It was early September when two hunters arrived at the old bus that housed Chris McCandless throughout his adventure in Alaska. When Chris embarked on this expedition, he probably would’ve never realize that it was going to be his last thing he did. The novel Into the wild by John Krakauer, explains Chris’s life up until his last moments. Chris arrived at the bus in May of 1992 and lived in there for about 100 days before he passed away.
Even though Chris made some decisions that were pretty questionable, the reason he left was to find himself, not commit suicide: “Driving west out of Atlanta, he intended to invent an tterly new life for himself, one in which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience. To symbolize complete severance from his previous life, he even adopted a new name. No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny. “(Krakauer 22-23). Someone who was suicidal wouldn’t want to start a complete new life for themselves so they could be free from everyone else.
He just wanted to be free, not dead. Based on Chris’s actions and the relationships he built along the way, Chris was proven not to be suicidal. Chris’s home life was not the best for his type of personality. His family had a decent amount of money, therefore they got whatever they wanted. Also the McCandless parents disagreed on many things, so they would be fighting all the time. Chris was different from them though. He thought it was better to earn everything then to just get things handed to you.
As a result from this he was always helping others and was always nice to everyone no matter who they were: ” On weekends, when his high school pals were attending “keg-gers” and trying to sneak into Georgetown bars, McCandless would wander the seedier quarters of Washington, chatting with prostitutes and homeless eople, buying them meals, earnestly suggesting ways they might improve their lives” (Krakauer 78). He acted like this towards everyone and treated everyone equally. Chris just enjoyed being his own person no matter if anyone else was around.
He would rather get lost running in the woods with a group of his friends, rather taking then following the guided paths. Since he had all these luxuries and even though he tried to find something to change things he had to leave to find out where he was meant to be: “By then Chris was long gone. Five weeks earlier he’d loaded all his belongings into his little car and eaded west without an itinerary. The trip was to be an odyssey in the fullest sense of the word, an epic journey that would change everything. ” (Krakauer 22). McCandless just left town to get out and find himself, rather than leaving to go end his life.
Throughout the duration of the journey Chris met many people along the way who he later made relationships with. The relationships he made were so strong He even had someone asking to adopt him, “My mother was an only child,” he explains. “So was my father. And I was their only child. Now that my own boy’s dead, I’m the end of the line. When I’m gone, my family ill be finished, gone forever. So l asked Alex if I could adopt him, if he would be my grandson”(Krakauer 39). Ron made such a strong connection with Chris he offered to adopt him because he thought he had no family, but Chris unfortunately turned him down.
Also according to Shedding light on a dark subject an article in Psychology Today by Linda and Charlie Bloom signs of suicide include “Saying goodbye to family members or friends, Changes in personality, and an Inability to enjoy normal life pleasures. ” (Bloom). Chris displayed none of these signs of suicide all through the book. The article also states “Eighty ercent of successful suicides have given clear warnings of their intentions to others prior to taking their lives. “(Bloom), and He also told many of these people about his final plans to end up in alaska and why he had to leave.
When saying that he was planning on traveling to alaska, One thing McCandless always said he’d do was find them after the trip and keep in touch throughout the adventure with the people he met: “I’ve decided that I’m going to live this life for some time to come. The freedom and simple beauty of it is just too good to pass up. One day l’ll get back to you wayne and repay some of your indness” (Krakauer 33). From reading the book it can be assumed that Chris is not the type of person to lie to his friends and lead them on with saying he would contact them. As much as people want to say he was, chris wasn’t stupid.
He only brought what he thought he could survive off of and he also made the time to learn about the alaskan wilderness and how to live there. In the novel people were always saying how smart chris was: “He was smart. He’d figured out how to paddle a canoe down to Mexico, how to hop freight trains, how to score a bed at inner-city missions. He figured all of that out on his own, and I felt sure e’d figure out Alaska, too. “(Krakauer 46). If they thought Chris wasn’t smart enough to live in Alaska, the people he met would’ve tried harder to try to change his mind.
Also when chris found out what he needed, he was all set and ready to head home. There was just one obstacle in his way. The river he had o cross had flooded and there was no chance to get around: “McCandless was a weak swimmer and had confessed to several people that he was in fact afraid of the water. Attempting to swim the numbingly cold torrent or even to paddle some sort of improvised raft across seemed too risky to consider. Just downstream from where the trail met the river, the Teklanika erupted into a chaos of boiling whitewater as it accelerated through the narrow gorge.
Long before he could swim or paddle to the far shore, he’d be pulled into these rapids and drowned. ” (Krakauer 170). Since chris still had food, he thought he could go back and stay at the camp for awhile more. This is what was what really was his downfall. He she soon ran out of food and has to resort to eating plants. Chris unfortunately made the honest mistake of mixing up the plants and accidently eating a poisonous seed. The unfortunate hing was If chris just looked a little down the stream he would’ve been able to cross the river safely and get back home safely.
Up to this point Chris had so many opportunities to kill himself and crossing the river would’ve been the last chance, but instead he decided to wait until it was safer. From the time the journey started to the time it ended, all Chris wanted was one thing, to find himself. Throughout the duration of the trip he met many people along the way who helped shape him into who he was. If he never left home he would have never found himself. He just had a few bumps in the road that lead him to his death.
