Character Analysis Of Mccandless In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

Year after year souls are lost in the perilous remote mountains of Alaska attempting to relive the delusional odyssey of Christopher Johnson McCandless. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a book about McCandless, also known by his pseudonym Alex Supertramp, a courageous but stubbornly arrogant and naïve adventurer who ventured into the Alaskan bush overestimating himself and underestimating the country. Wayne Westerberg admires McCandless for being an extraordinary hard working individual, but also believes that he was selfish and stubborn for leaving his family and friends to go on his ruthless odyssey into the wild. If McCandless were present, Westerberg would tell him he was imprudent and would try to persuade him to make amends with his family

While in Carthage for the first time, McCandless meets Westerberg and is employed to work on the grain mill. Westerberg admires McCandless because “[h]e was the hardest worker [he’s] ever seen” (Krakauer 18). McCandless is willing to do tedious work that would appear repulsive to other employees. His ability to accomplish tasks is analogous to his stubbornness and determination on his nomadic existence in the Alaskan bush. The instant Westerberg meets McCandless, “[he] could tell right away that [McCandless] [is] intelligent” (18) but, “[h]e definitely [is not] what you’d call mechanically minded” (62). Some critics such as Nick Jans would argue that McCandless is not intelligent but rather idiotic and demonstrates arrogance. After McCandless leaves Carthage to embark on his Alaskan expedition, Westerberg receives a letter from McCandless expressing that he has “decided that he is going to live this life for some time to come. The freedom and simple beauty of it is just too good to pass up” (33). After learning of McCandless’s falsification of identity on a tax form, he concludes that McCandless has strains in his relationship with his family and that his venture into the wild is more of an escape from societal norms than the simplicity of enjoying nature and the challenges he has to

Critics argue that McCandless is rather unprepared nor does he have the necessary survival skills to survive in the hypothermic winter in the Stampede Trail. McCandless’s unpreparedness leads him to “overestimate [himself], underestimate the country, and [end] up in trouble” (71) Upon McCandless’s return to the Carthage grain mill, he tells Westerberg “he [plans] on staying until April 15th, just long enough to put together a grubstake” (62). Westerberg undoubtedly did not agree with McCandless’s stubborn determination of his vagabond voyage and says, “there [are] gaps in his thinking” (63). In mid-April, Westerberg is shorthanded on employees and makes a final attempt to post pone McCandless’s departure by offering to fly him out to Fairbanks, but “Once [McCandless] made up his mind about something, there was no way of changing it” (67). Despite Westerberg’s endeavour, he could not compel McCandless to stay as he has an extremely headstrong nature and iron-willed stoutheartedness. A few weeks afterwards, Westerberg receives a terse card, which McCandless says his final farewells and that his adventure may prove fatal but he would persevere on completing his odyssey. His letter shows that his stubbornness outweighed his preparedness for his