Christopher johnson mccandless – Into the wild

The story of Chris McCandless is, in short, remarkable. It is a story of an intelligent, extremely and staunchly idealistic, brave young man; a sort of modern-day hero; a Jack Kerouac but with convictions; a man who appeals to that sense of wanderlust, and that sense of something else, that lives inside of us all, somewhere.

Christopher johnson mccandless

His story though is not particularly…exact. That is, there doesn’t seem to have been a real comprehensive record kept by Chris himself. His story feels assembled in a manner akin to some sort of historical exercise. The information regarding his life comes instead from secondhand accounts, from those that he met and befriended on the road, from the letters and notes he would send them, and the brief journals he would keep. This being said, it is hard to tell what is true. Fact versus fiction? Strict knowledge versus conjecture? The past versus our memory of it? And there are no clear answers. In matters such as these, there never is. But for his story, there is a sense in which it just doesn’t matter. His story does not need to be exact. What is more important is the general way in which he lived. This is more than clear. The rest—the specifics of his story, the room we have to play with, our interpretations—is what can make this story very universal. We can all look and find something in it with which we can identify and relate. This is the kind of story from which legends are made.

chris mccandless

This is what we do know: In 1990, at the age of 22, Chris, a native of Northern Virginia, graduated from Emory University with honors, and left. He gave some $25,000 that he had in savings to charity and headed west. He left without a word to his family and friends. He, in short, left the entirety of what had been his life, in search for a new one. He found a new one on the road, with no particular home, but equally at home everywhere. He changed his name to Alexander Supertramp, left his car dead in the desert, burned his pocket money, hitchhiked, canoed through Mexico, did farm work in South Dakota, and made friends who adored him and who he greatly affected. He had etched out an unconventional, but very satisfying life.

By April of 1992 Chris was in Alaska, the place he dreamed of since childhood, and often spoke of as an adult. His plan was simple: walk into the wild and live, alone, off the land for a couple months. He hitched up to the edge of the famed and alluring Denali National Park and, again, headed west, this time walking into the wilds of an already wild land. The only food he had was a 10-pound bag of rice. This, along with hunting (he carried a .22 caliber rifle) and gathering, is how he planned to survive. A real adventure and a real test. And for a while it worked. He stumbled upon and made camp at the soon-to-be famous, off-beat tourist attraction, abandoned bus 142. He killed small game, even a moose once (which he latter regretted), gathered and ate wild berries, potatoes, rhubarb, etc… We can guess he greatly enjoyed his “great Alaskan odyssey” and learned from his solitary time. After about two months though it looked as if he had found what he wanted and was ready to, in a sense, return to the world. He wrote: “Happiness only real when shared.” He was, however, in tragic irony, stuck. The trail he had followed in was now flooded by snow and glacier melt. It was this that would start his decline. In two more months’ time, he would be dead.

Christopher johnson mccandless

How he died is still, somewhat, of a mystery. We do know that he starved to death. From here opinions diverge as to why, and are usually governed by people’s opinions of Chris. Some, normally those that think Chris fool-hearted, “reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist…” maintain that his death was a direct effect of his “arrogance and stupidity.” Others, typically those that harbor some admiration for the man, like Jon Krakauer (the author of the book, and one of the screenwriters for the movie), offer a more reasonable theory, based partly on the fact that Chris survived so long on his own, involving poisonous seeds from wild-potatoes, something Chris would have had no way of knowing would be detrimental to his health. In any event, we know Chris had accepted the possibility of death before he embarked on his tough, solitary journey and that he lived a life that he wanted. His last message: “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may God bless all.”

mccandless

The one thing we are left with is the ever-present question of why? Why would a young man, full of potential and with prospects for a “successful life” within society openly and willingly shun it? This is something so radically different from our everyday experiences that it can be tough to understand, and in a very real way, challenging. The book offers some insights into an unhappy family life which do look to play a part, but there really seems to be more to the story. Chris was a thinker, a soul-searcher of the highest order, a self-described “Aesthetic Voyager.” Someone who had to test himself and longed to find out for himself what life was on his own terms.

We might look further into the issue, and even find some advice for our lives, in a letter he wrote while already living on the road: “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

The book is still widely published and is available at most booksellers. The movie, based on the book and already out in limited release, boasts stunning scenery, beautiful cinematography, and an impressive cast including Emile Hirsch (Alpha Dog, Lords of Dogtown) as Chris, Oscar-winning actors Marcia Gay Harding (Pollock, Mystic River) and William Hurt (A History of Violence, Syriana) as Chris’ Parents, and Vince Vaughn (Swingers, Old School) and Catherine Keener (Capote, Being John Malkovich) in supporting roles, will be playing locally at the NAR starting Oct. 19th.