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Amber Sosa

Mrs. Priest

ERWC

16 December 2019

Why Mccandless Went: Prompt #3

There is a sense of yearning in humans to go out and explore their inner, truest self.

While not many will choose to act on their desires, Chris Mccandless sets out to go against the

odds and actually try to live an “on the road” lifestyle to Alaska. Jon Krakauer explores

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Mccandless’s reasoning to act on something so extreme in the book, ​Into the Wild. A

by the book, Mccandless dropped the life that was set up for him by his parents to break free

from the facade his father had lived, be free from modern society, and understand his literary

heroes better.

As mentioned in the book, Mccandless’s upbringing was in a privileged

upper-middle-class home, with both parents and his sister. While his family partook in family

vacations, buying their children new cars, and such. This however frustrated Mccandless and

according to his mother Billie, even “embarrassed by all of that”. Even from a young age,

Mccandless disdain for wealth was prominent, “Her son, the teenage Tolstoyan, believed that

wealth was shameful, corrupting, inherently evil” (115). Mccandless upbringing brought him

shame and made his desire to create a new identity strengthen. Likewise, Krakauer dives into the

complicated family dynamic that had sparked more resentment from Mccandless to his family.

His father Walt, had a previous marriage which Mccandless found out through a road trip he had

taken one summer, that the relationship never truly ended. According to Krakauer, “Walt
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continued his relationship with Marcia in secret, dividing his time between two households, two

families” (121). Mccandless would have every right to feel betrayed by this information, to him,

it’s as if his family has been living in a lie. This would also create fear of passing on

intergenerational trauma and perhaps becoming like his father. In order to break away from that

fear, Mccandless would go and do what his father would disapprove of most, living life unstable,

free from authority, and unhinged. Rather than give in to a societal, cookie-cutter norm,

Mccandless knew that at least once he should try to reach his goal, no matter the consequence or

obstacles.

Likewise, Mccandless had shown a desire to be free from modern society, since a child.

As mentioned earlier, he had a dislike for wealth and his parent’s lifestyle. Yet also, the

injustices he viewed in the world made him appalled at the privileges many around him had.

Krakauer makes mention of his time at Emory, “More and more of the classes he took addressed

such pressing social issues as racism and world hunger and inequities in the distribution of

wealth” (123). Mccandless had realized that the inequalities had only contributed to the

worsening of the state of the world, and for the privileged around him (including himself), he

wanted no part in contributing to it. In fact, by donating his law school money to charity, then

leaving his material goods behind, represents his inner desire to reject modern society and free

from what he deemed the evils of wealth. Another example of Mccandless rejecting modern

society is his inability to try to have deep emotional connections to other people. While

Mccandless is in Salton City, he gets a ride from an older man named Ron Franz. The lonely

elderly man takes Mccandless in like he was his own son, and is willing to go above and beyond

for him. Yet, Mccandless can’t fully reciprocate the emotional bond. When Franz warns
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Mccandless that he needs to change the way he lives, Mccandless takes his advice as an insult to

him, not out of a loving parental way. Instead, Mccandless responds back with, “you don’t need

to worry about me, I have a college education, I’m not destitute. I’m living like this by choice”

(54). Mccandless doesn’t want to be mindful of the wants or emotions of those around him since

the emotional aspect of it actually slows his plan down. Instead of attempting to have emotional

human relationships on the road, his focus is on himself only. Which is quite contrary to the

natural desire to bond with others when we’re lonely.

Furthermore, Mccandless’s biggest romantic inspiration to leave his life behind to be one

with nature is his literary icons. Krakauer sprinkles throughout the book quotes from Jack

London, Henry David Thoreau and Leo Tolstoy, which shows the ultimate connection to

Mccandless actions in the chapters. Inspired by the alter ego of Tolstoy in his writings,

Mccandless changed his name when he began to set off on his journey, “he was now Alexander

Supertramp, master of his own destiny” (23). Him changing his name shows his tribute to the

writer, and the influence it had on his interactions with others. Rather than exposing his true

identity to the people he meets, he’s able to live as this alter-ego to get a sense of the emotions

Tolstoy had felt in his writing. Through this, Mccandless can encapsulate the spirit of his hero in

the most authentic way possible. Another way Mccandles is able to encapsulate another one of

his hero’s spirit is through Thoreau. While Thoreau was known to live in the wild and wrote the

famous essay ​Civil Disobedience, ​which promotes living in a lawless society. Mccandless sets

out to live in this way, his own lawless world which only he creates rules in. Instead of listening

to the advice of others or having convenience goods to live more comfortably, he wants to live in

the natural world the way Thoreau did. Last but not least, London’s writings on Alaska is what
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influences Mccandless to try to travel and live there. According to his friend, Jan Burres, his

obsession with London’s Alaska stories were out of idealization, “that he forgot that they were

works of fiction, constructions of the imagination that had more to do with London’s romantic

sensibilities than the actualities of life in the subarctic wilderness” (44). The logic wasn’t a

pushing force for Mccandless to go out into the wild, but instead the romanticization of what

could be there when he explores it. London’s stories were fictional, but the effect it had on

Mccandless growing up had left him yearning for the romantic notions of nature.

To sum up, Mccandless was a motivated romantic who desires to go into the wild was

driven by his disdain for his family upbringing, rejection of modern society, and his love for his

literary icons. While much could be said about the illogical components of Mccandless’s journey

and decision, he died for something he was passionate about. Rather than dying a uniform death,

something Mccandless countlessly went against, “uniform”, Mccandless died in control of his

own life.