Krakauer, who has become quite well-known for his man-against-nature reporting has written a fascinating report of Alex/Chris McCandless's hubristic attempt to out-Thoreau Thoreau. Apparently a very likeable and intelligent young man, McCandless not only revered Thoreau's back-to-nature writings - and civil disobedience, but more about that later - he also admired and had read Jack London, John Muir and Tolstoy. Unfortunately for him, he made a series of very simple mistakes, overestimating himself and underestimating nature. He ignored advice from many more experienced and concerned people who could see that he was going to get himself in over his head. (Even Thoreau could stand Walden Pond for only 18 months and he was within an easy stroll of town.)Born Chris McCandless, he changed his name to Alexander Supertramp when he began wandering around the country, usually with no money - especially after he abandoned his car when it was caught in a flash flood and he ran the battery down before the engine had dried out. Rangers later found the car and used it for many years in drug stings - it ran beautifully. He, in true Thoreauian fashion as interpreted by Chris from Thoreau's book On Civil Disobedience, didn't think it was necessary to get his car registered or to renew his license, so when the car's battery ran down, he couldn't very well ask for official assistance given all the registration issues that would present themselves. It was then that he took completely to foot, and he burned (literally) the $120 he had left. During the trek through the Southwest, he was helped by many people, who picked him up as he hitchhiked. On his way through South Dakota he was befriended by a rancher who took him in rather than turn him back out to thumb a ride in the rain, and Chris worked for him off and on, periodically leaving to go on another trek. It was his decision to test himself in Alaska that was to prove his downfall.
He explained his rootlessness to a friend on one occasion as a disinclination for monotony, but his gift of a $40,000 trust fund bequest to OXFAM, suggested a more substantial rejection of society. Alaska was much less forgiving than the Southwest, with fewer roads, fewer people to bail him out, and wildlife unlike what he was used to. All he had to go on was a 10 lb. bag of rice, a .22 caliber rifle (not a large enough bore to hunt for food successfully), insubstantial boots, and thin clothes.
Ultimately, Chris lacked the skills to survive and at the end realized it. He left a note desperately pleading for help on the abandoned bus in which his body was found just two weeks after his death. McCandless represents irrationality born of a uniquely American nostalgia for wilderness and the ever-receding frontier, combined with our incessant interest in high-risk activities.
