O’Halloran 1

Peter O’Halloran

Bowyer

English

24 Jan 2019

Not Crazy But Determined

Found weighing a measly sixty seven pounds,starvation was posited as the most probable

cause of death. Christopher McCandless was his real name, and he was a very unique individual.

Jon Krakauer detailed his journey from start to finish in the book ​Into the Wild. ​Many may not

know why Chris chose to go into the wilderness alone but there are many factors why. His

strained relationship with his parents and the fact that society was so materialistic and fake was

maybe why he did what he did. Some may call him crazy but I believe he was noble in what he

did and accomplished set on foot alone. Chris McCandless was noble in the regards of being self

sufficient and leaving his very nice life behind him to truly find himself and to finally

accomplishing his goal of reaching Alaska.

Chris was not crazy, but only doing what he set his mind out to do. This was to forget his

dreadful past and live a simple nomadic lifestyle not relying on society. Chris found out after he

was born later in his life that, his father was living a secret life. He had a secret mistress who

later he had a son with and Chris had never met. Growing up Chris kept this to himself which

just built up so much anger towards him over the years. The author identified his distant

relationship in that he never forgave him,”The boy could not pardon the mistakes his father

made(Krakauer 122).” After graduating college Chris realized that society's rules and his life he

was living wasn't for him. Jon Krakauer says that Chris was not crazy but determined to follow
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his own path,”He wasn't a nutcase, he wasn't a sociopath, he wasn’t a outcast(#85).” Krakauer's

statement is in fact true that McCandless wasn’t crazy but a noble transcendentalist.

Chris McCandless found that his overall goal of venturing into the wild alone was to re

invent a new life for himself. He did this by starting with a new name for himself,”No longer

would he answer to Chris McCandless you can now call him Alexander Supertramp(#23).”

Chris was even so against the norms of society and wealth that when his parents bought him a

car he rejected it and argued that,”They think they have bought my respect(# 21).” Chris was

never attached to material things like his family was and much of society, he wanted to get away

from this all together. You might say that Chris was not prepared and in truth he was not. He did

not know how but he was going to get to Alaska. Many of times he was hitching rides off trains

or walking, but he hitchhiked a lot. One man who picked him up remarked that he was

unprepared, “He wasn’t carrying anywhere near as much food and gear as you’d expect a guy to

be carrying for that kind of trip(#4).” While Chris did not have the necessary qualifications to be

in the wild alone he did have a goal of achieving utter peace with himself in the wilderness.

Through his journey of self discovery his ultimately found this with his last departure into

the Alaskan wilderness. Not knowing what day it was even he set foot onto the Stampede Trail in

Alaska apart of his final days. McCandless did not believe in doing things the easy way he

wanted to prove to himself he could do whatever he set his mind too. “McCandless distrusted the

value of things that came easily. He demanded much of himself(#184).” So much of himself that

he chose to risk his life alone in the wild. Jon Krakauer's friends talk about how McCandless was

admired by him, “I admire what he was trying to do.Living completely off the land like that,

month after month,is incredibly difficult...Most people have no idea how hard that actually
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is(#185).” The end to McCandless was him dying in an abandoned bus he set up camp in on the

old Stampede trail. The culprit was an poisonous potato seed he ate, although chris was starving

the potato seed was the end to him. A total of 122 days in the wild Chris did find out his true

value in life. The last months of his life he was out alone were the happiest of his life by far.

It is true that Chris McCandless was crazy in maybe some regards but there is no denying

the fact that he was determined. Towards the end of the book you can see that Chris had finally

found himself. If only he had been more prepared he might have lived out his days longer and

perhaps returned to town.His last words he wrote in his notebook was a final goodbye,”I Have

had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and God Bless all!(#199).” Chris’s legacy will still

live on today as a lesson.

Word Count: 856

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Works Cited

​ nchor Books,1996
Krakauer,Jon.​Into the Wild.A