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Overall, I think McCandless's selfishness was not all bad. I relate to the feeling of wanting to run away from all the problems at home. Growing up in a household similar to Chris', where all the pressure is on him, it's hard to not want to get away from everything. There are points where I feel like Chris was a bit reckless however.
Chris' need for adventure is very fascinating. I think it's impressive that Chris has this drive to go into the wild with little to nothing and until his last adventure, make it back alive. Being in the wild, I believe, gave him power and control in his life. He grew up in a household where his father expected everything from him and the pressure on him was immense. Being in the woods allowed him to have control over what he wanted to do, and create a path he wanted to travel on.
Although I do believe there are points where Chris was irresponsible. He went into the woods with no map or proper knowledge of foraging. With these two simple things, his final journey into the wild wouldn't have turned fatal.
In the end, I respect Chris for having the courage to venture off and take back what little control he had of his life. It's something I truly admire and hope to do one day. If I do decide to follow Chris' footsteps however, I would definitely be more responsible and learn from his few, fatal, mistakes.

#ripbestie #livelauglove #girlboss

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Growing up, I knew I had a passion for working with kids. I attended a youth group that was similar to boys and/or girls scouts. Through this, I learned how to care for and look after kids as young as 4-5 years old. As a child of parents who were the oldest out of large sibling sets, I was given the role as babysitter the second my oldest cousins went off to college. Along with my passion for working with kids, I also loved helping others around me. Whenever my brother or my cousins cut themselves running around, I was the first to help clean their wounds and bandage them up. I also have a deep fascination for human biology and physiology. I love researching about different body systems and learning more about my own body. Maybe this stemmed from my childhood fear of my own body failing? Or maybe it stemmed from my family

Similar to Chris McCandless, I had a deep fascination for something many young people don't show interest in. McCandless had a fascination for the wilderness, and I have an interest in physiology. I always felt different from my peers as my interests were always odd, so sometimes I didn't feel like I fit in. One of my goals is to become a pediatric nurse, as it allows me to fulfil my passion for working with kids as well as my interests of the human body. Having a stereotypical dream for an Asian American doesn't seem weird for most kids but for me, I feel like an outcast. In a generation that pushes for change, was always told to break away from the stereotypes. Sticking with a stereotype that has hurt so many others like me feels wrong but I feel like it's something I truly feel passionately about, as I will be able to make a change in this world.

#materialgworl #purr #nursing!

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Summary: After learning about Chris' journey and his death, Krakauer was determined to solve the mystery (paragraph 2). In the last chapter, Krakauer reviews 3 different hypotheses (paragraph 5) on how McCandless could've died. After much research and talking with labs, we learned that Chris was essentially paralyzed (paragraph 18) after consuming potato seeds that contained a neurotoxin (paragraph 6). Since the weather was getting colder, the potato seeds developed a coating that was poisonous if consumed. Not knowing this, Chris consumed enough seeds to where his weak body didn't metabolize (paragraph 10) them any longer.

Analysis: I think, along with many others, think Chris's death could've been preventable. All he needed to do was do his research on foraging before venturing off into the woods. I do find it fascinating that Chris was able to make this far with close to no resources.

#chrisiskindadumb #dumbwaystodie #potatoseeds

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Summary

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Summary: Unlike Chris, Krakauer traveled with a topographic (pg 173) map. If Chris had just been more prepared, maybe he wouldn't have died. He missed the fact that he could've found a point to cross the violent (pg 174) river. Along with the fact that Chris was extremely unprepared going into the wilderness, they also called out the fact that Chris mistook a moose for a caribou (pg 177). (Chris ended up being right). By the bus Chris was found at, there was a bear that was killed by someone who visited before Chris that was shot in the mixillae (pg 179). At the end of the day, many people who read about Chris' story found him wandering into the wilderness (pg 183) irresponsible.

Analysis: Along with many other people, I think that Chris is extremely stupid for going into the woods that ill-prepared. I understand why he did what he did but I feel like the least he could do was at least bring a map?

#mooseorcaribou #beprepared #bus

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Summary: McCandless would go bathing (pg  158) in the liard river. Chris would travel through the Stampede Trail, and that trail was often traveled by skiers and snow mobiles (pg 162) during the winter. However, when Chris traveled it, it was March so most of the snow had melted. With Chris, when he died, they found a journal. In that journal, it was revealed that the had killed many animals to survive, but would use/consume the entirety of it. However, when he killed a moose (pg 166), he wasn't perserving it properly so he was unable to consume the whole moose before the meat went bad. After, he felt awful for killing that moose, he didn't kill anymore. There was a river that he would have to cross to travel back home but the currants were extremely rough. In Chris' state he would not have had the strength to make it across the river safely. However, if Chris had just had a map, he would've discovered a way to cross this river safely. Therefore, many believe for Chris's travel to not have been suicidal (pg 170).

Analysis: It's so sad that Chris felt so bad about killing and wasting a moose, that he didn't kill anymore. But as for the crossing the river, if only Chris had been more prepared he would've made it across safely and would probably still be here. So for that, I believe Chris was a bit stupid for not being prepared.

#ripmoose #bringamap #thankyougooglemaps

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Summary: After failing to complete the climb up the ice cap, Krakauer doesn't want to return a failure. He ended up staying his tent (pg 146), almost burning it down trying to stay warm. However, when he ended up returning, he realized that the way his father treated him growing up stemmed from his own insecurities (pg 147). Although Krakauer was hurt by his father, he realized that he himself needed to work on himself as well and that he had been extremely selfish (pg 148). However, he realized this to late, as his father had began abusing drugs (pg 149), which caused him to end up in a psychiatric ward after a suicide attempt. Krakauer did eventually go back to the ice caps for redemption (pg 151), but he did end up climbing the easier side, making him successful.

Analysis: I feel like many kids hold grudges against their parents, especially if they experience some form of trauma from them. Altough sometimes it may seem selfish to run away from these home problems, I also think its necessary before you hurt yourself even further.

#childhoodtrauma #selfishissometimesgood #hugsnotdrugs

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snow! something californians don't experience

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Summary: In this chapter, Krakauer goes through his own journey with adventuring in the wild and comes up with his own reasons for why he doesn't believe Chris went into the wild as a suicide mission. Similar to Chris, Krakauer felt like he disappointed (pg 134) and because of that he developed a fascination (pg 135) with the outdoors as an escape. He decided to hike the Stikine Ice Cap, which developed creavasses (pg 139) in the snow (pg 138). Because of this, and many other factors, this ice cap was difficult to climb; therefore Krakauer also failed climing it. However, his emotions (pg 143) toward his father and his fear of coming back towards unsuccessful, he continues to try.

Analysis: I find it very fascinating that there are many parallels between Krakauer and Chris' relationship with their fathers and how that stemmed their love for the outdoors.

#hiking #risktaking #truecalifornianwhodoesntknowsnowterms

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Summary: Carine, Chris' sister, discribed childhood photos (pg 128) of the two of them; one describe as Chris not wanting to be there, like he was being interupted. Although Chris and Carine had their similarities as siblings, they were far more differences (pg 129). However, they were still close (pg 129) as he wrote letters to her, but not their parents. Therefore, reasonably, when Sam told Carine that Chris was found dead, she started shaking (pg 130) and her vision began to blur. On the box with Chris' ashes, his name (pg 131) was written wrong but she didn't care, as she believed Chris would've found it funny.

Analysis:  I found it interesting how altough Chris and Carine were very different, they were still close. This is very different from my brother and I, as we do not get along very well because of our differences.

#siblinggoals? #sibsforlife #christopherrmccandless

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Summary: When Chris graduated high school, his father got him an extremely expensive telescope (pg 117). Chris was extremely thankful and expressed it to everyone, but soon after he left for a trip. On this trip, Chris had nearly died in the Mojave Desert of dehydration (pg 118). Eventually, as well, the secret behind Walt and his marriage (pg 121) to his first wife was revealed. He divorced his first wife and was able to legalize his marriage to Billie. The rigorous (pg 122) pressue Walt put on Chris was damaging, especially since Chris often measured himself to these standards. After one of Chris' trips, and after not hearing from him for years, Billie recieved a call from him saying "Mom, help (pg 126) me".

Analysis: Sometimes, I feel like I blame Chris' father for the reason why he went into the wilderness in the first place. All the pressure Walt put on him caused him to want to find a place to escape, in this case, for Chris, was to go off into the wild for long periods of time.

#wild #ihatewalt #surfacepressure

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Summary: A lot of Chris' father, Walt's, wardrobe was very casual (pg 104) but he often worked on huge projects including some with NASA. People often respected Walt; whenever he spoke, people listened (pg 105).  When Chris was born, Walt bought Chris' mom, Billie, a guitar (pg 106) that she used to sing Chris lullibies.Chris' homelife was quite difficult as his father was married to two women, one being his mom, at once. This double life caused Chris to not be able to form close relationships (pg 110). Walt expected Chris to be perfect, beating (pg 111) him up for every little mistake. This constant pressure left Chris to want to leave this life behind him.

Analysis: At the end of the day, I feel for the pressure that Chris experience from his father. My family also places immense pressure on me to do well, which is one of the reasons why I want to move away for college. Therefore, I somewhat understand why Chris wanted to leave this life behind him.

#relatable #daddyissues #mommyissues

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Summary: McCandless was found dead in a blue sweatshirt (pg 99) but this detail didn't help much in identifying himself. However, Jim Gallien was the last person to have given McCandless a ride to Alaska before he died, and he called in. He was initially dismissed as he was the sixth (pg 99) call of the hour. But eventually, he got the police to talk to him. Through this, he was able to find out about his work history while hitchhiking and the paperwork McCandless had to fill out. Most of the information was filled out with the word "exempt" (pg 101). One of the only lines filled out with his legal information was a second form he had filled out. Chris' brother, Sam, who they had contacted, was shown a photograph (pg 101) of Chris by detectives. At this point, Sam had no idea how to tell (pg 102) their parents that Chris was dead.

Analysis: It is heartbreaking how Sam has the responsibility to tell Chris' parents about their son's death and how he was found; especially after 2 years of not hearing from him.

#ripbestie #socialsecurity #oopsies

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Summary: In this chapter, Krakauer talks about a different hiker named Everett Ruess. He was always up and about and only returned home long enough to get a high school diploma (pg 90). He ended up traveling again after to places like Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Everett's story has many parallels (pg 91) similar to Chris'. For example, he went by Nemo when traveling, like how Chris went Alex. Both also avoided any close romantic (pg 92) relationships. They also both would travel many treacherous (pg 94) roads and paths. Everett ended up stopping by a Mormon settlement but never made it to his next stop. His disappearance (pg 95) lead to his family starting a search party but his body was never found.

Analysis: I think it's interesting to see different people taking on crazy adventures proves that Chris' urge to venture into the wilderness isn't crazy. Sure, he may have been ill-prepared, but traveling the wilderness is not very interesting.

#canyons #mormons #byebyebaby

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water: something california doesn't have lol

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Summary: There were many others who ventured off into the wild like McCandless, but they all ended in some sort of trouble (pg 71). Many people wanted to live life by themselves and experience some form of independence (pg 74). Before going off into the wilderness, they had odd jobs such as singing songs (pg 76) on the streets. Overall, they seemed to live very loner-ish lifestyles, similar to McCandless. One person who went out into the woods was extremely delusional and believed in crazy conspiracies (pg 79). However, in the end, just like McCandless, their lived ended up plumetting (pg 80).

Analysis: I believe that many of people who go off into the wild like McCandless just want to experience some sort of independence. However, there are some that are a bit delusional who end up in unsafe situations, as they are not prepared enough.

#delusion #strongindependentwoman #girlboss

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Summary: McCandless' parents were divorced (pg 63) and he had an average homelife. However, before leaving into the wild, his parents noticed his behavior changed to be oppressive (pg 64) and irrational. He was set on living (pg 67) his life as he wished and wanted to do whatever made him happy. His disconnect from his parents lead to him disconnecting from a lot of his relationships. He had a girlfriend but as soon as things became more serious he would leave. He never had sex and remained celibate (pg 65). One thing he could talk about for hours was hunting. He would talk about stalking (pg 67) animals and curing meat.

Analysis: Although he didn't have the hardest homelife, he still had it rough, which made his romantic relationships suffer. I think a lot of the reasons why he didn't ever have sex is because he was scared of the commitment that would bring and didn't want to get hurt.

#virginityrocks #celibate #livelaughlove

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Summary: Ron Franz is a veteran who lost his whole family in a car accident. He met McCandless as a hitchhiker (pg 60) who was looking for a new "road family." Ron says that McCandless left an impression (pg 48) on him because he was the closest thing he had to family. Both Ron and McCandless had a loneliness (pg 50) in them and they were able to fill that void for each other. They built a strong (pg 55) father son-like friendship (pg 56) Ron asked to "adopt" McCandless but this sense of commitment scares him. McCandless wasn't looking for someone to watch out for him but Ron felt like he had to play the role for McCandless. McCandless runs off and leaves Ron with nothing more than a letter.

Analysis: I partially feel for Ron. Ron wanted to fill that missing void of being a father figure and thought he had finally found that with McCandless. However I feel more for McCandless because McCandless just wanted to be off on his own and I kind of feel like Ron was holding him back.

#daddyissues #imsolonely #daddysorry

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Summary: When McCandless got to Bullhead City, he moved into an abandoned (pg 39) bus and got a job at McDonalds. As someone who hated capitalism, it was a bit odd for McCandless to work at one of the biggest feeders into capitalism. He hated the concept of money (pg 46). Many of his coworkers commented on how McCandless never took a bath (pg 41) and had poor hygiene. Another thing was McCandless hated wearing socks and would take them off the first moment he was able to after work. One day, McCandless gets tired of his job and runs off to see his mother figure in a town close to Palms Springs. She recalled McCandless' backpack (pg 43) when she was asked about it. He also had a crush (pg 44). They cared for each other but because of McCandless' fear of commitment, the relationship soon fell apart.

Summary: I think in this chapter, McCandless' fear of commitment and relationships affects the people he meets on his journey. His fear of close relationships affected the relationships he built at his workplace, but also in his romantic life, which is quite unfortunate.

#imsolonely #sadboihours #commitmentissues

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Summary: In this chapter, McCandless' journey starts to become more difficult. Park officials found McCandless' car that he had abandoned and searches for anything suspicious (pg 26). This car was old and beaten up but it was McCandless' pride and joy. He then begins his journey through the scoarched (pg 27) desert. As McCandless keeps moving, he reveals that he is extremely hungry (pg 30) and has been surviving off of nothing but foraged plants. However, he seems proud of this fact. He eventually is given a ticket for hitchhiking but makes the mistake of giving the police his real address. This alerts McCandless' parents to the life McCandless was living, leaving them concerned (pg 31). He also keeps track of his adventures in a journal (pg 35), which he wrote about himself in the third person in.

Analysis: I find it fascinating how, even if he's living a nomadic lifestyle and surviving off the bare minimum, he is still happy. He seems proud of what he's been able to complete on this journey and enjoys to isolate himself from the rest of the world.

#nomadic #mistakesweremade #imhungry

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Summary: In this chapter, Krakauer meets with Wayne Westberg in Carthage, South Dakota. Westberg tells stories (pg 16) about the man he knew as "Alex", McCandless' alias, and his nomadic (pg 19) lifestyle. As we learn more about McCandless, we also learn more about his home life. McCandless had become estranged (pg 18) from his family and had formed a new family with the people he worked with in Carthage. Carthage had become his new home. Before McCandless left his hometown, his father adomished (pg 21) him and told him to visit his family before he took off again. However, McCandless still left without saying anything and continued onto his odyssey (pg 22) -like journey.

Analysis:  In this chapter, I find McCandless to be a little bit selfish for leaving his family without saying much. As hard as his homelife was, it's a bit strange that he went as far as he did to get away from them.

#storytimewithwestberg #findingthetruth #runfast

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Summary: At this point in the story, the trails were completely obliterated (pg 10). The trail encompassed (pg 11) of messes collected after floods and other natural disasters. A couple of Alaskans who happened to be on a trail realized that it would lead to a bus that McCandless had been using during his adventure in the wild. Inside the bus, park officials found McCandless inside a sleeping bag. McCandless was found with a handwritten (pg 12) note begging anyone who could've come by for help and a red flag. Because of how long McCandless had been dead and the strong stench, they decided to evacuate (pg 13) the body. Because of how decomposed McCandless' body was at the time of finding him, it was hard to determine a cause of death. However, because he weighed just 67 pounds, the coroner determined he had died from starvation (pg 14). Because McCandless did not have any identification on him, and the state of decomposition, officials were also unable to identify him.

Analysis: It is extremely unfortunate that Chris' body wasn't able to be identified. I feel for his family, especially since they haven't heard from him. Although I believe that Chris is extremely brave for going on an adventure for himself and I admire him for that, I do find that he is a little stupid for going off on his own while unprepared.

#rip:( #unfortunate #redflag

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Summary: In the Wild by Jon Krakauer starts off with with Christopher Johnson McCandless hitch hiking off of Jim Gallien, a passerby. Gallien saw McCandless as an accomplished (pg 4) hunter although he had minimal (pg 5) gear. After a while, Gallien realized how foolhandy (pg 5) McCandless really was. McCandless asked Gallien to drop him off on a unnavigable (pg 6) road. With little to nothing on him, Gallien realized McCandless was unprepared to go off into the wild. Gallien kept trying to convince McCandless to take precautions but nothing worked. After a while, Gallien persuaded (pg 7) McCandless to take a sandwich in case he got hungry.

Analysis: In this chapter, McCandless wanders off into the wild with very little things to his possesion. I find McCandless to be very brave and adventurous for doing what he wants for himself. At the end of the day, he is living his life for himself and I feel like he understands the risks that may occur.

#adventure #minimalist #bigboymoves

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Starting in elementary school, my parents would sign me up for my church's annual camping trip. Through these camping trips, I discovered my passion for the outdoors. I learned skills such as morse code, semaphore, and knot tying. I also had the opportunity to cook meals with nothing but a fire!

My mom always loved the outdoors and would always plan family vacations to national and state parks. I've been to the Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, and Sequoia National Park, just to name a few. One of my future goals is to visit ever national park in the US!

I love hiking, camping, and just adventuring in the outdoors. Being outdoors is one of my biggest passions as it allows me to disconnect from the world around me.