What would prompt an average American college student to rid himself of all of his possessions and live in the Alaskan wilderness? Many students live within the norms of society, and often times lack a sense of adventure or identity. For Chris McCandless, a 1990 Emory Graduate from Annandale, Virginia, the need to escape from these norms caused him to travel all the way to Alaska. Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer details McCandless’ Journey, an experience few students could even dream of accomplishing. Inspired by his literary icons Jack London, Henry David Thoreau, and Leo Tolstoy, Chris attempted to live alone in the wild in order to grow spiritually and find himself. The journey is not a pleasant one; McCandless encounters dehydration, famine, and injury before finally dying of starvation on August 18, 1992. Although McCandless found inner peace, he ultimately paid for it with his life. The story of Chris McCandless should remind young college students to follow your desires with common sense and preparation rather than pure determination, stubbornness, and idealism.
    One of the reasons Chris died in Alaska is his belief in using pure determination to survive rather than long term planning. It is explained by Walt McCandless, Chris’s father, that Chris was never willing to learn the specifics of any skill. Krakauer goes on to say that “nuance, strategy, and anything beyond the rudimentaries of technique were wasted on Chris. The only way he cared to tackle a challenge was head on”. This statement explains two things: McCandless’ love of running and his lack of preparation when traveling to Alaska. The reason Chris took running in high school so seriously was because it appealed to his need to challenge himself. Running required mental and physical endurance more than a game plan or technique. McCandless loved running so much that he related it to how he should live his life. Surviving with grit and embracing the pain led to several near-death experiences in Chris’s journey. The first experience occurred when McCandless left on a road trip after graduating high school. He finally came back home looking extremely gaunt and dehydrated. The second time involved getting lost while canoeing in Mexico and being saved by duck hunters. Traveling to Alaska was the last trip he ever took. Although this time, Chris was not saved by luck. In the bush, McCandless tried to endure like he did while running. Instead of learning the finer points of survival or carrying essential tools, Chris attempted to persist like he did while running. McCandless’ chances of staying alive would have increased greatly if he had prepared more efficiently. Instead, McCandless tried to use his mental and physical strength to survive.
    Another trait that led to McCandless’ untimely demise was his rigid moral code. These morals were no doubt influenced by Chris’s literary icons London and Thoreau’s works. In Thoreau’s non-fiction book Walden, a book that McCandless had taken with him on his trip, Thoreau stated that “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach”. This quote, among many others from Thoreau and London, influenced Chris to try and live in the wilderness alone. Krakauer explains with regards to Tolstoy that “McCandless particularly admired how the great novelist had forsaken a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute”. Both Thoreau and Tolstoy believed that people should avoid sexual intercourse and money. Overall McCandless decided to become celibate, despise those with wealth and money, and live life in poverty. It should be noted that these famous authors were not perfect heroes. Tolstoy was an “enthusiastic sexual adventurer” who in a diary he wrote revealed “his extensive sexual past and the fact that a serf on his own estate had born him a son”. London was also noted to be “a drunk who spent just a single winter in the north”. This shows the narrow-mindedness of Chris, who took moral code from two known hypocrites in order to chase his fantasies. In another display of his stubbornness, Chris seems ignores his icons’ shortcomings but cannot forgive his father’s mistake of living with two families simultaneously. In following his moral code, Chris McCandless set himself up for absolute disaster. Burning his own money and abandoning his car are prime examples of mistakes that Chris makes. Perhaps the biggest mistake that McCandless made was his unwillingness to accept help. Chris attempted to adhere to what his icons taught him, and did not accept tools or objects as gifts that would have saved his life. It was well known that McCandless went to Alaska under-equipped, and without several essential tools (such as a map) that could have saved his life. Chris chose to live his life under the guidance of books, and his short-sightedness proved to be fatal.
