Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild: Wilderness Hero or Idiot Youth

Young Christopher McCandless aspired to take on the world and utilize his strength to survive in the wilderness. He had very few justifications for going into the wilderness without the necessary supplies and gear to last at least a month. But one of those motivations sprang from a desire to travel the hero’s path and become a hero of the wild. He was slightly missing the necessary supplies and tools, as well as the proper attitude, to do this. This is his complete adventure since he chose to go on it despite his predicament and lack of supplies.

Instead than waiting to be challenged, Chris McCandless had set a goal for himself that he was prepared to try to achieve. His challenge was to leave his suburban Virginia house alone, go into the wilderness alone, and hitchhike all the way into Alaska. He was an intelligent student who had excelled in high school. But as soon as he received his honors diploma from Emory College, he had vanished from view. Due to his hasty choice to go without considering the repercussions, he was left without someone to assist him on his quest. As stated on the webpage

But McCandless managed to hitchhike all the way to the Alaska/Canada border, where he started his epic trek up the Stampede Trail to the north of Mount McKinley. The third stage of the hero’s journey, which calls for the hero to “Cross the threshold from his typical, safe home and to join the extraordinary realm and adventure,” was completed at this point. The border between Alaska and Canada would have served as the special place in this scenario, and McCandless’ voyage would have started on the Stampede Trail. He also made his last trip away from home at this period, since he would later on in his adventure become lost and starve to death in the woods.

McCandless encountered the difficulty of not obtaining a ride while hitchhiking as he valiantly advanced into stage 4 of the hero’s journey. Even if he has some excellent plans for traveling to Alaska, not everyone will want to pick up a hitchhiker since doing so would be dangerous on the side of the driver as you never know what a hitchhiker may do to you if they get in your vehicle. McCandless makes the decision to try to pick up a hitchhiker despite being aware of the risks and manages to do it relatively fast. The driver who picked him up offered to drive him all the way to Fairbanks, Alaska, as well as to a store along the route so he could get the necessary equipment. McCandless was taken aback by this since he had anticipated never being picked up and having to go the whole distance to Alaska alone. On page 163 of “Into the Wild,” Krakauer claims, “Two years he wanders the planet. No phone, no pool, no animals, and no smoking. absolute freedom the extreme. a traveler under anesthesia whose home is the road. I got away from Atlanta. You must refrain from going back since “the West is the finest.” After two dizzying years, we have finally reached the biggest and lastest experience. This demonstrates how dedicated McCandless was to realize his ambitions of living independently in the wilderness with just a few rides to get to Fairbanks.

The fifth and last leg of his trek into the wild was when he had to confront his darkest fear. McCandless had already been living alone for some time, so he was used to taking care of himself. Although his will and effort were some of the only things that kept him up and going, he was already beginning to weaken from tiredness as the number of trip days increased and climbed. One of his biggest worries of being alone was probably realized when he arrived in Alaska: hunger. He had little prospect of obtaining food quickly where he was going, so he killed a deer only to discover that he lacked the methods to preserve its flesh, meaning he could not consume it. Because he was unable to consume it, he felt as if he had slaughtered an animal without any justification. The rancidity of the deer flesh made him feel as if he was about to physically starve to death. McCandless is on step 6 at this time and feels like he may starve to death. He hurriedly writes a few more desperate requests for assistance in the hopes that a passing hunter would notice one of them. However, it turns out that none of it occurred until McCandless had already died of famine, at which point it was too late.

Since Christopher McCandless passed away before his achievements were first recognized, he skipped stages 7 through the end. At least until Jon Krakauer subsequently published an incredibly evocative essay on him in the magazine “Outside.” Since Krakauer decided to publish this essay on McCandless, his death has gone from being merely generally known to being one of the most well-known of the month, if not the whole year.

Christopher McCandless merits the title of hero, to sum up. He was able to fulfill a desire or passion of travelling into the wild and proving society wrong by surviving in the wild. He made it to Alaska on foot with the aid of just a few rides, he lasted for many months in the wild by himself. He was really overconfident and lacked the self-control to know when to pause and consider his actions. With little to no preparation, he wanted to start the voyage right away, which would result in a number of unavoidable repercussions for him. The summer he was alone, he had also struggled with a lack of appropriate clothing and supplies, which prevented him from being able to cross the flooded river. McCandless was a courageous individual who some may consider heroes and others may not, but I agree with the latter group.