Into the Wild Synthesis Sources
Source A: Christopher McCandless in his camp on the Stampede Trail (selfportrait found undeveloped in his camera after his death)
Source B: "Chris McCandless from an Alaska Park Ranger's Perspective"
by Peter Christian
Both Chris McCandless and I arrived in Alaska in 1992. We both came to Alaska from the
area around Washington, D.C. We were both about the same age and had a similar idea in
mind; to live a free life in the Alaska wild. Fourteen years later Chris McCandless is dead and I
am living the dream I set out to win for myself. What made the difference in these two
outcomes?
There was nothing heroic or even mysterious about what Chris McCandless did in April 1992.
Like many Alaskans, I read Jon Krakauer's book "Into the Wild" when it first came out and
finished it thinking, " why does this guy rate an entire book?" The fact that Krakauer is a great
outdoor writer and philosopher is the bright spot and it makes a great read, but McCandless was
not something special.
As a park ranger both at Denali National Park, very near where McCandless died, and now at
Gates of the Arctic National Park, even more remote and wild than Denali, I am exposed
continually to what I will call the " McCandless Phenomenon." People, nearly always young
men, come to Alaska to challenge themselves against an unforgiving wilderness landscape where
convenience of access and possibility of rescue are practically nonexistent. I know the
personality type because I was one of those young men.
In fact, Alaska is populated with people who are either running away from something or
seeking themselves in America's last frontier. It is a place very much like the frontier of the Old
West where you can come to and reinvent yourself. In reality, most people who make it as far as
Alaska never get past the cities of Fairbanks and Anchorage because access is so difficult and
expensive (usually by airplane), travel is so hard, the terrain is challenging, the bears are real,
and so on.
A very few competent and skillful people make a successful go at living a free life in the wild,
build a home in the mountains, raise their children there and eventually come back with good
stories and happy endings. A greater number give it a try, realize it is neither easy nor romantic,
just damn hard work, and quickly give up and return to town with their tails between their legs,
but alive and the wiser for it.
Some like McCandless, show up in Alaska, unprepared, unskilled and unwilling to take the time
to learn the skills they need to be successful. These quickly get in trouble and either die by bears,
by drowning, by freezing or they are rescued by park rangers or other rescue personnel but often,
not before risking their lives and/or spending a lot of government money on helicopters and
overtime.
When you consider McCandless from my perspective, you quickly see that what he did wasn't
even particularly daring, just stupid, tragic and inconsiderate. First off, he spent very little time
learning how to actually live in the wild. He arrived at the Stampede Trail without even a map of
the area. If he had a good map he could have walked out of his predicament using one of several
routes that could have been successful. Consider where he died. An abandoned bus.
How did it get there? On a trail. If the bus could get into the place where it died, why couldn't
McCandless get out of the place where he died? The fact that he had to live in an old bus in the
first place tells you a lot. Why didn't he have an adequate shelter from the beginning? What
would he have done if he hadn't found the bus? A bag of rice and a sleeping bag do not constitute
adequate gear and provisions for a long stay in the wilderness.
So what made the difference between McCandless and I fourteen years ago? Why am I alive
and he is dead? Essentially, Chris McCandless committed suicide while I apprenticed myself to a
career and a life that I wanted more badly than I can possibly describe in so short an essay. In the
end I believe that the difference between us was that I wanted to live and Chris McCandless
wanted to die (whether he realized it or not).
Source C: McCandless left Carthage on April 15. In early May Westerberg
received a postcard of a polar bear, postmarked April 27.
"Greetings from Fairbanks!" it read.
This is the last you shall hear from me Wayne. Arrived here 2 days ago. It was very difficult to
catch rides in the Yukon Territory. But I finally got here. Please return all mail I receive to the
sender.It might be a very long time before I return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you
don'tever hear from me again, I want you to know your a great man. I now walk into the wild.
Source D: "Death of an Innocent" by Jon Krakauer, Outside Magazine,
January 1993
When I decided to go to Alaska that April, I was an angst-ridden youth who read too much
Nietzsche, mistook passion for insight, and functioned according to an obscure gap-ridden
logic. I thought climbing the Devils Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end
it changed almost nothing, of course. I came to appreciate, however, that mountains make poor
receptacles for dreams. And I lived to tell my tale.
As a young man, I was unlike Chris McCandless in many important respects-most notably I
lacked his intellect and his altruistic leanings-but I suspect we had a similar intensity, a similar
heedlessness, a similar agitation of the soul.
The fact that I survived my Alaskan adventure and McCandless did not survive his was largely a
matter of chance; had I died on the Stikine Icecap in 1977 people would have been quick to say
of me, as they now say of him, that I had a death wish. Fifteen years after the event, I now
recognize that I suffered from hubris, perhaps, and a monstrous innocence, certainly, but I wasn't
suicidal.
Source E: Carine McCandless' comments on Slate article "Into the Wild
Reviewed" by Dana Stevens, September 21, 2007
I am Chris' sister, Carine McCandless. I do not often read reviews or write replies, but Dana
Stevens' headline caught my attention. Her statement that my father was "certainly no wife
beater" is completely false, as is her assumption that Sean "unforgivably" made up this scene in
the movie to try to soften the audiences view of my brother. I helped him write that scene, I lived
it, it is truth. In fact, both Sean Penn in making the movie and Jon Krakauer in writing the book
were incredibly thorough with their research. They remained honest, while also being admirably
kind & respectful to our parents by not going further. There is something to be recognized for my
parents willingness to have the story told, even if it was handled delicately. It is not necessary to
go into more details, except to say that kind of childhood has an undeniable impact. Chris's
triumph was to not let their unfortunate choices and negative behaviour, dishearten him and his
desire for a beautiful life. Jon & Sean have done right by my brother.
He was truly an amazing person. Everyone can benefit from the lessons that are available
within this great book and inspirational movie about him.
Thanks, Carine
Source F: A student written essay in response to Into the Wild.
Another point in support of the value of the journey comes from the books found around
McCandless when he died. In the Fairbanks bus he was taking shelter in, there were found
many books, which he had used as sort of journals while he read (Krakauer 167). The
passages McCandless underlined and the margin notes he made indicate that his journey had
been a success that he had reached some sort of personal epiphany. "I am reborn. This is my
dawn. Real life has just begun." McCandless declared (qtd. in Krakauer 168). After reading
Tolstoy's "Family Happiness" he remarked that he had found the way to be happy (169). This
'plan' included making himself useful to others, love for one's neighbors, a mate, and children.
This no longer sounds like the McCandless who shunned personal relationships. Perhaps at that
point he no longer hated his father for his indiscretions in his first marriage (Krakauer 121).
He would have then been able to return home and be a part of his family once more. He had
come to terms with his fears and reached a new personal plateau of understanding. These
remarks taken in conjunction with the probability that his death was not the product of
foolishness show that the journey was, simply put, a good thing. He achieved the goals he set out
to achieve. McCandless found answers for himself to questions that many people never even
dare to ask.
Source G: "Letter to the Editor"; by Alaska resident Olay Ormseth February
26, 1996
Many people up here (and in other parts of the world) actually live the kind of life at which
McCandless was play-acting. The real tragedy behind this story is what he left behind:
grieving, bewildered family and friends. I realize that mistakes happen and McCandless likely
had no death wish, but that's not really the point.
The hubris and narcissism with which he blindly launched into the wilderness are not things we
can excuse. Although I liked some parts of Krakauer's tale, I think it is irresponsible to
romanticize a stupid act by a guy who by all indications should have known better.
Source H: "Letter to the Editor"; Outside Magazine by Tom Hoopingarner
March 1993
How many of us, like Chris McCandless and the young man who dissipates the Maze in Ed
Abbey's Desert Solitaire, have wandered our own outbacks, clearly without a death wish but
naively oblivious to the potential pain to those who love us? But then God loves a fool, and
most of us have survived our own recklessness. I'm grateful to have made it through my own
attempts to peer over the edge and solve life's riddles in a single bound.
Source I:
On the wall beside the bed was a brass plaque left by his parents that read:
Christopher Johnson McCandless. "Alex." 2/68-8/92. Chris, our beloved son and brother, died
here during his adventurous travels in search of how he could best realize God's great gift of life,
with his final message, "I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God
Bless All," we commend his soul to the world. The McCandless Family. 7/93
Source J:
The novel Into the Wild