Who was Chris McCandless?

Some argue that Chris was a rash, mentally ill lunatic who died due to a lack of preparation or sanity. I would disagree. Although Chris made some decisions in his life that are hard for us to understand, it is important to attempt to understand them before we judge his life. The book Into the Wild was, I beleive, an attempt to do just that. Having read it, I have made my decision about who Chris really was. He seems to have been a person who wanted to find the truth, for better or for worse. His acts were well thought out in principle, but not in much else. He was intelligent, and was on an amazing journey that would define his life. He was a good, sane person, who made a few misteaks that eventually killed him. Had he not died, I doubt if anyone would have questioned his mission, but he did so we ignore his triumphs and highlight his misteaks.

Characterization Notes on Christopher McCandless

Characterization Notes on Christopher McCandless

(a.k.a. Alex Supertramp)

Assignment Directions:  As you read Into the Wild, take notes on direct and indirect characterization traits about Christopher McCandless.  For each chapter, pick out 2-3 descriptions about Chris that really stand out to you.  This could be direct descriptions about what Christopher looks like to indirect descriptions about how Chris acts, what he says, how others view him, how he treats others, and anything about Chris that helps you form an opinion about him by the end of the novel.  Keep in mind that by the end of the book, you will write an essay that gives your opinion on either side of the following argument presented in the “Author’s Note”:

            “Some readers admired the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals; others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity – and was undeserving of the considerable media attention he received.”

Fill out the chart as you read and post on your blog when the chart is completed. Mrs. Z. will check your chart on your laptop periodically to see that you are adding notes and keeping up with the character chart as we read.

Direct and Indirect Characterization Notes on Christopher McCandless

(Alex Supertramp)

Chapter and page #	Description/quote from novel		What impression you get about Chris with this character trait or description?
Chapter 1, page 4	“Five feet seven or eight with a wiry build, he claimed to be 24 years old and said he was from South Dakota.  He explained that he wanted a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he intended to walk deep into the bush and ‘live off the land for a few month.’” “He had an answer for everything I threw at him.”		Chris is not physically fit for walking into such a dangerous environment.  He seems a little crazy. Chris is stubborn about his point of view. Even when he thinks he is prepared for something he might not be, but won’t hear otherwise.
Chapter 2	“S.O.S. I need your help. I an injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone, this is no joke. In the name of God, please help me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening. Thank you, Chris McCandless. August?” “…that recorded the young man’s final weeks in 113 terse, enigmatic entries.”		This note shows that Chris is all high-up and “I’m so right about everything” until he gets into trouble. Then he goes back to his old name and starts begging for help. Even when Chis is dying he writes 113 entries in just a few weeks. That’s more than two entries a day! He is very meticulous about his writing and he wants everyone to know what he thinks about what is happening to him.
Chapter 3	When Chris works for Westerburg, he is very diligent in his work and tries hard despite how hard the job is. “He read a lot. Used a lot of big words.”		Chris is a hardworking, responsible person. Even as master of his own destiny he still respects others. He can keep a head on his shoulders, even in situations like being the lone supertramp. Chris dislike education, but he keeps it with him, even when he abandons his life as a college graduate. He also keeps feeding his brain wit literature even though he demotes the importance of learning.
Chapter 4	“…he came across a sign warning that he was trespassing on the U.S. Army’s highly restrictive Yuma Proving Ground. McCandless was deterred not in the least.” “On January 16, McCandless left the stubby metal boat on a hummock of dune grass southeast of El Golfo de Santa Clara and started walking north up the deserted beach.”		Likes his country, or at least the land it is made up of; but he hates the government. He doesn’t care about laws or officials. His seems to be rather naive about the fact that without the government there would be no America. Chris might be a little more impressionable by fear then he seems. He puts on Bravado when he is comfortable, but after an incident like he was in in the canoe he quickly abandons the canoe for good.
Chapter 5	“…they started asking him if he needed soap or anything. That made him mad- you could tell. But he never showed it outright. About three weeks later he just walked out the door and quit.” “McCandless was epically attentive to Burres, flirting and clowning with her at every opportunity. ‘he liked to tease me and torment me,’ she recalls. ‘I’d go out back to hang clothes on the line behind the trailer and he would, and he’d attach clothespins all over me. He was playful, like a kid.”		Chris is the kind of person who gets angry about something, and it just festers in them for a long time. They don’t really let anyone know that they’re mad until one day they just burst an it all comes out, usually in the form of them just leaving. Even though McCandless was a road hardened, college graduate intellectual with strong opinions and a very loner-like, independent outlook on life, he still acted playful sometimes. He still liked to play and mess around when he was in a good mood. He had a young hart.
Chapter 6	“God he was a smart kid,’ the old man rasps in a barely audible voice. He directs his gaze at a patch of sand between his feet as he makes this declaration; then stops talking.” “I hope that the next time I see you, you will be a new man with a vast array of new adventures and experiences behind you. Don’t hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it. You will be very, very glad that you did.”		McCandless was smart. He had a college education, and a very good one at that. He worked hard in school and learned a lot. Even though the things he did seemed ignorant, in truth they were often anything but that. At first, when everyone meets Alex, they think that they are the ones helping him. That his is tired, and broken, and hungry. They help him, but in the end it seems that he is more of a help to them then they are to him. During his journey he is able to improve the lives of many people that he meets along the way.
Chapter 7	“If  Alex were here right  now I’d be tempted to chew him out real good: ‘what the hell were you thinking? Not talking to your family all that time, treating them like dirt!” “Nor was McCandless endowed with a surfeit of common sense. Many who knew him have commented, unbidden, that he seemed to have great difficulty seeing the trees, as they were, for the forest.”		Westerburg has a very valid point: Chris alienated his family and caused them harm that will haunt them for the rest of their life because of principles. He never saw or talked to them again after his graduation, maybe he regretted it as he slowly perished painfully and alone in a rusty school bus in the middle of nowhere. Chris may have been smart and street wise, but he doesn’t naturally have the gift of commonsense. It is sometimes hard for him to put two and two together or understand the sequence of events or cause and effect scenarios in life.
Chapter 8		“His ignorance, which could have been cured by a USGS quadrant and a boy scout manual is what killed him.” “Although he was rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry, and incautious to the point of foolhardiness, he wasn’t incompetent- he wouldn’t have lasted 113 days if he were.		While McCandless may not have been totally ignorant, it can’t be overlooked that what he did in Alaska wasn’t quite as well thought out as it could have been. If he had been more prepared he might have gotten out with his life. When it came to survival with almost nothing, McCandless knew his stuff. He’d been in the desert, the ocean, the plains, and survived with little more than rice and instinct.
Chapter 9		“I’ve decided that I’m going to live off the land for some time to come. The freedom and simple beauty of it is just too good to pass up.” “We like companionship, but we can’t stand to be around people for very long. So we get ourselves lost, come back for a while, then get the hell out again.		When Chris gets an idea, it seems that he overlooks some of the gory details, so to say, and sees something nearly impossible as simply beautiful. Chris did enjoy other people; he just only needed them in limited quantities. He likes to know people, but he didn’t really like them to know him too well.
Chapter 10		“Westerburg found the station in time to catch the end of the Paul Harvey broadcast, and he was forced to agree: The few sketchy details made the anonymous hiker sound distressingly like his friend.” “…he had scrawled ‘Exempt Exempt Exempt Exempt’ and given his name as Iris Fucyu.  Address: ‘None of your damn business.’ Social Security Number: ‘I forget.”		Chris was the kind of person who was so distinct that even a few sketchy details about a body in Alaska could give away his identity to Westerburg. Chris hated the government and everything to do with it. He detested their control over the country and its people and how little they understood the country that they protected.
Chapter 11		“We’d run as fast as we could down strange roads, through the woods, whatever. The whole idea was to lose our bearings, to push ourselves into unknown territory. Then we’d run a slightly slower pace until we found a road we recognized and race home again at full speed. In a certain sense that’s how Chris lived his entire life.” P.112. Chris spent time discussing the state of the world with his peers, contrasting right and wrong, and he would drive around cities talking to homeless people. P.113. Chris was embarrassed by his family trips to Europe, Colorado, and the Caribbean. p.115.		Chris wasn’t afraid of the unknown, he ran into it head-long with not fear. Then he’d wonder around until he found himself and then he’d plow on to the next excursion. Chris wasn’t like other high school kids. Instead of parties he was concerned with moral issues. Morality, overall, was the core concern of his life. He judged other people and himself based on his own, harsh moral principles. Chis didn’t like the ‘lavished’ vacations his family took. His idea of travel was being part of a place. Experiencing it in its true authenticity.
Chapter 12		“If something bothered him, he wouldn’t come right out and say it. He’d keep it to himself, harboring his resentment, letting bad feelings build and build.” P. 122 “Like many people, Chris apparently judged artists and close friends by their work, not their life. Yet he was temporarily incapable of extending such leniency to his father.” P.122		Chris was neither forgiving nor straight forward. This combination could make it impossible to tell if he was mad at you. That’s why his parents never really knew how he loathed them so. Chris was unpredictable when it came to judging others. It was impossible to tell who he would like and who he would dislike.
Chapter 13		“Chris didn’t think twice about risking his own life, but he never would have put Buckley in any kind of danger.” P.128 “Like Chris, Carine is energetic and self-assured, a high achieve, quick to state an opinion.” P.129		In general Chris did not have a lack of respect for life. It was just the concept of losing his life that he probably didn’t really grasp. These traits are the traits that really make up Chris. They are the traits that drove him to clash with his parents and gave him the will to do all of the things that he did.
Chapter 14		“If this trip proves to be fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again I want you to know you’re a great man. I now walk into the wild.” P. 134 “Like McCandless, figures of male authorities aroused in me a confusing medley of corked fury and hunger to please.” P. 134.		Chris was not afraid of death. He was fully aware that his endeavors might kill him, but that was of no concern. That was a big part of why he enjoyed what he did so much. These traits are part of what made Chris’s relationship with his father so rocky and abrasive. This, in turn, played a big part in what he did with his life.
Chapter 15		“Like Chris McCandless, I was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic.” P. 155. “In my case- and, I believe in the case of Chris McCandless- that was a very different thing from wanting to die.” P. 156.		The logical path that Chris followed was full of holes. It was these holes in his thinking that started so much conflict and sparked so may problems. In the end, reality comes out ahead of his idealism. Nowhere, in any of Chris’s travels, did he have any desire to die at all. He was not suicidal or anything of the sort. His constant encounters with danger would indicate that he was, but it was the risk of death, not death itself that compelled him.
Chapter 16		“He was champing at the bit to get out there and get hiking.” P.158 “Alex was clean shaven and had short hair. I could tell by the language that he used that he was a real sharp fella. He wasn’t what you’d call a typical hitchhiker.” P. 158-159.		Chris was anxious about doing the things that obsessed him. Maybe that is why he jumped into Alaska with so little preparation. Even though Chris was a tramp and hitchhiker, he remained the cultured person that he was before he left Atlanta. He always remained himself in his journey, he never go lost in that way.
Chapter 17		“I now wish I had never shot the moose. One of the greatest tragedies of my life.” P. 166 “McCandless was a weak swimmer and had confessed to several people that he was in fact afraid of the water.” P.170		Chris had respect for the wildlife in the environment that he had placed himself in. He saw the animals as more than just a means of food; he saw their life and valued it.
Chapter 18		“Chris would never, ever intentionally burn down a forest, not even to save his life.” P.198 “I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all.” P.199		Chris valued the forest more than he valued his own starving, suffering life. That is dedication to nature. Chris died happy and thankful of the life he had had, even though the end was grizzly and unpleasant to say the least. He had a great respect for the world and life in general.

A journey that would change my life

I beleive a journey that would change my life would be a trip to Cuba. Because Cuba is a communist country it is isolated from the rest of the world. It is a poor country controled by a dictator. To be able to go there and see how people live in such a disconnected country would truely be amazing. It would be interesting to see a country that is like this before they are all gone. It is a lifestyle unlike anything I know, and it would truely be an amazing, and authentic travel experience.

Quotes from Into the Wild

Jack London, excerpt from White Fang on page 9.

            Of this quote, I think my favorite line is, “It was the Wild, the savage, frozen heartland of the Northland Wild.” The whole quote and this line in particular, capture Chris’s sheer joy that comes from the wild that surrounds him in the time before his death. It is exciting, mysterious and it enthralls him entirely and wholly. It becomes a part of his soul, and yet it is what kills Chris.

Wallace Stegner, excerpt from The American West as Living Space on page 15.

            The whole quote reads: “It should not be denied… that being footloose has exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led west.” This quote describes Chris’s state of being perfectly. The exhilaration it precisely what he seeks in his travels. Where does he travel? As the quote says, the road has always led west. Chris found the sheer joy of living footloose, so to say, so intense that he dedicated his life to achieving this state of enlightenment.

Leo Tolstoy, excerpt from Family Happiness on page 15.

            “I wanted movement, and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement, and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life.” This is related to Alex’s life on the road, his feeling of “itchy feet.” It is a trait in his very core the draws him to live the lifestyle that he does. It is an internal energy that pulls him through all of his endeavors. Tolstoy also wrote War and Peace, which was one of his favorites, if not Alex’s absolute favorite book.

One of my favorite quotes is, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”  - Ronald Reagan. This quote relates to Christopher McCandless perfectly. He hates the government more than anything in the world, except his own parents, so naturally, “I’m from the government,” would not be a phrase he would like to hear. Also he is an independent person who enjoys solitude for long periods and is often averse to help.

Into The Wild Question Answers

Chapter 1

1.       What is the personal history of Chris McCandless?  Chris McCandless was a stellar student in high school and college, but was always a bit different. To him happiness in simplicity and the search for the meaning of life were the two things he sought. After college he started his treck to do just those things and died a happy man. (i)

2.       What themes does Jon Krakauer introduce in the “Author’s Note”? In the Authors Note, Jon Krakauer talks about how some people find happiness in things that we wouldn’t consider. We judge their attempts at happiness, but we often don’t see how happy they really become. (i-iii)

3.       What is the purpose of the quoted material at the start of Chapter One? The quote really opens up the chapter. It demonstraits what Chris was doing, what he thought he was doing, and what he expected from it. It sets the mood and is really is the beginning of what is going to happen to him in the chapter. (1)

4.       Who is Alex? Alex is Chris’s supertramp self. It is like an alter ego, it is his name for himself while he is traveling, or undergoing an endeevour. It is his own understanding of himself as a free spirit. (1)

5.       Who is Jim Gallien, and how did he meet McCandless? Gallien is an Alaskan who picks up Chris while he is hitchhiking. He takes him to the stampede trail and is the last other person that Chris ever sees in his life. (1)

6.       What was Gallien’s assessment of McCandless? Gallien thinks that Chris is a foolish greenhorn who thinks he’s the next Jack London. He sees Chris as a kid who has a lot of intelligence, but no common sense or experience. (4)

7.       What kind of advice did Gallien give McCandless? Gallien tells Chris that the hunting is hard, the living is harder, and he is ill prepared to deal with either on of them. He also offered to take him into town to get better equipment. (5-6)

8.       What was McCandless’s response to Gallien’s offer?  Also, what gift did Gallien give to McCandless? Chris refused Gallien’s offer, he was to anxious. Gallien gives him a pair of rubber boots and his lunch. (7)

9.       Why did Gallien decide not to alert the authorities about McCandless? Gallien assumed that if Chris failed, and he soon would, he would just walk back to the highway. (7)

10.   Gallien’s statement that McCandless would “probably get hungry pretty quick and just walk out to the highway.  That’s what any normal person would do,” is an example of the literary device of irony of situation.  What is ironic about the statement? The irony is that Chris isn’t normal and he never will walk onto the highway again. We know that his is doomed to die alone in the wilderness, but both of them think that he will be fine for one reason or another. (7)

Chapter 2

11.  Why would Krakauer include a quote from another author such as Jack London as the heading for this chapter? The quote expresses a deep meaning that Krakauer felt would express what he was trying to convey in that chapter more than any quote that he could have made himself. (9)

12.  What is the purpose of the detailed descriptions of Mt. McKinley, Denali, and the Stampede Trail? The descriptions give the reader an idea of what the area where Chris was like. It describes terrain that some readers may not understand, and therefore give them the wrong idea about the whole story. Chris didn’t just walk into a woods on the outskirts of town; he truly went into the wild. (10)

13. What was considered to be the cause of Chris McCandless’s death?

Starvation was presumed to be the cause of death initially. (14)
Chapter 3

14. Who is Wayne Westerberg and how do Wayne and Chris get along? Wayne Westerberg is a South Dakotan who owns a grain operation and is a “plains renaissance man”. He gets along smashingly with Chris; he is Chris’s best friend that he makes during his journey. (18)

15.  Local color is introduced when a writer uses regional or colorful terms to present an image of a distinct area or culture.  The terms “leather tramp” and “rubber tramp” qualify as examples of local color.  What culture do they describe, and what is the difference between rubber tramps and leather tramps? These terms represent the culture of those who live on the road and rails, like tramps hobos, and other vagabonds. Rubber tramps have cars, but leather tramps have to walk or hitchhike. (17)

16. Why did the author say that McCandless found a “surrogate family in Westerberg and his employees”? This is said because Chris leaves his family and home in the East, but finds another home and family in Carthage SD. They are not his real family, but he feels like they are. They take the place of his old family. (18)

17.  Why did McCandless leave Carthage? Chris McCandless ends up leaving Carthage because Wayne Westerberg is put in the clink for a little while because he tried to make “black boxes” that pick up reception for satellite TV without paying for it. (19)

18.  How does the reader know that War and Peace was important to McCandless? McCandless likes war and peace because he carries a copy of it with him on his journey, reads it several times, and references it in a letter to Wayne. (19)

19.  Describe McCandless’s early years and family life. McCandless’s early life is good for Chris. His parents take him places, and he does well in school. This, however, means little to him. He doesn’t like his parents because of their ideology and he does well in school, but it means little to him. (19)

20.  What clues did McCandless give that he was out of step with the commercialism of contemporary society? He did not believe in giving or receiving presents. Almost every American does this now, and it is a bit odd that he didn’t want to at all. (20)

21.  What change did McCandless make that symbolized the new life he expected to build after he left Athens? He changed his name to Alexander Supertramp. (23)
Chapters 4-5

22.  The head note to this chapter concludes that people go to the desert “not to escape but to find reality.” How does this statement apply to Chris?

For Chris, his treck into the desert begins after he loses his car. This is where his adventure assumes more of a tramp-like wonderer mood. He is no longer driving, he is walking and hitchhiking and this becomes his persona for the next two years. (29)

23.  Who is Jan Burres, and how did she figure into Chris’s travels?

Jan Burres is a rubber tramp who picks up Chris in California and Chris stayed with them on a beach in Oregon for a week. (30)

24.  Describe the trip that Chris took in the old metal canoe that Chris bought in Topock, Arizona.

Chris’s canoe trip from Arizona to the Gulf of California is probably his longest and most lonely trip up to that point and until his last trip to Alaska. He paddles down the river, dodging the Army at Yuma and the Border Patrol. He is mostly alone in Mexico and he can’t speak Spanish, so he spends weeks paddling in canals and then camping by the ocean before he ditches the canoe and returns to the US. (34-36)

25.  This chapter contains numerous excerpts from the journal Chris kept.  What is noticeable about the writing in his account of his Mexican adventure?

For this Adventure Chris writes in third person as if he is narrating his adventure like it is a story in a book. (35)

26.  Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the individual’s responsibility and free will to direct the course of his/her life.  What existential conclusion does Chris reach when leaving Las Vegas?  (Look at end of chapter 4 for ideas.) Chris realizes that he is the master of his own life, and he has chosen to live it to the absolute fullest. He realizes that the sheer joy and elation that he gets from his own freedom is more satisfying than any material goods or even a normal life with a home and stable food supply. (37)

27.  What kind of life did Chris lead in Bullhead City?

In Bullhead City it is clear that Chris tries a shot at living normal for a while. He gets a job, opens a bank account and moves into a trailer. It was as close to normal as he would ever come on his great odyssey. (39)

28.  Describe the conditions and the residents of the Slab.  Note some of the local color that makes this community memorable.

The slabs are a place that seems to be completely out of touch with the government and modern society. The people are people of all types. The tramps and vagabonds that one would expect to see in a huge flee market in the desert, and some middle class people too who had come for various reasons. The people all had different stories and pasts, but they had convened in the desert to enjoy each other’s company in a way. (43)

29.  What character traits and skills does Jan Burres recount about Chris in chapter 5?

Burres says that Chris is intelligent, well read, stubborn, playful sometimes, and had a kind of up-in-the-clouds view of Jack London’s adventures and how he was going to go on an Alaskan adventure. He had a few gaps in his thinking, but all around he seemed to be a pretty capable person.(45)

30.  What was Jan Burres’s assessment of Chris’s ability to survive in Alaska? (end of chapter 5)

Jan Burres thought that Chris would be able to survive in Alaska. She thought that if he was able to do what he had done so far alone and figured everything out himself then he would be able to “Figure out Alaska too.” (46)

Chapters 6-7

31.  Who was Ron Franz, and how did he enter the story?  What does Krakauer think about the relationship between Franz and McCandless?

Ron Franz is an eighty-some Hermit who lives near Salton City, California. He first meets Chris while he was hitchhiking and is curious about him. He thinks Chris’s life has gone awry and tries to talk to him, but then he learns  the truth about Chris and becomes a good friend. Krakauer sees their relationship as a close grandfather-grandson relationship. (50)

32.  What is Anza-Borrego?

Anza-Borrego is a state park in California. It is a vast, flat, and open desert wasteland. (48)

33.  What was the tragedy of Ron Franz’s life?

The greatest tragedy of Ron Franz’s life is that his wife and son both died in a car crash when he was younger. (50)

34.  How did he feel about Chris and what request did he make of Chris?

He felt very fatherly of Chris and regarded him quite highly as a smart, interesting young man. He felt so strongly about this that he asked Chris if he could adopt him. (55)

35.  What role did leather making take in their relationship?

Since Franz was an accomplished leather maker he decided to teach Chris about it. When he saw how skillful and created Chris was he really started to like him more. (52)

36.  The author gives a brief character analysis of McCandless after recounting that Franz dropped him off in Colorado.  What does the author say about McCandless?

Krakauer says, or implies, that although Chris enjoys the company of others, he never wants to be too attached to them or want them to be too attached to him. He writes to them to remain their friend, but never stays with them for too long  in case they get too close. He’s a loner.

37.  When Chris sent Franz a letter from Carthage, what advice did Chris give to Franz and how did Franz respond to this letter?

Chris tells Franz to step out of his shell. He will enjoy the rest of his life much better if it is more unexpected and not normal. It brings a sense of freedom and the true joy that comes with it. Franz actually follows his advice and moves out into Anza-Borrego. (58)

38.  How did Ron Franz learn that McCandless had died and how did this death change Franz’s life? Franz is told of Chris’s death by two tramps that he picks up hitchhiking. From that point on Franz is an atheist. He doesn’t believe that a loving God could do that to a person like Chris. (60)

39.  Why was Wayne Westerberg annoyed at the beginning of chapter Seven?

Wayne Westerberg is mad at the beginning of chapter 7 because his combine is broken. When you’re a farmer and your machinery doesn’t work, which is for too often, it is frustrating and stressful. In a job like farming, where timing is key, delays can cost you dearly, and nothing is worse than a broken combine when the crops are ready. (62)

40.  What is the author’s analysis of the relationship between McCandless and his father?  How did Chris feel about his sister Carine?

Krakauer describes both Chris and his father as high-strung and stubborn, they must have been at each other’s throats all the time. He likes his sister though, and only has good things to say about her. (64)

Chapters 8-9

41.  What is the purpose of including the full story of Gene Rossellini?

Including the story about Gene Rossellini gave the reader a good idea of what kind of people come to Alaska. It even shows that for the most seasoned individual, Alaska can get them one way or another. Even a man of experience and spirit can succumb. (75)

42.  What motivated Krakauer to include the story of John Waterman?

The story about Waterman shows what happens to people who do something, even though they know it might kill them. Epically when an experienced person knows that they might die, there is a good chance they will die and yet the do it anyway for whatever reason. Perhaps it is the reason within itself. (80)

43.  Finally, what is the purpose of including the story of Chris McCunn in the narrative?

The story of Chris McCunn shows what will happen if someone who fantasizes about the wild goes out there and botches up. The reality of their hapless daydreams crashes down on them as the reality of life in Alaska and their errors haunt them as they slowly die alone in the wild. (84)

44.  Summarize the story of Everett Ruess and his fascination with the American West and natural beauty.

Everett Ruess is a 20 year old wonder like Chris. His family moved a lot between cities, and after getting kicked out of college Everett became a wonder of the west, but kept in touch with his family. He loved the natural beauty of the west so much that he felt that it was a part of him and he wanted to keep wondering around it for the rest of his life, which he did. During one extended expedition in 1934 he unexpectedly disappeared and was never seen again. (91)

45.  What Ken Sleight’s conclusion about Ruess and McCandless? Ken Sleight concluded that Ruess and McCandless, although they like solitude, cannot go on forever without the company of humans. They leave society, get lonely, come back, get itchy feet again and leave in a continuous cycle until they die, which in both cases was at a young age. (96)