After I read (and thoroughly enjoyed) Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer I decided to read some of his other works as well and the first one I picked out was Into the Wild. In this book Krakauer tries to explain the rational behind why a young man named Christopher McCandless would give all his money to charity after graduating college, pack up what little he had to go out on his own without a word to anyone in his family, and then finally meet his end in Alaska alone. I became totally fascinated with this story on several different levels and still feel that I cannot express everything I truly want to say about it.

Chris grew up in a house with overbearing parents who started a successful company from the ground up designing communication systems for NASA. He went to college where he study history and anthropology while taking classes in world hunger. Chris also gained inspiration from authors like Leo Tolstoy who wrote War and Peace. After graduation he left and went out west were he eventually left his car behind after it broke down, burnt all the money he had and starting tramping on foot. He took on the name Alexander Supertramp walking and hitchhiking where he pleased. In one adventure he paddled a canoe down the Colorado River and eventually wound up in Mexico trying to reach the sea.

On April 28, 1992 Chris finally made it to Alaska a trip he always wanted to make and was planning for quite some time. And as Krakauer put it if it wasn't for a few simple mistakes that compounded he most likely would have walked out, but instead he starved to death. In the few short years that he roamed the west Chris had touched many people and made a lasting impression on them. After his death some people praised him for how he lived his life while other that he was just crazy, and for me this is what makes the story so intriguing.

So what drove Chris to do what he did? No one can really say for sure but I tend to think that he just wanted to live life free with out any attachments. Another reason could be as the noted mythology professor (Joseph Campbell) points out in his teaching we no longer have a right of passage into manhood and Chris' Alaska trip could probably fall into that thought. Whatever the reason we know with the writings Chris left behind he died happy and that truly is the most important thing.

As I sit here at my desk, and look out the window I wonder if I could just drop everything and do what Chris did. There has been many times on my way to work that I think maybe I'll just keep driving and see where I end up, but inevitably I always turn into the parking lot. Would it be a courage thing or family responsibly? Maybe I have just been in mainstream society too long? Will I die happy?

Outside Magazine has the original piece he did online now at the following link [http://outside.away.com/outside/features/1993/1993_into_the_wild_1.html].

- END -