IL VIAGGIO

di Emanuela Bobu

Indice

Premessa

Inglese: Into the wild by Jon Krakauer.

Francese: Le Petit Prince d'Antoine de Saint-Exupry.

Storia: Latinoamericana di Ernesto Guevara.

Italiano:Il Dialogo di Cristoforo Colombo e Pietro Gutierrez di

Giacomo Leopardi.

Premessa
Viaggiare non implica solo lo spostamento di un insieme di ossa che prende il nome di
''corpo umano'', penso che comporti piuttosto un movimento a livello dello spirito. Se si viaggia
senza subire delle trasformazioni nel proprio essere, meglio accomodarsi nella placida serenit
della propria poltrona casalinga.
Forse una sorta di promessa che sto facendo a me stessa: vorrei avere la possibilit,
prima possibile, di compiere il viaggio della mia vita, perch alla fine viaggiare penso voglia
proprio dire scoprire se stessi, anche se sono del parere che la scoperta del s sar un processo
che non avr mai una fine nel corso della nostra intera esistenza. La vita stessa un viaggio ed
bello rendersene conto in tempo reale, essere coscienti di ci che si vive nellistante in cui
consumiamo le varie esperienze del nostro cammino, constatando che siamo in movimento,
perennemente in divenire.
Il ''voyage'' penso sia il miglior insegnante dopo Dio. Scolpisce la mente, l'anima e il
cuore. L'insieme delle conoscenze che si acquisiscono viaggiando, non sarebbe incluso nel
programma delle universit pi prestigiose del mondo.

Il termine viaggio deriva dal latino viaticus, che indica l'occorrente per mettersi
sulla strada e penso che l'occorrente consista proprio in una fame disperata di sapere. Odio
studiare, amo apprendere. Apprendere bellissimo e penso che affrontare nuovi orizzonti, dal
vivo e non attraverso la lettura di un libro, sia la miglior fonte. Bisogna esserci, essere proprio
l, in quel preciso momento, viverle sulla propria pelle, e se serve essere empatici,
immedesimarsi negli altri. E questo un altro motivo per il quale penso che viaggiare sia
fondamentale nella vita: porta ad un alta concezione di rispetto verso il diverso.

''Muoviti. Il pi lontano che puoi, il pi che puoi. Attraverso l'oceano, o

semplicemente attraverso il fiume. Cammina indossando le scarpe di qualcun'altro
o almeno mangia il loro cibo. Apri la tua mente, alzati dal divano, muoviti.''
Colui che le ha scritte mi ha rovinata. Questa tempesta di parole mi ha travolta e nel
momento in cui le ho lette mi sono detta che alla fine non pu essere cos difficile. Devo solo
muovermi.
Penso che sia una dritta in pi il fatto che non penso la vita si riassuma nella catena
''nasci, cresci, studia, comprati una macchina, una casa, cose inutili, eccetera eccetera''. Le cose
sono cose . Alla fine della tua vita, a Dio non importer niente della tua villetta; immagino che
sia molto pi interessato a vederci scrivere un bel taccuino, in cui riporteremo ricordi ed
avventure. E se Lui le sapr tutte, ci ascolter con piacere, perch alla fine uno dei suoi
migliori passatempi e hobby.
Da quello che sto raccontando, sembra che abbia gi viaggiato molto, che sia stata in vari
luoghi e che abbia attraversato molti continentiovviamente non cos e non c'entrano i motivi
economici, non si tratta del ''s'' o del ''no'' dei genitori, non si tratta dell'et... E che preferisco
semplicemente aspettare e ''sudarmelo'' questo viaggio,

guadagnarmelo. Voglio essere io a

compiere sacrifici affinch si avveri, per dire enfin: ne valsa la pena e sono stata io a realizzare
questo sogno con le mie stesse mani. Tutto il lavoro svolto, i soldi raccolti, le notti insonni, la
fatica e la pazienza. Ed proprio quest'ultima che mi conforta. Quelli che sanno aspettare,
saranno ricompensati appieno (mi dico).
Il miglior mezzo per viaggiare (per lo meno, per quanto riguarda la mia situazione di
adesso), penso sia, non l'hippie van, non le gambe, non la bici, ma la mia mente, che trova riposo
nella scrittura. Ed proprio per quello che ho scelto di partire dai libri, il miglior testamento che
la nullit dell'universo, l'uomo, pu lasciare sulla terra. E quale pu essere la miglior bussola se

non i libri? Uno zaino, un fido pastore tedesco, libri (pochi ma buoni), una polaroid, buona
musica, gambe, coraggio, Dio... Si pu fare di tutto.
L'unica cosa che vale la pena di possedere l'insieme di ricordi che ti crei: i vari rullini
che svilupperai per stampare le foto per l'album della tua vita, saranno stampati sul pericardio
del tuo cuore. Il resto effimero, conta quello che fai, che sei, che vivi. Vivi bene. Vivi
viaggiando.

Into the Wild

by
Jon Krakauer

Into the Wild is a 1996 non-fiction

book written by Jon Krakauer which tells
the story of the young man Christopher

McCandless,

young

American

adventurer.Christopher Johnson McCandless

grew up in Annandale, Virginia. After
graduating in May 1990 with high grades,
McCandless ceased communicating with his
family, gave away his college fund of
$25,000 to Oxfam (an organisation which fights against poverty), and began travelling across the
Western United States, his destination being the Alaskan wilderness which he reached in April
1992 with little food and equipment, hoping to live simply for a time in solitude. He tried to find
his way in the wild with as little material possessions because, as he affirmed, "it made the

journey more enjoyable''. The little things he carries everywhere with him are a belt, on
which he carved his whole life and at the end of it he drew an ''N'', the North, the direction he has
to take in order to reach Alaska, the last stage of his journey. When Chris finds an old abandoned
bus (which takes the name of ''Magicbus''), he transforms it in a house with a bed, a table, a seat,
a gun for hunt, some cans of rice and a couple of books on hunting and wild plants.
On September 6, 1992, Christopher McCandless's body was found inside an abandoned
bus in Alaska. McCandless fell ill from eating toxic seeds, and perished sometime around the
week of August 18, 1992, after surviving more than 100 days.
When Krakauer was charged to write an article about the finding of Chris' body, he got
an unknown passion about this story and decided to write a book, helping himself out with the
found diary and the testimonies of relatives and friends. He explored the similarities between
McCandless's experiences and motivations and his own as a young man, recounting in detail
Krakauer's

own

attempt

to

climb

Devils

Thumb

in

Alaska.

Jon Krakauer (born April 12, 1954) is an American writer and mountaineer, primarily known for
his writings about the outdoors, especially mountain-climbing. After graduating from Hampshire
College (1976), he spent three weeks by himself in the wilderness of the regions of Alaska and
climbed a new route on the Devils Thumb, an experience he described in ''Into the Wild''. In

1992, he made his way to Cerro Torre in the Andes of Argentine Patagoniaconsidered to be
one of the most difficult technical climbs in the
world.
Krakauer's most recognized climb was a
guided ascent of Mount Everest (that became
known as the 1996 Mount Everest disaster: soon
after summiting the peak, Krakauer's team met

It is easy, when you are young, to

believe that what you desire is no
less than what you deserve, to
assume that if you want something
badly enough, it is your Godgiven right to have it.

with disaster as four of his teammates perished while making their descent in the middle of a
storm).
The author himself agrees with the ideas McCandless brings into light during his adventure:

''People don't want to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life
of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one
peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit
within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his
passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new
experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing
horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.''
McCandless shed his legal name early in his journey, adopting the moniker "Alexander
Supertramp", after W.H. Davies.
McCandless was influenced by transcendentalism, a religious and philosophical
movement that developed during the late 1820s and '30s in the Eastern region of the United
States as a protest against the general state of spirituality

I dont want to know

what time it is. I dont
want to know what day it
is or where I am. None of
that matters.

and, in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard

University and the doctrine of the Unitarian, as taught at
Harvard Divinity School. Among the transcendentalists'
core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both people and
nature. They believe that society and its institutions,

corrupt the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when truly "selfreliant" and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be
formed.

The journey that Chris initiates has the purpose to find himself. Nature is a metaphor in
order to define one's interior and personal soul, in its whole authenticity and truth. It is a story
about rebellion against the consumer society: television, marketing and trends are no longer
important and valiant. Chris becomes a revolutionary, who escapes society's control.
The road Chris is walking on is the one we all have to follow, in order to discover who
we really are. Chris wasn't an isolated person, but he simply wanted to be ''alone'', in order to
hear his most genuine voice. He only tried to find out which was the place he had to occupy in
this world.
A wise lesson he teaches us is that forgiving means loving and this is the light that
illuminates the sad end of his story: When you forgive, you love. And when you love,

Gods light shines upon you.

''Into the Wild'' addresses the issue of how to be accepted into society and how finding
oneself sometimes conflicts with being an active member in society.

The main topics are various, but the first one immediately recognized is ''the search of

one's inner being''. In fact, Chris looks for his real nature and this book makes us all
understand how in this current society,
people

are

homologated

and

how

consumerism and materialism are a damage

for everyone, as they deprive individuals
from fundamentals principles, such as
essence,

quantity,

quality,

where,

when

and

relationship,
so

on.

But another theme, and maybe the most

important one is the one that spins around
the

concepts

of

''determination'',

''courage'', ''sacrifice'', unmissing tools

in order to transform your own dreams in
real ones. This concept is expresses by Chris
himself: he engraved on a piece of wood the words ''If you want something in this life,

reach out and grab it''. Things may be hard to reach, but with determination as your
companion, you can achieve much!
Last but not least, the last topic embraces the idea of how everyone can learn from

anyone. Chris builds himself out thanks to all the pieces of advice and teaching people he had
met during his journey gave him.
But this phrase may be the summary of this whole story, written by Christopher
McCandless

at

the

end

of

his

long

journey:

Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate
freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road No longer
to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become
lost

in

the

wild.