On April 27,1992 Chris McCandless sent a message to friends, “Hey Guys! This is the last communication you shall receive from me, I now walk out to live amongst the wild, take care it was great knowing you.”(69) He signs the letter “Alexander”, it is believed that he took this name because he saw himself as a modern day tramp, leaving his home and his family and his troubled past behind in search of adventure and a new identity. Was this a good decision or a bad decision? The author of the book “Into The Wild”, Jon Krakauer, not only tells a story of Chris McCandless and his unfortunate journey into the Alaskan wilderness and his untimely death, he also tells his own near death experience as he himself struggled to overcome his past. Krakauer suggests that Chris’s decision was a foolish decision based on selfish, idealistic and naive views as he attempted to make meaning of his life.
Chris was a very smart, but blind young man for going out into the wild so unprepared. Chris had good reasons to go into the wild, but he didn't realize that it would take his life in the end. He had his future planned out for him, college paid for, good job opportunities, he had his life set, but Chris did not feel a lot of gratitude for what he received. The author understood the way Chris felt and also understood the consequences “I saw that I had been selfish and unbending and a giant pain in the ass. He’d (His father) built a bridge of privilege for me, a hand paved trestle to the good life and I repaid him by chopping it down and crapping on the wreckage.” (148) krakauer understands that hindsight and time allowed him to see the destructive nature of his choices. Unfortunately chris never got that opportunity.
Jon had climbed a mountain called Devil's Thumb. He thought by climbing this mountain it would change his life. That it would give him fame. Krakauer never thought that by climbing this mountain that it wouldn't change anything. He was very idealistic. He...