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The wilderness has become an afterthought in some cultures. In David Abram’s essay The Ecology of Magic, he goes on at length to describe the shamans interacting with nature. “The deeply mysterious powers and entities with whom the shaman enters into a rapport are ultimately the same forces the same plants, animals, forests, and winds-that to literate, ‘civilized’ Europeans are just so much scenery, the pleasant backdrop of our more pressing human concerns “ (Abram 6). Behind his critique of Western civilization, Abram is going for a deeper meaning. The key word is mysterious that he uses to describe nature’s powers. He is implying that nature has some sort of power that to the shaman we cannot ever understand. Abram is also saying that by treating nature like scenery, we are ignoring the very dangerous aspect of the wilderness. Krakauer builds on this idea of the pacification of nature. “(He) yearned to wander uncharted country, to find a blank spot on the map. In 1992, however, there were no more blank spots on the map-not in Alaska, not anywhere. But Chris, with his idiosyncratic logic, came up with an elegant solution to this dilemma: He simply got rid of the map. In his own mind, if nowhere else, the terra would thereby remain incognita” (Krakauer 356). Notice the similar wording that Abram and Krakauer use. Abram comments that Western people think of nature as a backdrop, scenery. The reason they feel that way is because everything has been mapped out. That is a key reason why McCandless wishes to forgo a map. He wants to regain that feeling of mystery and awe. He wants to feel the danger that only the wilderness can bring. Also notice the language that Krakauer uses; he wishes for the earth to remain, incognita. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, incognita is the feminine form of incognito, which means to conceal your identity. The word is often used to describe royalty who wish to conceal their identity. This word choice shows Krakauer’s respect for the wilderness just as the shaman did. McCandless also felt the same way about the wilderness. Our treatment of the wilderness has led to us becoming very ignorant of it.