Chris Mccandless In Jon Krakauer's 'Into The Wild'

Over 3,000 people a year go reportedly missing in Alaska (Theatlantic.com). This is double than any other state in the country. So what made Chris McCandless think he was going to be one of those people that didn’t go missing and die out in the harsh Alaskan wilderness? In Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, tells us the story of Chris McCandless.Chris McCandless was a smart college grad who decided after graduating to cut communication with everyone and go to the west coast. He floated around only staying at places for a short time and just getting to know people, but not enough to make Chris think they were friends. Chris’s endpoint of his journey was Alaska and anyone who talked to him knew this. Chris Mccandless was reckless in his pursuit

of adventure because he was unprepared, selfish, and overall reckless.
The number one rule of camping is be prepared, and it’s the last rule Chris followed.

Chris went into some of the harshest wilderness with a rifle too small, a sack of rice that wasn’t big enough, and clothes that weren’t warm enough. He would have been dead a lot quicker if his driver, Jim, didn’t offer any of his gear. “I offered to take him into town and buy him some real gear but he said he would be fine with what he had” (6). Jim was trying to help Chris out by wanting to take him to get proper equipment but Chris denied him like how he denies most help. This also shows how Jim thought he was unprepared for the wild because he wanted him to get better and proper equipment. In the end Jim was able to convince Chris to take his snowshoes, giving Chris a better chance of survival. Chris might have known his gear wasn’t good enough but they didn't stop him from going out into the wild. “It was this wonderful thing about [Christopher McCandless] and his downfall because he believed that it's wrong to get too comfortable in life (Jon Krakauer on the Oprah Winfrey show). Jon saw in Chris how he thought that nothing in life should be easy. This could be a reason as to why Chris went into the wild with the wrong type of equipment and not enough of it. Chris was just trying to make sure that things would not be easy for him out in the wilderness. Going out into the harsh Alaskan wilderness with the wrong gear and not enough of it is never a smart

idea.
Chris started his journey across the west coast simply because he wanted to. This led him to think of himself and forgot about the people that cared about him. Chris was a great kid that almost everyone who met him liked the kid. He rubbed off on people in a good way. “And now he’d slipped painlessly out of Ron Franz’s life as well."(55). Ron Franz was someone that took a bigger interest in Chris than most of the other people Chris met. He gave Chris shelter in his house and tried to take care of him. During the time they were together Ron became very attached to Chris and Chris, as usual, didn’t think anything of it. This quote shows how Chris thought he just slipped out but in reality he really hurt Ron. When Ron found out Chris died in the wild he brought back his dirty habit of drinking after being sober for 22 years. Chris was always thinking of himself and not others. “I’m going to completely knock them out of my life. I’m going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live. I’ll be through with them once and for all, forever.” (83). Chris’s parents, Walt and Billie, cared deeply for their son. Walt tried to talk to Chris after he nearly died having been lost in the Mojave Desert. He was aware of his son’s inability to accept authority, but wanted to protect him anyway. During Chris’s adventure he never once called his parents, he even left without telling them where or what he was doing. Chris never took the time to think what would happen to them if anything happened to him. McCandless was only out for himself and no one else.
The first rule of having fun is also being safe.

Multiple times he risked his life when it could have be easily avoided. One of Chris’s adventures was to take the Colorado River to the Gulf of California, without a map. “All hopes collapse! The canal does not reach the ocean but merely peters out into a vast swap.” (35). Chris’s game of randomly picking which way to take proved to not work when he reached a dead end. He would have been dead if a group of duck hunters didn’t pick him up and take him to Tijuana. Chris didn't see the risk of canoeing into Mexico unprepared and almost dying. He once again got saved by some random help. “if you plan everything out completely from beginning to end, you destroy your chance for adventure”(107). His mindset of doing everything freely, made Chris’s adventure very dangerous. He had no plans for food, shelter, or income which is not smart because if you don't find food or water for a week you end up dead. Some might say that Chris was just trying to be himself and go out and explore the world. This is ok except there are a ton of ways to do this safely. The amount of risks Chris took on his adventure made it an overall reckless adventure. If he truly cared about his safety he would always bring enough food and water to survive and he would know the area he was going

into.
Chris was overall reckless, selfish, and unprepared. He put himself, his family, and others in danger in multiple different ways during his journey. There are a lot of Chris’s out their that want to go off and do their own thing and that's ok but they have to be safe about it. Like your parents always said, safety first. Keeping your parents informed about your whereabouts is also a must if you decide to go off and do your own thing. If you run off because you feel like no one cares about you that's a bad reasons because their is always someone there for you. Even if it is your parents there's always someone or somebody there for you. As you can see tell people what you are doing if you are ever doing something dangerous.