Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

“Actions speak louder than words” is a centuries-old idea that, in recent times, has been famously said by both Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain, and I think this idea should be the core of any look into the life and actions of Chris McCandless. However, I believe that this idea was hardly considered in Jon Krakauer’s interpretation of Chris McCandless in his book Into The Wild. Into The Wild is taken by many as the complete truth of Chris McCandless’ story, but many people seem to forget that Krakauer tells us in his author’s note at the beginning of the book that “[he] won’t claim to be an impartial biographer.” This means that any judgment of Chris that only uses this book is inherently flawed by Krakauer’s own views. However, when other

In the Southwest he survived for many days on just a bag of rice through and through sheer luck he made it out alive. In fact, this poorly planned adventure could very well be the basis of his ignorance. I think when he survived all those days in the desert he lost sight of his own mortality. The same thing is seen again in Alaska. Nearly everyone he tells about his plan either tells him it’s too dangerous or he’s underprepared. Jim Gallien, the man who dropped Chris off on the trail, tries to dissuade him from his plan, and failing that, tries to buy Chris better gear but to no avail. When Gallien asked about getting Chris better gear, Chris simply responded, “No, thanks anyway. I’ll be fine with what I've got.” And so despite constant warning Chris venture into the wilderness again with few supplies and little food; except this time, his surroundings are far more

From my available sources it’s easy to see that even when Chris was just starting out he only saw the beauty of nature and didn’t notice her teeth. As time went on, what little respect he did have slowly diminished – until he went out into the Alaskan wilderness with almost no way to defend against wild animals. Chris wasn’t an idiot though, he understood completely that nature could be dangerous, but he didn’t apply that thinking to himself or his journey. Also, his journey wasn’t about survival, it was about how he felt about himself and how he felt about the world. Even those who see Chris as amazing wholeheartedly agree that for him, “the most important aspect of [his] quest was the enlightening effect it had on the spirit” (Christian). Together, these two things seemed to almost entirely remove Chris from reality while he planned his Alaskan