Symbolism

1.  "Plastic People" is a symbolic way of saying that people follow the way everyone tells them to and they are basically fake, and do not act how the are meant to act.  They do exactly what others tell them and they have none of their own opinions.

2.  In the story the symbol "plastic people" is used directly and indirectly multiple times.  It occurs many times through Chris McCandless being frustrated with why he must follow the rules and expectations others set for him and why others do not think about it the same way he does.  For example when he leaves, his main reason to leave is because he wants to go on adventures to find his true self, and to prove to himself he is not just one of those plastic people just like everyone else he knows.

3.  Some evidence of this comes multiple times in chapter five.  First it says,"...contempt for the bourgeois trappings of mainstream america"(Krakauer 39).  This quote is saying that majority of the towns and cites in the United States are the same old everyone has a job and a family and works to get money to support their family and all of the typical things in life.  The idea of plastic people is shown again in chapter 1 when Gallien and Chris are getting to know each other.  The quote says,"Alaska has long been a magnet for dreamers and misfits, people who think the unsullied enormity of the Last Frontier will patch all the holes in their lives"(Krakauer 4)  This relates to the idea of Plastic People in the book Into The Wild, because its about people trying to go from being a plastic person themselves to then finding there inner selves and patching all the holes in their lives and finding their true personality.