Into the Wild

The book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is about Chris McCandless's (Alex Supertramp) journey through the wild he throws away everything he has worked for and drops out of college. He burns all the money he is carrying and abandons his prize car. Chris McCandless walks into the wild with no money, thin clothing and a 10lb bag of rice, he met many people and one specific couple, Jan Burres and her husband, Mr. Burres, made a huge impact on him. Chris used to write to them all the time, whenever he stopped in a city for a long time and around holidays if he remembered. I definitely see something noble and brave in his story; he literally walked into the wild with almost nothing, lived off the woods, depended on them for everything, and died with the woods, which to me is admirable, noble, and brave.

Chris started out in his car, an old yellow datsun, but after getting caught in a flash flood he abandoned it. Inside the car he left a gianini guitar, a saucepan with $4.93, a football, some old clothes, and a fishing pole with tackle, a razor, a harmonica, jumper cables, 25lbs of rice, and in the glove box were the car keys. He originally started out with a good supply of things to live out of his car with but once he couldn't use his car anymore he needed to lighten his load dramatically. He only took 10lbs of rice, a blue sleeping bag, a .22 caliber rifle and a journal to record everything that happened over the next 2 years.

When Chris McCandless was living in Alaska for 4 months he had a rifle that was used to kill many squirrels and porcupines. Although in a stroke of luck he managed to shoot and kill a moose. He tried to copy some hunters by smoking it but that did not work, he ended up just ruining the meat and wasting all of it. There was a bus that he lived in, it had been left there by a man who had been trying to forge a way through the woods but had run out of money so he returned with only 2 out of the 3 buses he owned. He left the last one for people passing through or hunters to stay in. Chris McCandless wrote an SOS note in which he says “I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening.” This note gives solid evidence that he is using the woods to his advantage and using it for all its worth.

Chris was in Alaska for 4 months and ended up dying in the bus. He got too weak to try to cross the river and did not have energy to go collect food. He basically starved to death, he could not collect food for himself and he needed to get more protein into his body but could not do that for the lack of game in the area.

I think what Chris McCandless did was stupid, he walked into the wild with almost nothing and expected to live? Well I think that was stupid but at the same time he is courageous and noble. He decides to just live off the wild with nothing, no phone, computer, TV, nothing! I think that is really brave of him to do, I don't think I could do that. He just decides to up and go to Alaska and live like people like hundreds and thousands of years ago did. I think what Chris McCandless did; living off the woods for 2 years was noble and admirable.