Summary Of Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

In 1992, an article was written in Outside magazine about a young man that was found having starved to death in a bus in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. After the search for his identity proved fruitful, it was released that the young man’s name was Christopher J. McCandless. Several people wrote to the magazine claiming to have met him at some point in his grand adventure to Alaska, all of them describing how Chris had impacted and inspired them. Through extensive fieldwork and investigation, author Jon Krakauer was able to piece together Chris’s trail over the course of a couple years; most of which was found in the many journals he kept. These journals and personal experiences showed that Chris was a naive, conceded, ill-prepared

kid who didn’t know what he was getting himself into. He bit off more than he could chew, romanticizing the idea of the great outdoors and the last frontier. The whole point of “living off the land” is to live, which he failed to do. If he wished to achieve his great goal of conquering nature or becoming one with it, he should have done more research, learned more about what he would be encountering, and acquired basic survival skills. Surviving four months in Alaska may have been a high hurdle to jump for him, but coming out alive would have been an indescribable achievement that he alone would have experienced, which is most likely something he wanted. Chris McCandless is an arrogant narcissist which contributed to his death in the way that he thought he knew what he was doing and could handle it all on his own but lacked the necessary skills to execute his great plan.
Chris had cut all communications with his family due to his resentment of and disconnect to his well-off parents. He was more concerned with social issues and hated that people relied on material possessions to keep them happy. He refused to accept any gifts because he felt it was disgusting that society relied so heavily on material things. Chris himself believed it was more important to see what it was like to live without those luxuries since he had never known anything other than the good life. Anything he ever wanted or needed, he could have. He became entirely disgusted with that idea and decided that in order to suck the marrow out of his life, he had to be one with nature. One must live off the land in order to be truly successful. The problem with this idea is that since he grew up having everything handed to him, Chris never fully learned the basic survival skills every person should have. Even though he studied nature and had books about scientific plants, he wasn’t able to live long enough to tell his Alaskan tale. Perhaps if he had brought more suitable equipment and made departure arrangements he would have made it out alive. Jim Gallien, the man who dropped Alex off in Alaska, claimed, “His gear seemed exceedingly minimal for the harsh conditions of the interior [...],” (5). He didn’t bring a sufficient rifle, compass, map, or anything else that would be important for surviving the harsh terrain. This just shows how ill-prepared and arrogant Chris was in thinking he could survive in Alaska without the necessary tools to do so.
Chris was mostly a solitary person save for the exception of the emotional bonds he created with the people he met on the way to living his dream.

He let so many people get close to him knowing he was only going to leave. It wasn’t just strangers that he met along the way, Chris also encountered his very own family. He held all their mail without answering, then left them without a trace for them to worry sick about where he may be and if he is or is not safe. No matter how much you disagree with your parents it is in no way acceptable to run away with no notice of when or if you’ll ever return. Not only did he withhold his whereabouts from his parents, Chris refused to tell his younger sister, Carine, either. He didn’t want his parents finding out where he was through Carine so he didn’t respond to any of them. His mother, Billie McCandless, recalls, “It made [his father and me] very, very worried,”(22). It wasn’t fair of him to do to them. Several of the friends Chris met on the road tried to get him to call home and tell his parents that he’s alive and well. He refused every time. It would remind one of a toddler throwing a temper tantrum and denying their parents attention. This proves Chris’s lack of maturity to take responsibility for his actions, including the acquiring proper equipment and admitting when he should have just called home. He was, in no way, mature enough to make it out in the wild

alone.
Not only was Chris immature, he was also not sound of mind.

More than a few times was his strangeness brought up in conversation. He often got lost in thought and was thought to be somewhat emotional. Charlie, a man who allowed Chris to live in his trailer for about a month, wonders,“[Chris] didn’t like to be around too many people, though. Temperamental. [...] He’d get moody, wouldn’t like to be bothered. Seemed like a kid who was looking for something, looking for something, just didn’t know what it was”(42). This quote is similar to the way the rock climbing movement began in the 50’s (based on a documentary on the increased interest in rock climbing). Teens of the time were not happy with the way everything seemed so perfect, so plastic. They felt they were looking for something, but never knew what until they started simply climbing rocks. The higher they got, the more of a thrill it was. This is sort of a metaphor referencing Chris. The farther he got from home and his old life, the closer he was to finding that something. However, this is like teaching a child that too much of a good thing can be just as bad. In the end, the “too much” was the Alaskan wilderness that overtook him. His one great dream ended up being the main factor in his ultimate demise. Had he learned when enough was enough of his grand adventure, Chris could have

survived.
In conclusion, it was Chris’s immaturity and arrogant, narcissistic attitude that led to his eventual death. He refused to properly prepare and plan for his adventure and refused to contact anyone for departure plans. He let his dream be the end of him due to poor knowledge of the art of surviving. Although Chris admired the ideals of Thoreau and other famous hermits, spending life in solitude defeats the purpose of happiness. There would be no purpose for mankind if life was meant to be spent alone. From Chris McCandless, we, as a society, can learn that it is important to follow our dreams, but also to be smart about them and know when it’s time to quit. We can’t all survive in the Alaskan wilderness, especially with not enough food or thin, wimpy boots, or any way to sustain ourselves, so to speak. Chris killed himself on his path to finding out what it is to live. Will any of us be dumb enough to do the same?