Was Chris autistic?

[GoNorth]

Thanks for the link. I didn't know that such a test exists.
I got 24.

[Ascetic]

I managed a 28. Surprise surprise.

The average is 16. We're well above that. Interesting.

[mountainhrse]

This is a disctinct possibilty! Asberger Syndrome is a form of autism that Chris appeared to be a text book example high achiever that was distant and unemotional high morals, etc. Just a side note I do certainly identify with Chris, same age if he would have survived. I had similar misadventures as a teen ager but seemed to grow beyond that stage and I later as a park ranger encounterd Alexander Supertramp descibles in Montana, New Mexico, where ever wilderness persists..
A young man, a vertual clone of chris McCandless had burned a centuries old alligator juniper to stay warm, as it was early Feb. in the Gila Wilderness. Mike...... was about that idealistic age 18-23, later tried to free climb the basalt canyon walls of the West Fork Gila River, and he apparently fell over 220 feet, fracturing his skull, jaw, left forearm, and right femur. My wife and I were emt rangers, treated him AFTER HE WALKED out of the wilderness to the Gila Cliff Dwellings Contact Station. Luckily for him walking in the river had numbed his injuries, and preventing shock! He was then transported to the Silver City Hospital, where he was stabilized and his parents contacted... Very sobering and if only Chris had had similar luck as the Moral is it was a kind of suicide for him to attempt the metaphysical and real adventure he undertook!!!

[pezar]

This is a disctinct possibilty! Asberger Syndrome is a form of autism that Chris appeared to be a text book example high achiever that was distant and unemotional high morals, etc. Just a side note I do certainly identify with Chris, same age if he would have survived. I had similar misadventures as a teen ager but seemed to grow beyond that stage and I later as a park ranger encounterd Alexander Supertramp descibles in Montana, New Mexico, where ever wilderness persists..
A young man, a vertual clone of chris McCandless had burned a centuries old alligator juniper to stay warm, as it was early Feb. in the Gila Wilderness. Mike...... was about that idealistic age 18-23, later tried to free climb the basalt canyon walls of the West Fork Gila River, and he apparently fell over 220 feet, fracturing his skull, jaw, left forearm, and right femur. My wife and I were emt rangers, treated him AFTER HE WALKED out of the wilderness to the Gila Cliff Dwellings Contact Station. Luckily for him walking in the river had numbed his injuries, and preventing shock! He was then transported to the Silver City Hospital, where he was stabilized and his parents contacted... Very sobering and if only Chris had had similar luck as the Moral is it was a kind of suicide for him to attempt the metaphysical and real adventure he undertook!!!

If I remember right, Gila Bend is in the area where Everett Ruess, the Great Depression era wanderer who is mentioned in the book as analogous to Chris, was camping and disappeared, likely drowning in a river during the winter when the flow would have been fast and ice cold. I don't know what it is about the desert, I guess young men like to push themselves against the harsh environment, and see if they can make it. The area where Chris died in Alaska is similar to a desert in Alaskan terms from what I gather, very little game, very little wood for fires, covered in snow most of the year. I really think Chris knew that the likelihood of him surviving Alaska was slim, from what he told Wayne Westerberg he seems to have realized he didn't have a very good chance, yet he still did it. Why, we can only speculate. I'd like to hear more stories of your encounters with Chris wannabees, you can post them in general discussion.

[GoNorth]

I really think Chris knew that the likelihood of him surviving Alaska was slim, from what he told Wayne Westerberg he seems to have realized he didn't have a very good chance, ...

You think? I don't. I really believe it was just the other way round. That he was aware of the fact that he was taking certain risks, but he felt his chandes were rather good to handle it all.

[Anewanddifferentsun]

I really think Chris knew that the likelihood of him surviving Alaska was slim, from what he told Wayne Westerberg he seems to have realized he didn't have a very good chance, ...

You think? I don't. I really believe it was just the other way round. That he was aware of the fact that he was taking certain risks, but he felt his chandes were rather good to handle it all.

Take another look at what Chris told Jim Gallien before Gallien dropped him off at the head of the Stampede Trail. (on page 6 in the book: "I'm absolutely positive I won't run into anything I can't deal with on my own." Gallien also offered to buy him some gear. "No, thanks anyway. I'll be fine with what I've got."
Upon his return to the U.S. from his trek to the Sea of Cortez, Chris, when visiting with the young German couple in the Grand Canyon (yes, the movie has him meeting the couple BEFORE he goes to Mexico), notes in his journal that he's suffered malnutrition (lost 25 pounds) but that his "spirit is soaring." This is more evidence he knew what he faced. I think the film nails it in the Jan/Alex water scene in which the Primo Levi "Bear Meat" excerpt is read. Chris sought the most ancient of human conditions with only his hands and his head.

[bobenns]

This is the last you shall hear from me Wayne.

If this adventure proves fatal and you don't ever hear from me again, I want you to know your a great man. I now walk into the wild.

Based on this, his last communique, it almost sounds like he intended to stay out there for the rest of his life.

Later realizing he was going to perish he tried to get out. But when he found he couldn't cross the river he practically resigns himself to his fate.

If he had walked along the river he might have found the tram about a half mile downstream, but the river gets faster and more dangerous downstream.
Upstream there are braided areas where the river is broken up and much wider. He may have explored some of that area, he certainly still had plenty of time on his hands at that point.

[GoNorth]

This is the last you shall hear from me Wayne.

If this adventure proves fatal and you don't ever hear from me again, I want you to know your a great man. I now walk into the wild.

Based on this, his last communique, it almost sounds like he intended to stay out there for the rest of his life.

Yes, it ALMOST sounds like that. But I don't think that that's what he really intended. He would have lied to a lot of people otherwise - including Jim Gallian -, whom he had told that he intended to spend a few months in the wilderness of AK and then get back.

I rather think it was just his writing style. A bit melodramatic here and there. Like the stuff he wrote on wood in the bus.

[marcym]

Understand the human soul is very difficult ... I don’t think that Chris was autistic ... so sincerely certain messages outraged the memory of him. He was passionate about the study of anthropology at the University ...Perhaps his escape was an escape from everyday life, in part by himself but was also the desire to look around to see more things to know more things, the transcend him in low funds as Jack London or Kerouac or different anthropologists as they did not necessarily mean that he was autistic, similarly is not that all individuals with a high intelligence are psychotic.
Sorry but I don't understand ...A man who tries himself to" evolve "is necessarily sick? No, absolutely not ! I read on various forums that some people associate Chris autistic, schizophrenic etc ... maybe it was just a boy pushed by an irresistible urge to freedom to pursue an ideal romantic ...
Autistic because he went into the forest to stand alone? And if he just put himself in a difficult experience to then go back to life? And if it was just a man unsure in need every day to prove to himself his value? And if he felt the need to purify his soul?
But have you seen some of the photos he took in Alaska? He smiled so beautiful, so happy! For me it was sick but only a spirit free!

Of course, I accept the opinions of those who don't think like me but did not agree and I would defend a man so romantic ... and then it was just a young guy!
Marci.

[GoNorth]

I don’t think that Chris was autistic ...

Me neither.

I also agree with the rest of your post, in principle.