Essay On Christopher Mccandless

Over a decade ago, the body of Christopher McCandless was found in bus 142 in Alaska. He was almost completely decomposed and nobody had known what happened to him. Many say he was a young man looking for his purpose in the world while others say he allowed his dreams to take over and ultimately take his life. McCandless was more than that, he was not just an ill prepared youngster taking on the world without knowing much about it, he was a traveler seeking for a more meaningful life. Christopher Johnson McCandless came from a well-to-do family, he was considered intelligent and even graduated from Emory University in 1990. He had everything going for him in life, he probably would have had a bright future as well, but it seems like McCandless wanted more in life than just money and materialistic possessions. He did not long for relationships or companionship like most people do, his main goal was traveling to Alaska and living there in the wild.

Whichever the case may be, nearly all of those who came into contact with McCandless had said that he was an intelligent young man who had a future. Westerberg was the first person McCandless met while starting his journey into the wild. "You could tell right away that Alex was intelligent" (p. 18) is how he is described by Westerberg. Alex, was the persona Chris McCandless made when he moved on to his new life, Alex Supertramp. Alex Supertramp was McCandless’ alias, his new name into his new life of hitchhiking and living all on his own. Alex was the name that was used from start to end. "No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny" (p. 23) shows how committed he was in this adventure and how he truly wanted to get rid of his old life. The old life where he had parents he constantly fought and a life where he was seemingly just not meant to