Christopher Johnson McCandless’ remains were found in early September of 1992 at a remote campsite in the Alaskan interior, where he had been dead for an estimated three to four month due to starvation. Chris McCandless was a very private person. He was also intelligent and had many skills and talents. He had his own way of looking at things and thinking things through. He was very stubborn, strong willed, independent and obsessed with the wilderness. Chris McCandless had been endowed with economic advantages and a comfortable life by his parents, he had a college education and had a very bright future ahead of him. In spite the fact that he was living a life of privilege, Chris McCandless, after completing what he saw as his duties as a son, chose to discard his belongings and all his money and hitch hiked from his home in Atlanta to Alaska. Chris McCandless planned to live off the land in Alaska alone, purposely leaving behind his family and friends as well as society as a whole. What made Chris McCandless act in such a rash manner is not certain and there is only narrow evidence that could be interpreted in many ways. Through out his adventure, Chris McCandless made many decision, as well as many mistakes and misjudgments that ultimately cost him his life.

    After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, Chris McCandless gave away
the balance of his savings account (twenty-four thousand dollars) to OXFAM, a charity
which ironically fought to defeat starvation, he rid himself of material possessions and became Alex Supertramp. Chris McCandless had many motivations for leaving his affluent lifestyle, society, as well as his family and friends. One assumption as to why he wanted to abandon everything and everyone is that Chris McCandless was ashamed of this privileged life. He was embarrassed by the fact that all he had was not based on merit and that he was given everything by his parents. When he was only eight years old, Chris McCandless would go door to door selling vegetables that he would grow himself. “By the time he came home, the wagon would be empty, and he’d have a bunch of money in his hands.” (115.) I think that just as he was always off  by himself, even at age eight, Chris McCandless was aware that he had done nothing to earn a better life than anyone else and was ashamed that all he had was given to him. I think he naively went out to sell vegetables to prove to himself that he was capable of earning money, that he didn’t need his parents, and in a way that he could provide for himself.

    Control and authority are some of the things that Chris McCandless had a hard time with. He felt restricted by society and its rules. To rebel against society and the law, Chris McCandless did unlawful things such as sneaking into Mexico on a canoe with out a passport or permits. He also drove with out the proper documents. When he was asked if he had a hunting license he replied, “Hell, no. How I feed myself is none of the government’s business. Fuck their stupid rules.” (6.)

    Also, Chris McCandless’s father was overly controlling and he might have seen this as a motive for leaving everything behind as well. “Given Walt’s need to exert control and Chris’s extravagantly independent nature, polarization was inevitable.” (64.) Chris McCandless was trying to get away from his father’s control. Chris McCandless and his father were both very stubborn. With these opposite qualities conflict was preordained.

    Another motive Chris McCandless had for wanting to abandon society was that he wanted to go away to do some spiritual soul searching which he could not do with in society because he felt confined by it. Chris McCandless was a very talented and creative soul. He was musical and artsy. He played the French horn, guitar and piano. “Alex could really play. I mean he was good. We were all blown away by it.” (68.) He also did what some would call, “beautiful,” artwork on strips of leather. In my experiences, I have seen that most of the creative souls are very intelligent and troubled by deep thoughts. “I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking. Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often. A couple times I tried to tell him it was a mistake to get too deep into that kind of stuff, but Alex got stuck on things. He always had to know the absolute right answer before he could go on to the next.” (18.) Creative intellectuals are always trying to find out who and what they’re about or why the world is so twisted and the not knowing part of it all is what drives them to extremes.
  

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      Just the idea of living off the land in the Alaskan Bush was dangerous, but Chris McCandless actually carried out this idea. He went to very dangerous extremes to try to get away from everything and to find himself and his truth. He took many risks to get to Alaska such as hitch hiking and walking on the side of the road for long periods of time. He could have easily gotten mugged, ran over and killed.

        Not only did Chris McCandless take severe risks while he was a leather tramp on the road and on his way to Alaska, but once at the Alaskan Bush, Chris McCandless took extreme risks there as well. Walking into the wild, Chris McCandless didn’t bring much of anything. For food he planned to hunt. He had with him a .22 caliber riffle which was not nearly large enough to kill enough game for him to survive very long in the country, and he did not bring nearly enough food with him either. To get deep enough into the wild Chris McCandless had to cross a frozen river that could have easily been thin ice.

    One of his gravest mistakes was that he did not tell anyone how long he planned to stay there. Had he told someone, sooner or later they would have gone looking for him and they might have found him in time to save him. Thinking through how long he actually planned to stay would have also been a good idea because when it came time to leave, he could have calculated it to be around the time when the river was still frozen so he could cross with less danger.  Another grave mistake Chris McCandless made was that he did not take with him a map. Had he taken one with him he could have found a safer route to cross the river.

    In spite of all his misjudgments and mistakes, Chris McCandless seems like a very intelligent person. My philosophy on life is that if there is anything I should get to know in this life, it is what feels right to me and my true self. Chris McCandless was willing to give up everything to know truth and to know himself to the fullest. He gave up money and possessions and comfort and a hot shower everyday for the sake of being satisfied and comfortable with himself.

    When I heard about the story and listening to some of the mistakes Chris McCandless made, it was easy to judge him and join everyone else and call him a “Kook,” but now having read his story, I’ve come to realize that he was very much how my friends and I are now. Of course, none of my friends, nor I, have ever tried to live alone in Alaska, and I don’t think we ever will, but we’ve done some pretty stupid and reckless things for the sake of having our own adventures. We, like most teenagers, let ourselves be coated by negativity and try to mask our depth with Whatever’s and  I don’t care’s, then we turn to our thrills and desperately try to make sense of the chaos around us. We allow ourselves to dwell and over analyze problems because, at least I think, that if I am able to overcome a problem then it shows I have some control over what happens to me, and in the end, I think that is what everyone, including Chris McCandless, is look for. Everyone is looking to be in control of themselves.