Into the Wild

This week we've been watching Sean Penn's 2007 film, Into the Wild.
Into the Wild (as you now know) is the true story of Chris McCandless, a young college graduate who takes off to Alaska to live off the land. Roger Ebert describes the film better than I can:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070927/REVIEWS/709270305

So, why show this in English 11? As we move through the course, I've been thinking seriously about the relationship between freedom, happiness, and truth. In Brave New World, truth seemed to be found in confronting life in all of its joy and suffering. Huxley seemed to tell us: live, love, accept that hurt and pain will be a part of it, for there is truth in freedom. Yet John takes freedom and truth too far. Rather than living in moderation - sometimes accepting comfort, sometimes giving in to desire - he retreats to the lighthouse and punishes himself for any impure thought. But we are, of course, inherently impure.

I think Chris in Into the Wild is very similar. The questions I will ask you - what does he give up, in his search for truth? Is it possible that the very things he tosses away - family, relationships, love, work - are the things through which truth is found?