There is a pleasure in the pathless woods; There is a rapture on the lonely shore; There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man less, but Nature more…..”
This quote is displayed in the first frame of the film. It reflects the thinking of the film’s main character and gives the audience a feel for the tone of the movie. For almost the whole movie, Chris/Alex abandons his regular life and family to the embark on a journey which leads him to be alone in the wild. The quote complements our main protagonist's detachment from society and its norms.
I want to go up to them and say, “Stop, don’t do it. She’s the wrong woman, he’s the wrong man. You are going to do things you cannot imagine you would ever do. You are going to do bad things to children. You are going to suffer in ways you never heard of. You are going to want to die.”. I want to go up to them there in the late May sunlight and say it. But I don’t do it. I want to live. I take them up like the male and female paper dolls and bang them together at the hips like chips of flint as if to strike sparks from them. I say, Do what you are going to do and I will tell about it.
Chris recites this poem to his sister Carine, as his father and mother wait in the restaurant. After Chris finishes reciting the poem, Carine asks about the writer and Chris says it could have been either one of us. This quote then hints at the troubled childhood they lived through. It highlights their parent's broken marriage, which is a central plot point in the movie.
I don’t need a new car. I don’t want a new car. I don’t want anything. These things, things, things.
Chris says this in reply to his parents in the restaurant, when they offer to buy him a new car. This is still at the beginning of the film and goes to solidify the kind of character Chris is. He rejects consumerism and is very detached from money.
Rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness, give me the truth.”
Chris paraphrases Thoreau when Jan asks him to be fair towards his parents, as he seems like a loved child. The utterance of this particular quote by Chris hints at the anger that he holds for his parents. His parents hid behind lies about how they met and fell in love, and they hid the fact that his father had another son with his first wife after Chris was born.
He felt his whole life turn, like a river, suddenly reversing the direction of its flow, suddenly running uphill.
This is narrated by Carine, Chris’s sister. She details how Chris felt his identity-shattering when he discovered the truth about his parent’s marriage. The truth was that his father had another son with his first wife after Chris was born. This fact burdens Chris and acts as a catalyst to Chris breaking away from his parents and embarking on his journey towards the wild.
