Editorial

Konnor Drewen

Mrs. Zurkowski

Greens

4/11/011

Christopher McCandless; an Under Prepared Fool

By: Konnor Drewen a.k.a. “The Doctor”

            Would you go into the Alaskan wilderness without a map? What about not having any true kind of food or sustenance? What about going into the wilderness without any means of contacting civilization?  I most defiantly would not and I do not think you would either, but that is precisely what Christopher McCandless did. He walked into the wild without a map, food, or any kind of communication device. For that I believe that Chris McCandless was an imbecile; not having any idea of what he was doing or good reasoning for being out there in the wilderness.

            The first of my reasoning is the fact that he did not want to bring any food. He did plan to live off the land, but look where that lead him. Chris McCandless ended up writing this in the bus, “I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here” (Krakauer 8). He also wrote, “I am collecting berries close by and will return this evening” (8). This proves the idiocy in his actions. Even if he wanted to live off the land he obviously had no true knowledge of what he was doing. Maybe if he had known what plants to eat or had a good plan in-case of running out of plants to eat or animals to hunt he could have survived. He had a book but, obviously he did not know how to use it.  Unfortunately, because of his pure stubbornness he was unprepared and died due to lack of his own intelligence of the Alaskan wilderness.

            The second point is the datum that he left without any way of contacting the outside world. If he had brought a phone, made a fire, even if he brought a flare gun to signal people he could have lived. I mean, there was a tower not too far from him that could have saved him if he had made a fire or fired a flare. Regrettably, he did not due to of his senselessness. One of the many people who met Chris even told Krakauer that, “Said he didn’t he did not want to see a single person” (138). He was so opposed to any kind of civilization that it was his ultimate downfall. He was an arrogant narcissist who did not think of anyone but himself. His demise was brought on by his own stupidity and was no one person’s fault but his own.

            The third point that I will mention is the detail that he did all he could to forget his family. The nerve of this child to leave his household full of people who loved him is just untainted recklessness. Many people over his time alone told him to call his parents but because of his intractability, he refused every suggestion. Whenever someone showed any affection for him he left them and pushed them back. He did not want to get close to people. Chris’ sister said that, “He was very to himself” (75). She also said that, “He wasn’t antisocial, but he could entertain himself for hours” (75). Be this as it may McCandless was not beyond ordinary people, and just like ordinary people he needed civilization around him to survive.

            Now some people have called Chris a “Hero” but that in just insane. Christopher McCandless was no hero; it is just insulting to all the true heroes in the world that he would even be considered to be one.  Ron France told Krakauer, “God, he was a smart kid” (30). Now I am not denying that, I am sure he was bright academically, but he was not smart when it came to wilderness.  He may have survived 100 days I understand that, but he still died, died from his own idiocy. The people in favor of Chris say that he “only made little mistakes,” but think about, he died; those “little” mistakes could not have been so little. Also if he had actually been anything near knowledgeable he would not have died. A true person who has the will to live would have lit a signal fire to let someone know that they were there, but maybe that was what Chris McCandless was; just a man, angry at the world and everyone in it, that had lost his will to live.

Chris McCandless, the man that gave up everything to end up walking into the Alaskan wilderness, was a true and undeniable fool. He left without food, which in the end caused his death. He left without a map which made impossible for him the escape. He left without a family; without anyone who cared about him. This is why Christopher McCandless should be nobody’s hero, because he was an imbecile, a fool, a reckless and senseless man, but above all he was an arrogant narcissist, and that is why you, the reader, should not idolize this man; more so then anything else you should pity him.