives is key to a successful life. You cannot always focus on your job, school, or whatever it is that you are doing. Everyone needs to escape and do something that they enjoy. Stevens uses his mountain as an escape to work on his poetry and focus on what is really important to him. McCandless escapes reality by traveling through the Alaskan Wilderness and living off of nature. Although he dies in the end, he learns a lot about himself and he enjoys the feeling of being free. We must all escape reality to be free.
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