Into The Wild (Nature Writing)

Was McCandless justified in the pain he brought to family and friends in choosing his own solitary course in life? Why or why not?

In 1992 the body of a young man was found in the Alaskan mountains. Chris McCandless, the protagonist of Into the Wild, was searching for his true self, but died in the process. Had Chris survived his solitary adventure as he likely planned, the pain he caused his family and friends could have been justified, but his death made that impossible.

McCandless followed his dreams, did what he wanted to, and pursued happiness, even at the expense of his family’s and friends’ pain. It is good to follow your dreams, and to pursue happiness for yourself; the right to pursue happiness is in our country’s Declaration of Independence. Chris knew this. So he ran away from home. The sudden absence of Chris pained his family, and it would be another two years before they would hear any news about him. Chris was following his dreams.

McCandless began referring to himself by a different name: Alex. “Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road.” says Alex ‘Supertramp’ in May of 1992. In many ways Alex represented another personality inside Chris. Alex was the one who wanted to return when he was on his deathbed in the mountains of Alaska. Chris never intended to return. Chris didn’t care about his family; they were always trying to “buy his love” with their money. Because of this, money was one of the things Chris hated the most. He hated what it turned people into, such as greedy and inhumane. This hatred motivated him to later burn all of his cash and basically live moneyless for two years. His original intentions for his expedition were to get away from money, get away from family, and journey no matter how much it hurt his family. He believed he was justified, but after two years, Chris grew up he realized his intentions were not good.

Some criticized McCandless for being unprepared and untrained. An Alaskan park ranger said, “…he spent very little time learning how to actually live in the wild. He arrived at the Stampede Trail without even a map of the area. If he (had) had a good map he could have walked out of his predicament…Essentially, Chris McCandless committed suicide." McCandless came into the Stampede Trail with a bag full of materials insufficient to keep him alive. It was a wonder that he survived the two-month period that he did. He said in a letter that he was ready to “live off the land for a while”. That was Chris talking. Maybe that was Alex realizing the pain was too great for all and therefore not justified.

McCandless never got to say goodbye to his family, and he died alone in the wild. Some say that’s the way he wanted it, but some say he was going to return. His journal references that he wanted to return home, but some even say he lost his sanity right before his tragic death. The pain caused by his death, in some ways, was justified, and in other ways, it was not. Yes, he was a reckless kid in over his head, but he was also following his dreams. Chris probably never understood the pain he caused his family and friends, and even the many friendly characters he met on his expedition across the continent. The amount of pain Chris brought on by his unnecessary, horrendous, and untimely death cannot be justified.