Chapter 1, page 4
Description/Quote: “Five eight with a wiry build, he claimed to be twenty-four years old and said he was from South Dakota. He explained that he wanted a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he intended to walk deep into the bush and ‘live off the land for a few months.’”
Interpretation: Chris is not physically fit to live in the wild. He seems slightly insane.
Chapter 1, page 7
Description/Quote: “Alex insisted on giving Gallien his watch, his comb, and what he said was all his money: eighty-five cents in loose change.”
Interpretation: Chris does not want to bring any technology or personal belongings with him on his trip.
Chapter 2, page 13
Description/Quote: “The remains were so badly decomposed that it was impossible to determine exactly when Chris had died, but the coroner could find no sign of massive internal injuries or broken bones.”
Interpretation: Chris didn’t have any fatal injuries that caused his death; this puzzled scientists at the laboratory.
Chapter 2, page 14
Description/Quote: “But because he had been carrying no identification, the authorities didn’t know who he was, where he was from, or why he was there.”
Interpretation: Chris wanted to go out into the wild not knowing who he really was. He didn’t think this through, he mostly acted on impulse.
Chapter 3, page 16
Description/Quote: “McCandless was smallish with the hard, stringy physique of an itinerant laborer.”
Interpretation: Chris was short, and looked like the average working class American.
Chapter 3, page 17
Description/Quote: “His face had a strange elasticity: It would be slack and expressionless one minute, only to twist into a gaping, oversize grin that distorted his features and exposed a mouthful of horsy teeth.”
Interpretation: Chris had a striking smile that imprinting in Wayne’s mind.
Chapter 4, page 29
Description/Quote: “McCandless was exhilarated: He saw the flash flood as an opportunity to shed unnecessary baggage.”
Interpretation: Chris saw the flood as a way for him to get rid of the things he thought he didn’t need.
Chapter 4, page 33
Description/Quote: “Wayne, you really should read War and Peace. I meant it when I said you had one of the highest characters of any man I’d met. That is a powerful and highly symbolic book. It has things in it that I think you will understand. Things that escape most people.”
Interpretation: Chris loved his copy of War and Peace and he gave it to his closest friend. He thought the book would do him good by reading the story.
Chapter 5, page 38
Description/Quote: “When his camera was ruined and McCandless stopped taking photographs, he also stopped keeping a journal, a practice he didn’t resume until he went to Alaska the next year.”
Interpretation: Not much is known why Chris did this so his direct feelings were not written on paper.
Chapter 5, page
Description/Quote: “I thought Alex had lost his mind when he told us about his ‘great Alaskan odyssey,’ as he called it.”
Interpretation: Chris is a man who will take chances and follow his dreams. He was determined to reach the final destination of Alaska.
Chapter 6, page 51
Description/Quote: “He seemed extremely intelligent,”…
Interpretation: Chris, in fact, was very smart. He knew a lot about the world but lacked basic common sense.
Chapter 6, page 52
Description/Quote: “Not infrequently during their visits, Franz recalls, McCandless’s face would darken with anger and he’d fulminate about his parents or politicians or the endemic idiocy of mainstream American life.”
Interpretation: Chris did not have a close connection with his parents because of past family events. One reason I think Chris wanted to live in the wild was because he wanted to escape from the laws of the government and the way our society is run.
Chapter 7, page 62
Description/Quote: “During those four weeks in Carthage, McCandless worked hard, doing dirty, tedious jobs that nobody else wanted to tackle: exterminating vermin, painting, scything weeds.”
Interpretation: Chris did the little jobs that no one wanted to do and didn’t seem to mind doing them.
Chapter 7, page 65
Description/Quote: “Chastity and moral purity were qualities McCandless mulled over long and often.”
Interpretation: Chris had a respect for life and knew the difference between good and bad values. Even though he was not close to his parents, they raised him to be a person to be chaste.
Chapter 8, page 71
Description/Quote: “Why would anyone intending to ‘live off the land for a few months’ forget Boy Scout rule number: Be Prepared? Why would any son cause his parents and family such permanent and perplexing pain?”
Interpretation: Chris wanted to be free, and his way of doing that was following his dream and traveling cross country to go ‘into the wild.’ He did cause his family a lot of pain, but Walt made his family suffer and that lead Chris to retaliate and create a new life for himself.
Chapter 8, page 72
Description/Quote: “The prevailing Alaska wisdom held that McCandless was simply one more dreamy half-cocked greenhorn who went into the country expecting to find answers to all his problems and instead found only mosquitos and a lonely death.”
Interpretation: Chris went into the wilderness for his own sake. He wanted to do something he always wanted to do and it ended up turning bad.
Chapter 9, page 92
Description/Quote: “Also like McCandless, Ruess was undeterred by physical discomfort; at times he seemed to welcome it.”
Interpretation: Chris almost died from starvation a few times and his life spared. He didn’t seem to mind that he didn’t eat for a few days and neither did Everett Ruess. They lived the lives of what people must have done thousands of years ago.
Chapter 9, page 93
Description/Quote: “And like McCandless, upon embarking on his terminal odyssey, Ruess adopted a new name, or, rather, a series of names.”
Interpretation: Chris’s adopted name was Alex Supertramp. He chose that name so no one could trace his whereabouts because there really wasn’t an Alex Supertramp, only a Chris McCandless.
Chapter 10, page 99
Description/Quote: “Many of the entries in the brief, perplexing diary recovered with the body were terse observations of flora and fauna, which fueled speculation that McCandless was a field biologist.”
Interpretation: Chris was keeping track of the edible plants that he could eat. There isn’t much you can eat in the Alaskan wilderness so that was his way of knowing what was edible.
Chapter 10, page 99
Description/Quote: “Because McCandless had told Gallien he was from South Dakota, the troopers immediately shifted their search there for the hiker’s next of kin.”
Interpretation: Chris had to protect his true identity so he lied from where he was from. He deceived most of the people he met.
Chapter 11, page 104
Description/Quote: “I spent a lot of time with Chris, perhaps more than with any of my other kids. I really liked his company even though he frustrated us so often.”
Interpretation: Walt and Billie really loved their son, but Chris tried to distance himself from his family and that was a selfish of him to ignore the love and care his parents wanted to give him.
Chapter 11, page 109
Description/Quote: “Chris was a high achiever in almost everything that caught his fancy.”
Interpretation: Chris was a very intelligent young man but didn’t have a lot of common sense. He mostly acted on impulse and didn’t fully think things through.
Chapter 12, page 118
Description/Quote: “He was almost crying, fighting back the tears, telling Dad that even through they’d had their differences over the years, he was grateful for all the things Dad had done for him.”
Interpretation: Deep down, Chris loved his dad but really never showed it. The soft side of Chris is never really shown so he really shows how much he appreciates everything his dad has done for him.
Chapter 12, page 120
Description/Quote: “He would have made a great CIA agent—I’m serious; I know guys who work for the CIA. He told us what he thought we needed and nothing more.”
Interpretation: Chris was private and didn’t reveal too much about himself. He was a man of many secrets, many of those secrets never revealed to his family.
Chapter 13, page 128
Description/Quote: “Chris was crazy about Buck.” Carine says. “That summer he disappeared he’d wanted to take Buck with him”
Interpretation: They say that dog is man’s best friend and Chris loved his dog.
Chapter 13, page 129
Description/Quote: “His criticism of his sister never went beyond good-natured ribbing, however; Chris and Carine were uncomfortably close.”
Interpretation: Chris liked to joke around with his sister because they were very close. Chris trusted his sister and enjoyed her company.
Chapter 16, page 158
Description/Quote: “Alex was clean-shaven and had short hair, and I could tell by the language he used that he was a real sharp fella. He wasn’t what you’d call a typical hitchhiker.”
Interpretation: Chris had a good education and thought he knew what he was getting into. He made a big impression on the people he met because he was highly intelligent.
Chapter 16, page 162
Description/Quote: “The heaviest item in McCandless’s half-full backpack was his library: nine or ten paperbound books, most of which had been given to him by Jan Burres in Niland.”
Interpretation: Jan thought Chris would need something to do to pass the time when he went out into the wilderness. Chris probably liked to read.
Chapter 17, page 174
Description/Quote: “Andy Horowitz, one of McCandless’s friends on the Woodsen High cross country team, had mused that Chris ‘was born into the wrong century. He was looking for more adventure and freedom than today’s society gives people.’”
Interpretation: Chris had a lust for adventure and excitement. He would have had a good life for himself when people went out to explore the American west.
Chapter 17, page 183
Description/Quote: “Unlike Muir and Thoreau, McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but, rather; to explore the inner country of his own soul.”
Interpretation: Chris wanted to find out who really was and the way he did that was by changing his lifestyle and following his dream to live in the wild.
Chapter 18, page 192
Description/Quote: “From all the available evidence, there seemed to be a little doubt that McCandless – rash and incautious by nature—had committed a carless blunder, confusing one plant for another, and died as a consequence.
Interpretation: Chris didn’t intentionally eat the plant, it was a careless mistake that he made an unfortunately caused him to suffer and die.
Chapter 18, page 198
Description/Quote: “And as Carine McCandless point out, ‘Chris would never, ever, intentionally burn a forest, not even to save his life. Anybody who would suggest otherwise doesn’t understand the first thing about my brother.’”
Interpretation: Chris had such a respect for nature that he wouldn’t do anything to destroy it. It seemed like Chris wanted to be ‘one with nature’ so he went into the wild to do that.
"Author's Note" Response:
I think that Chris was a "reckless idiot" that thought the way he could find himself was to drop everything and isolate himself from civilization. He caused his family and friends a lot of pain following his death. It was unfortunate the way Chris died, but he wasn't prepared to live out in the Alaskan wilderness. There was final closure at the end of the story but it was very sad the way things turned out. It wasn't until the end Chris realized that true happiness is found when you share it with others. Chris was a man who acted upon impulse and didn't think things through. He impacted many people's lives by opening their eyes to the world around them. After Chris died, it was a shock to the people who knew him. John Krakauer received letters form readers telling him that Chris was "a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity. I agree with that because in truth, Chris had no idea what he was getting himself into. If you have one chance to live, why not share it with the people who love you? He died from starvation due to plant poisoning and his life was taken only in a matter of days. If Chris really wanted have an adventure that would last him lifetime, then he should have thought of a place to stay where he would thrive, not perish.
