Into The Wild - Jessica Robbins
Into The Wild Essay
Jessica Robbins
Professor Russell Potter
English 261: Northern Exposures
3, May 2012
Not All Who Wander Are Lost:
My Thoughts on Christopher McCandless
You can sit for hours and ponder the meaning of life. You can write
novels, poems, and short stories on the topic but you’ll never truly
understand the beauty of life until you experience it for yourself,
until you immerse yourself in it. Every person has their own set of
wants, needs, and desires. But it isn’t until you go out and do the
things that you’ve imagined, that you really discover what you love.
Every person has a unique mind; every person has the capacity to
share different views. If you asked every person in the entire world
what they believe the meaning of life is, you would receive several
answers. Many would be different, but most would say something to
the effect of “living a happy, healthy life.” Because we’re all so
different, our own definitions of happiness are bound to differ from
the next person. I believe Christopher McCandless’ definition of
happiness would have been simple. He wanted to find himself, who he
really was deep down. He didn’t want to be the person his parents
wanted him to be, he most certainly didn’t want to be the person
society expected him to be, he wanted to be Alexandar Supertramp. He
wanted the rawness of life itself, the beauty of nature surrounding
him, independence from what society has told us we “need” to
survive. When Chris left everything behind and ventured to Alaska,
he was not crazy, he was not ‘lost’, seeking attention,
unintelligent, or suicidal. “McCandless went into the wilderness not
primarily to ponder nature or the world at large, but rather, to
explore the inner country of his own soul.” (Krakauer, 183)
Since freshman year of high school, I have been fascinated by the
twenty-four year old whose body was found in an abandoned bus off of
the Stampede Trail in Alaska. His death and the debate surrounding
his two year journey to Alaska has become something I am very
passionate about. I have read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, I have
watched the film Into The Wild by Sean Penn numerous times and still
I don’t think they completely captured just much of an amazing
person Chris truly was. Although I was only two years old when Chris
died, I can’t help but admire Chris for what he did, and I wish I
had the pleasure to know him. There are many people who find the
admiration many have developed for Christopher McCandless foolish.
He didn’t write a best-selling novel, or create an award winning
film, he didn’t find the cure to cancer; he traveled to and died in
Alaska. Many people will never understand why his life matters so
much to complete strangers. It saddens me that people tend to only
appreciate the obvious. So easily people lose sight of what it
really important in life. Going on a journey to find yourself is
more important than any realize. Without the people who have found
themselves and their passions, there would be no life changing
discoveries made. Those who have previously made a difference in the
world would all be sitting in their homes thinking about the
what-ifs and dreaming of the things they could accomplish, instead
of going out and doing them. The world needs more people with the
passion that Chris had.
Even though Chris has admirers, he also has critics. In the eyes of
many, he was a man who was ‘lost’ in every sense of the word. Many
thought that he was not going in the direction his life should have
been headed. Instead of getting a job with his college degree,
getting married, doing ‘normal things’ at his age, he chose to
donate the money that remained in his college fund to a charity
called Oxfam, assumed the name of Alexander Supertramp, deserted all
his family and began a journey all over the country that would
ultimately lead to his great Alaskan adventure. Chris’ death led to
much media attention, which in turn, led to some strong opinions
about the boy who called himself Alexandar Supertramp. “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.” (Krakauer, Author’s Note)
If you type “Christopher McCandless” into google various types of
sites will appear with various opinions. Some are in memory of
Chris, others list all the ways Chris could have survived if he just
used common sense, brought a map, and knew more about Alaska. So
many people believe that Chris threw his life away for no reason,
and that perhaps his greatest sin was how badly he hurt his family.
Not only was Chris careless in critics eyes, he was also seen as
inconsiderate to his family. The fact that Chris never bothered to
let his family, specifically his parents, know where he was when he
was gone for two years stirred up emotion in the public. I don’t
believe that he did this to intentionally hurt his family in anyway.
Chris was a person who was very kindhearted. Although I believe he
clearly had to have had been at odds with his parents in some way to
venture out on this journey, he didn’t hate them or want to hurt
them. I honestly believe he just wanted a clear mind, one that
wasn’t filled with thoughts of his parents. The film Into the Wild,
I believe, places too great an emphasis on the relationship with his
parents. During the film there are flashbacks to Chris and his
sister hiding as his parents are loudly arguing and frequently
fighting. Although it is possible that his parents had an unhealthy
relationship, I don’t believe their relationship played any role in
Chris setting out on his journey at the time he did. He did so
because he was finally done with college, and it was the right time
for him to embark on his adventure because he now had numerous hours
of free time. He didn’t contact his parents because he knew that it
would worry them, and that they would go out and find him and force
him to come home. Chris clearly didn’t want any relationship with
any person getting in the way of him discovering his true self, even
if it was his family. Some would classify this as extremely selfish,
but he had completed college like his parents had expected him to
and had been an almost model son. He had followed society’s rules
and guidelines long enough. His decision to exclude his parents from
his plans wasn’t to hurt them, but to be able to be able to better
himself and finally find his own happiness- not the happiness others
tried to force down his throat.
In my opinion, people today are petrified of everything that
surrounds them, as well as the thoughts that veer us away from
society’s standards. We as people are told what is good for us, what
is bad for us, what smart decisions are, what awful decisions are,
and what we should do with our lives. Generally, we conform
ourselves to what society wants and expects us to be. We get so
worried that we won’t fit in, or won’t be accepted. The average
person doesn’t take major risks or chances in their lifetime, they
simply play it safe and do what they think is right for them.
Christopher McCandless wasn’t one of these people. He didn’t care
what people thought of him. He was a truly unique soul. It takes a
great amount of courage to set your mind to something, and to
fulfill that goal no matter what the costs are, no matter what
people will think of you. I obviously cannot be sure of what Chris’
exact thoughts and goals were, but I feel like I have a good idea of
what they were. For years I have racked my brain trying to find the
answers to what makes me happy and what I want to do with my life.
So many possibilities have crossed my mind, and I have given myself
so many headaches, that there have been days where I’ve just wanted
to get away from everyone and immerse myself in complete silence. I
feel like Chris could have not only related to my feelings but that
he also experienced them. Chris’ motivation to find himself is
unlike anything I have seen before. He was willing to risk
everything he had for his great Alaskan adventure. I think the
reason many people call him crazy for what he did is because they
envied him in a way. They’re jealous because they’ve never had a
passion for anything that strong in their entire life. As a teacher
at Alaska Pacific University says, “ I’m sure there are plenty of
other Alaskans who had a lot in common when they first got here too,
including many of his critics. Which is maybe why they’re so hard on
him. Maybe MCandless reminds them a little too much of their former
selves.” (Krakauer, 186)
Over the years, through much research I’ve done online, it has come
to my attention that Chris was in fact in possession of a map,
identification, and money, all of which is omitted from the book
Into the Wild, as well as the film by Sean Penn. Obviously this
information would be omitted or altered in both to show viewers and
readers just how serious Chris was about being alone and
disconnected from society, and of course because it made much more
of a statement. In the film, Chris not only burns all of his money,
but he also cuts up his social security card, license, virtually
every form of identification he owned- and later burned them as
well. Chris apparently carried “a wallet with multiple sources of
identification and $300 in cash, as well as a map.” Even with this
information, I personally don’t see his story as any less
stouthearted. It makes his story more tragic in my opinion. Because
he was carrying various forms of identification on him, he clearly
wasn’t abandoning society forever. He wanted to return someday.
Perhaps he would have wrote a book about his journey and what he
realized the meaning of life was while immersed in the wilderness.
Maybe he would have explained to his parents why he never contacted
them. Chris inspired so many people from his documentation of his
Alaskan journey, I feel that he could have inspired so many more in
his later years of life if he was given more time on this earth. But
really if you stop to think about it though, no one would have known
his story if he survived.
I believe Chris was very much aware of how lucky he truly was. I
don’t think for a second that he took his life for granted. I also
believe he was well aware of the risks. He knew that he was not an
experienced hunter, and was also aware that he didn’t know if he
would be able to handle everything that Alaska had to offer. He was
an intelligent young man, not a careless one. People too often
mistake courageousness for stupidity in my eyes. It takes a great
deal of courage to travel somewhere you’ve never been before, on
your own, with little provisions. I’m nineteen years old, and I cry
when I get lost in Providence. Yes, everyone’s different, and has
different fears, but being alone in a foreign area is one of the
scariest experiences for me. Chris wasn’t scared in any way, because
he wasn’t lost. He was home because he had found his happiness. If
you read Back To The Wild: The Photographs and Writings of
Christopher McCandless you can feel Chris’ smile emanating right off
the pages. In every picture of Chris, he has a grin from ear to ear
that can’t help but make you smile. Even in the last photograph
Chris took of himself where he realizes he is starving and too weak
to return home, he holds a hand in the air and has a giant smile on
his face. “I have had a happy life and thank the Lord, goodbye and
may God bless all!” is what reads on the card held in his free hand.
There is something so painfully beautiful about that image to me.
One of society’s greatest fears today is death. We’re so wrapped up
in our fears of the unknown, and what we haven’t experienced in our
lives. But Chris, on the brink of death, is not hiding in fear, but
smiling. I firmly believe it is because he found his happiness, his
passion, his meaning of life; living simply in nature, in the wild.
The Alaskans who live in the wilderness that Chris ventured to not
only don’t understand his story, but find him incredibly stupid and
disrespectful. They claim that he didn’t know enough about the land,
didn’t bring enough with him to survive, and didn’t think anything
through. What they don’t understand is that he was challenging
himself. Of course Chris took things to an extreme, but what he was
doing was not wrong in any way, shape, or form. He wasn’t hurting
anyone, he knew the risks that he was taking, he had a good head on
his shoulders, he researched the plant life of Alaska, and carried a
rifle with him. Chris was trying his best to live as simply as he
could. He wanted to be one with nature, and be able to appreciate
every aspect of it. Back To The Wild: The Photographs and Writings
of Christopher McCandless shows almost every meal that Chris
consumed while he was in Alaska. In many photographs he took a
picture of the animal prior to butchering and then again afterwards.
I feel as though he was trying to document these moments of his
transformation. He was becoming the person he had always desired to
be. He was now able to live off of the land, despite having
virtually no hunting experience. What everyone fails to remember, is
that Chris was successful and survived on his own for months before
he died. Just about a month before his death, Chris underlined a
passage from Thoreau’s Walden “If the day and night are such that
you great them with joy and life emits a fragrance like flowers and
sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal,
that is your success…The greatest gains and values are the farthest
from being appreciated.” (Back To the Wild, 220) Chris’ gains and
values may not have been appreciated by all, but they were by many.
The life of Christopher McCandless has impacted my life and inspired
me, like many others to write an essay about the man who called
himself Alexandar Supertramp. Though I will never get the
opportunity to meet him, I am so thankful to have known his story,
his struggles, and his values. The risks he took, the words that
came from his heart during his final days in Alaska will always be
stuck in my mind. The fact that Chris went on a two year journey of
self-discovery, almost makes me feel guilty for not doing the same.
If more people took the time to discover their true selves, I
believe the world would be a much more peaceful, happier, beautiful
place. Christopher McCandless will always have his critics no matter
how many years pass, but there will also be those like myself- those
who recognize him as a courageous individual who touched the lives
of many.
