Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

Venturing out into the wild may seem outright moronic or frightening to some, while to others, it is a new adventure and beginning. Chris McCandless, an intelligent individual and high achieving scholar, may be seen to some as downright crazy for exposing himself to the Alaskan wilderness in an attempt to live off the land. Many, like Shaun Callarman, claim that McCandless was arrogant and crazy for doing what he did, however; there are people, like myself, who believe that although what McCandless did ended tragically, he was not crazy for pursuing this outing. Throughout his life McCandless was an intelligent individual who seemed like he had a bright future, it just so happens that he had a desire to venture out into the country alone and

However, McCandless’ actions were not exactly out of the ordinary. There are various souls who also desire to backpack across a country and their escapades might even mirror the actions of McCandless. It is a given that although McCandless wasn’t cautious about going into the Alaskan wilderness, he was not the only person on Earth to take on similar terrains. In fact, Jon Krakauer, author of “Into the WIld”, mentions that a white writer known as Nick Jans claims to have “run into several McCandless types out in the country” (71). Therefore; McCandless’ endeavor was just another to add into the list of fatal attempts to take on nature. He was not exactly crazy and believed that he could successfully live off the land, which he seemed to have done pretty

In contrast, had McCandless not met his end, he would have been deemed as courageous for doing what he did and choosing to live out a different lifestyle. In fact, it seems as if McCandless’ death was an accident and he might have been able to make it out alive. While it is believed that McCandless starved to death because of his inability to gather food, Krakauer explains that McCandless found seeds, that he believed were poisonous H. mackenzii seeds, which McCandless could have mistaken for edible ones. However, Krakauer states that “McCandless had dug and safely eaten dozens of wild potato roots without mistaking H. mackenzii for H. alpinum” (192) so he inferred that it is impossible that he could have accidentally poisoned himself with H. mackenzii. In turn, Krakauer discovered that McCandless had eaten mold infested seeds that made his body unable to absorb nutrients which is what caused McCandless to starve to death (194). Therefore, it is not like McCandless was doing a terrible job on surviving off the land, he wasn’t completely unprepared but unfortunately, McCandless wasn’t able to clearly see the mold growing on the seeds. He wasn’t crazy, he studied up on edible plants and was for the most part, pretty prepared to live in the