Compare And Contrast Davidson And Mccandless

Into The Whiteness: A Comparative Essay of Tracks and Into the Wild

Society views those who venture into the wild either as brave or as fools, and this all depends on their survival. Robyn Davidson and Chris McCandless are examples of such adventurers. Davidson tells her own story of how she crossed the west Australian desert to the Indian Ocean in 1971 with a pack of camels and her dog in her novel, Tracks. McCandless’s story of how he left his family and home for the wild is told by Jon Krakauer in Into the Wild, written years after McCandless’s unfortunate death in Alaska in 1992. Davidson and McCandless have many similarities, and differences, in their own relationships with media, gender, technology, marginal people, nature, and survival,

but what connects these two adventurers is their positon of white privilege and how it affects these relationships.
Abraham Maslow, a psychologist, theorized the hierarchy of needs.

He believed that only when one level of needs was met, another could be achieved. He proposed five levels, at the bottom is basic biological needs, then one’s safety needs, a need for love and affection, needs for esteem, both self-esteem and respect from others, and at the top was the need for self-actualization. Both Davidson and McCandless were on a quest for self-actualization, and from that we can infer that they had conquered all other levels of needs. Maslow theorizes that people who do not achieve the full hierarchy, do not achieve it because of deterrents in society, such as racism, homophobia and sexism. Although Davidson is a women and lived in a “cult of misogyny” (Davidson, 18) in Australia, her and McCandless were both hetero, supposedly, and came from well to do, Caucasian families putting them in a position of privilege. Also, one can infer from the fact that they are both willing to put their biological needs at risk, that they had never been in the positon previously in which their wellness was threatened. For example, someone who had previously been at risk of dying of hunger would never put themselves at risk of running out of food again. NEED

TRANSITION.
Even though both adventurers wanted to fully immerse themselves in nature, media heavily affected both of them and the journeys they took. Davidson was dependent on National Geographic funding her trip. With a promise that she would write an article for them when she returned they in turn gave her the funds that would allow her to go on this excursion, which they would later capitalize on. This deal ended up taking away some of the solitude of her trip, due to a photographer came along sporadically to take photos of her journey. Davidson’s deal with National Geographic came about because what she was doing was unique and uncommon in a women, especially an attractive, university educated and white woman. Whilst Davidson’s trip was made possible by media, media is what drove McCandless on his journey. McCandless was an avid reader and was inspired by authors such as Jack London and Henry Thoreau. When they found Chris’s body they found many novels with passages highlighted giving us insight into his way of thinking. In particular, Chris idolized Jack London, he even engraved “Jack London is king” on a piece of wood found with his dead body. Chris emulated London by mirroring an Alaskan adventure he took. Krakauer points out although that Chris gave London too much credit and often forgot that the stories he was reading were fiction. Krakauer states, “McCandless conveniently overlooked the fact that London himself had spent just as single winter in the North and that he’d died by his own hand on his California Estate at the age of forty, a fatuous drunk, obese and pathetic”. (Krakauer, 44) Chris’s eagerness to emulate his literary hero made him feel indestructible, a naivety that can be contributed to his seemingly ideal life. Interestingly, all the literary hero’s McCandless looked up to were males, people Davidson herself would not have been to identify with.
The binaries of gender are something that no matter race or class are unfortunately imposed upon us; while Davidson went on her trek to escape these binaries, McCandless went on his to chase after the atypical male roles.

One can consider Davidson’s trek a feminist quest to break down traditional gender roles. Early on in her tale Davidson informs the reader of Australia’s history of misogyny, how women were brought over with sheep when the men realized that’s all the island needed. By comparing women to sheep in her writing, Davidson shows the reader how little is thought of women’s worth, how women are timid, weak and sheepish. By independently going across the desert she is openly defying the roles pushed on her by the society in which she was raised. McCandless’s relationship with his gender differs greatly, probably due to the fact that his does not have as many constricting binaries. In his quest to emulate his literary heroes, McCandless’s journey is not only one to find himself, but to also return to the historical role of a man, a role that had nothing to do with modern

technologies.
Both protagonist’s aim is to find themselves in nature so they naturally have a complicated relationship with technology. Davidson try’s to limit to her exposure to technology as much as possible on her trek. She only grudgingly takes a radio with her at the insistence of her family. Davidson even admits to her foolishness in her decision to not want a radio, ”I didn’t need it, didn’t want to think of it sitting up there, tempting me, didn’t want that mental crutch, or physical link with the outside world. Foolish I suppose.” (Davidson, 97) The fact that she has the opportunity to have technology to bring with her is an example of her privilege, and the fact she refuses it, is an example of her naivety. Furthermore, she tries to avoid roads and cars throughout her journey, even though it could have made it easier for her. These desperate attempts to distance herself from society, show that she is trying to escape her privileged life and her whiteness. McCandless shares similar views on technology. While before his trek he adored his car, a Datsun he bought in high school, but he abandoned it when he began his journey into the wild. It is evident that Chris romanticized the atypical quest romance, the conquering of nature and the clear moral divides, and technology did not play a role in his idea of this. McCandless also pushed himself away from technology because his constant quest for independence, his sister Carine states, “…it was important for him to see how independent he could be”. (Krakauer 125) The fact that McCandless has to work to gain independence shows that he was privileged enough to have people who wanted to support him, from his family, the many people he met along his trip. This support may have not been extended to him if he had not