Krakauer’s use of the quotes from Evans and Nash have two contradicting views. In Evans mind, there is much to learn by going into the wild as it is free from the evils that currently afflict society. Additionally, going alone into the wild will bring out the true person that Evans was meant to be, free from the influence of others. For Evans, going into the wild is a sort of trial that he must go through in order to better himself and as a result humanity. Also, Evans notes that he would prefer to venture into the wild during winter for the thrill of suffering nature’s wrath. This is a way for him to truly discover himself and the purpose which he must fulfill.
In Nash’s opinion, going into the wild is simply an excuse for people to escape from concrete issues that are negatively affecting the world. He criticizes the intellectual ideas of the Romantics such as Evans, stating that going into the wild is an exercise of a cult. By closing with “a perfect setting for either melancholy or exultation”, Nash reasons that going into the wild can have positive and/or negative effects, at odds with Evans’ idea that going into the wild is a learning experience in which the participant can only improve themselves.
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