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From the start, I didn't really like Chris. He seemed foolish and he made bad decisions from the very first chapter. However, throughout the story, my opinion of McCandless changed. It ended up staying the same from when I first read the book but, my thoughts of him did fluctuate. He made a few good decisions for me to think that he wasn't that bad, like donating all the money he had leftover to charity. However, there is one thing that I can't ignore. He left his sister, who is the only family member he was actually close to. I can understand why he left his parents, but I don't understand why he just left Carine. He was willing to take the dog, so why didn't he take her on his road trip? It wasn't just because they're brother and sister either. They grew up supporting each other because their parents couldn't support them. Their parents neglected them so to make up for that neglect they had each other. You would expect siblings like that to stick it out through thick and thin but, Chris just left her with the parents that he didn't like. It just doesn't make sense that he left her.

#abandoned #splitsiblings #whydidn'tyou

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One of my earliest memories of my brother was of him playing a game called Soldier Front. This made me want to play and I asked if I could play. He said no, so then I went to my parents and forced him to let me play. Playing games was fun for me and it started as a small thing that I would do every once in a while. Then it evolved into a passion. I tried all sorts of games from an early age. I tried League of Legends, Minecraft, Call of Duty, and anything that was accessible to me. As I started to get into more competitive games, I started to get more excited and that lit a passion in me. It led me to where I am now. I'm playing on our schools Overwatch team and I'm proud of it. I've made many memories with them and I would like to keep going. I would like to keep playing games competitively and make lots of memories with the people I meet. I don't know if I can make it happen, I don't even know if it's really the thing I should be doing, but I know one thing I can be sure of. I like playing games with people I know.

#games #gamingwithfriends #teamgames

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Summary: Krakauer tries to find out what exactly caused McCandless's death. In McCandless's journal he writes "Extremely weak. Fault of potato seeds." Krakauer doesn't ignore (p. 4) this and looks into the potato seeds. He gets a tip (p.6) from a man named Ronald Hamilton. He tells him a story about poisonings in Nazi (p. 6) concentration camps. He decides to test the seeds for a neurotoxin called beta-ODAP (p. 6). Krakauer thinks he has closed the case but he has doubts and decides to send the seeds back to Michigan Lab and spends $20,000 (p. 9). It turns out that it wasn't beta-ODAP that killed McCandless, it was L-canavanine (p.9). It's found that the plant short circuits your metabolism if you eat it and it's only poisonous during the midsummer.

Analysis: Krakauer is obsessed with McCandless. He spent 20 years, spent $20,000, and became well-versed in chemistry just to figure out why a person died and he didn't even meet him in person. I wonder why Krakauer is so obsessed over McCandless.

#20yearinvestment #investigation #toxins

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Summary: 10 months after Sam McCandless had brought the news onto Walt and Billies doorstep (pg.201), Walt and Billie finally go out to Alaska to visit their son's final resting place. They arrive by helicopter and survey the area. They understand why he chose this place and what appealed (pg.202) to him. They walk around for 30 minutes before finally entering the bus. They examine (pg.202) the bus looking at the possessions and the writing on the walls. Walt installs a memorial (pg.202) just inside the door and inscribed (pg.202) the plaque with a few words. They also leave behind a suitcase that has survival supplies and first aid. Walt and Billie were baffled as to why he left in the first place, they're still baffled but now they are less baffled than before.

Analysis: I'm surprised that Walt had the time to visit McCandless seeing as how he has a whole different family. When you visit a dead man's house that you knew, there's a different feeling about it. There are memories in every possession, every step, every strand of hair that person left behind. Walt and Billie must've had so much to think about while visiting Chris. They must've wondered how happy he was while he was there and what he was thinking throughout living here.

#theend #epilogue #visitingfamily

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Summary: Chris heads back to the bus after failing to cross the Teklanika River. He continues on living off the land and pulling out a book once in a while. He reads the book, Doctor Zhivago, and underlines a few passages. He writes next to a passage he bracketed, "HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED" This could've been interpreted as him wanting to share his own happiness people and wanting to rejoin society. However, we find out that he's weak (pg.189) because he writes it in his journal and that he's in great jeopardy (p. 189). He writes that it's the fault of the "pot seeds" he's been eating. There's a lot of conjecture (pg.189) on how he died. Krakauer goes through three conspiracies. The first he introduces is that he consumed moldy seeds he had brought with him. The second is that the potato seeds he's been eating had poisoned him. When they sprout, they contain a tiny amount of poison that could be fatal if it's eaten in an excessive amount. The problem is that it has to be an extremely excessive amount. The third is ingesting wild sweet pea (pg.191). It's reported to be poisonous and McCandless could've mistaken wild potato for wild sweet pea which only has one distinguishing characteristic (pg.191). Whatever the reason, he can't hunt or gather as much as he could before. He couldn't feed himself so he couldn't fight off the hunger. He begins to die of starvation and writes the SOS note and leaves it on the bus while he hunts and gathers. No one comes though. He realizes when he's about to die and takes one final picture and writes a message saying "I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD.  GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL."

Analysis: This is a good story and I like it. It's a sad story but it intrigued me. Looking back on his story it's pretty amazing what he went through. I'm sad about him dying though. The story could've kept going had he brought a map. He was finally going to go back to society after being closed off from it for so long and it's sad to think about what he would've done if he had returned. He could've visited his family and explain why he ran away or he could've stayed with one of the friends he met along the way.

#journeysend #plantskilling #alone

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Summary: Krakauer and a few friends decide to pay a visit to Chris. Krakauer has a topographic map (p. 173) that he uses to locate a cable (pg.173) car about twenty minutes away from the spot Chris tried to cross the river (pg.173). The reason Chris didn't take the cable car was because he didn't have a map. As they continue their hike, Krakauer reveals that he finds Alaska unnerving and he's glad that he has people with him to calm his nerves. They continue their hike and eventually reach the bus. They find a bunch of animal bones that belong to the animals that McCandless had shot. They find the remains of the moose that he had shot and had confirmed that he had indeed shot a moose and not a caribou like many Alaskans hypothesized. They examine more of his things and are rattled by the sight of his things. They camp right outside the bus and they talk about Chris's story. Eventually, the men come to a unanimous decision to respect (pg.181) Chris even if he did have a few mistakes (pg.185) along the way.

Analysis: Now that we basically know the whole story behind McCandless's odyssey. I can safely say I respect him for his accomplishments and some of his decisions. For example, I find not taking a map pretty dumb. Even if you wanted to only live off the wild, the map could've been used for emergency purposes. I also thought to myself, "Why didn't he explore along the river more?" If he did, he would've eventually found the cable cars and could've crossed the river like he intended to do.

#underprepared #cablecartragedies #hikingtoMcCandless

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Summary: The story reverts back to Chris's story. It begins where Chris leaves Carthage to Denali National Park. He gets picked up by a man named Gaylord Stuckey and gives him a ride to Whitehorse, Alaska. McCandless tells Stuckey about his plans of living off the wild while accompanying him. Stuckey drops him off Fairbanks and Stuckey pleaded (pg.160) with him to call his parents. McCandless isn't fond of this idea and just waves him off. McCandless prepares for his trip in Fairbanks and heads out of town again but this time with Jim Gallien. After Gallien dropped (pg.161) him off at Denali National Park and follows his plan which is living off the plan. It's stated in his journal that he followed the Teklanika River (pg.162) and found the bus he would eventually pass in. McCandless recorded a few things in his journal like not being able to go to his original destination because he couldn't cross the river and stayed in the bus instead. At this point, he feels like he successfully escaped civilization and writes it on some plywood that was on the bus. He stays at the bus for a while and is able to provide for himself, although he's had some struggles. When he tries to return to civilization, he can't. The waters were too deep (pg.163) and violent (pg.163) for him to cross and he just ends up going back to the bus.

Analysis: I find it interesting that he recorded all his struggles and accomplishments in a journal. A journal wouldn't even come to mind if I was trying to live off the land. It's fun to read about him but it's also sad because I know that he'll end up dying in the place where he's having fun.

#stuck #hunting #livingofftheland

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Summary: Krakauer goes back inside his tent. He's sad that he couldn't achieve his goal, so he decides to smoke a cigarette (pg.146) to help pass the time. He sets his tent on fire by trying to light his stove. The tent's inner wall vaporized (pg.147) before his eyes and he was approximately (pg.147) 30 degrees colder. After this happens, he begins to think about his relationship with his father. He also thought about how he vaporized a tent that wasn't his. The tent belonged to his father. He had a complicated (pg.147) relationship with his father. Jon was similar to Chris and Lewis was similar to Walt. Lewis had things that he wanted Jon to do. However, he disobeyed his father and became a carpenter (pg.148) and climbing bum (pg.148). He didn't want to be a clone of his father and this led to their relationship being worse off than it already was. Eventually, he got addicted to drugs and ended up taking his own life. Jon found irony in it all. Jon found it ironic that Lewis's foolproof life plan ended up taking his life. Jon uses these memories of his father to climb the thumb. He makes it to the top and takes a few pictures. However, when he descended to share the news with people, they weren't impressed. Nothing had changed for him. However, years later Chris had done the same things and had made headlines. Krakauer compares himself to McCandless and because of his climb he decides that McCandless couldn't've went into the wild wanting to die.

Analysis: Besides the whole double life thing, the Krakauer's and McCandless's are very similar. It's interesting to see the authors perspective and give out reasoning to why he thinks that McCandless couldn't've went out into the wild to kill himself. They both ran away from family and had a goal to focus on to run away from that. However, nothing had changed when Krakauer climbed the Devil's Thumb. In McCandless's case though, the only thing that changed was Chris dying and causing grief towards his family. I wonder if he had felt fulfilled after being in the wild, he would've told his family about the scandal that his dad had committed.

#dontdodrugskids #burningtents #GoAgane

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Summary: Krakauer adds his own story to this book. He compares his story to McCandless. He had a corked fury (pg.134) and hunger to please. He says he's similar to McCandless in this way and he is. They both become obsessed with similar things as well. In Krakauer's case it's climbing the Devil's Thumb. The Devil's Thumb is known for being very challenging to climbers as there are various things that could happen on the glacier (pg.138). He tries to satisfy his obsession (pg.134) but ends up failing due to not being able to go up anymore. He looked for a way up but he looked until his neck ached (pg.144). Of course, various things led to him going down like losing his nerves (pg.143) and concentration. He decided to give up and goes down.

Analysis: Krakauer sounds like a broken record at this point. He keeps telling stories about men that had hopes and dreams and set out to act on them. His story is unique though since he is the author and he adds in his own thoughts about McCandless. He even compares himself to McCandless at some point. This just goes to show that McCandless isn't that different from people.

#devilsclimb #gonext #attemptsontheimpossible

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Summary: This chapter focuses on Carine. They were close and it must've hurt when he left the world. Carine looks back at old pictures of Chris.  She realizes that throughout all the photos, his expression is identical (pg.128). They had a family dog named Buckley. They both loved Buckley and Chris was crazy (pg.128) about him. Chris loved Buck so much that he wanted to take him on the roadtrip. His family rejected this idea because Buck was recovering (pg.128) from being hit by a car. His family thought things might've been different if he took Buck with him. Chris loved him and he wouldn't have put him in any kind of danger (pg.128). She was extremely close to Chris that she even grieves months later. She lost more than 10 pounds in the months after McCandless had passed. She went hysterical (pg.130) when she found out Chris had died. The next day after she found out Chris died, she flew over to Fairbanks to retrieve Chris's remains.

Analysis: Losing someone is extremely hard. At first, you're in a space of shock or denial, then you finally begin to accept it. They also had a bunch of "what if" thoughts which I find perfectly normal. It seems they have regrets about things that surround Chris. It hurts to have those regrets and having those feelings are a new kind of pain.

#whatif #hurt #mourning

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Summary: This chapter elaborates more on the story behind the McCandless family. It begins with a summary with Chris's first roadtrip towards the west. He tries to honor (pg.118) an agreement to call back to his family but then ends up avoiding them. He comes back looking like a wreck and weighed 30 lbs later which alarmed his family. He almost died from dehydration (pg.118) as well which then led on to his family trying to tell him to be more careful (pg.119). This just made Chris less inclined (pg.119) to share his plans. He goes back to college and tries to keep a machete and a .30-06 rifle (pg.119). He was cynical throughout his college education as some people described him. Chris decided to go on a roadtrip after graduating high school. On his roadtrip he found out that Walt had a double life. Chris keeps to himself and he hates his father now. He sets out on more road trips to avoid his parents and tries to cuts all forms of communication while bein in College. When the news of his death arrives, they couldn't understand why Chris left in the first place. They had to cope with his death and it left a feeling of anguish in the family.

Analysis: I can understand why he ran away now. If he had brought forth the information towards his family, everyone could've went their own ways. Honestly though, I'm kind of surprised he didn't. I think I would've done it just because at that point I would've had enough. I would've wanted to ruin Walt's life and leave it at that.

#doublelife #jawdropping #2families

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Summary: This chapter goes over McCandless's family. We learn about Walt who is his father, Billie who is his mother, and Carnine who is his sister. He was very similar to his father in a way. They were both headstrong and didn't like authority (pg.104) very much. Walt and Billie married and made a good living after starting their own company. They had Chris and Carine at home most of time while they were at work. This led to Chris and Carine getting closer. They were basically neglected and on top of that their work was very stressful (pg.107). There would be tension in the air and it would sometimes erupt (pg.107) in verbal sparring. The McCandless kids are gifted (pg.106). They were gifted in a bunch of fields such as academics, music and etc. However Chris was very unhappy with his life and didn't want to keep going.
Despite being unhappy, Chris hustled and grew up working odd jobs and making money. He sold vegetables from his garden, had a copy business and undercut another copy business and etc. He used the money he had and bought his Datsun. He used the Datsun to run away.

Analysis: It was probably very hard for McCandless to grow up the way he did. After all, his parents were never home and couldn't provide the emotional support a child would have while growing up. Instead Carine provided that support for him and vice versa. I respect him for the hustle and I respect him for the way he grew up. I can't respect him for abandoning Carine though. They emotionally supported each other through all those years and he just decides to leave.

#neglect #hustling #ditched

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Summary: This chapter reverts back to where McCandless has died. Alaska State Troopers don't know who he is and they  can't identify him either since he had no forms of identification on him. The New York Times publish a newspaper article (pg.99) about McCandless. Jim Gallien saw the headline (pg.99). He had a hunch that that was the same McCandless he gave a ride to. He calls the state troopers and tells them what he thinks. From the pile of new information Jim gave, they move their search (pg. 99) to South Dakota. They don't find anything about McCandless there. However, Bob who is Wayne Westerberg's friend informs him that on the radio, Paul Harvey was talking about a kid who is extremely similar to McCandless. He calls the troopers and gives them information about McCandless. However, since information about McCandless's diary had been leaked, the troopers were less receptive (pg.100) to Westerberg than they had been to Gallien. Westerberg pulled out the W-4 forms (pg.100) that McCandless had filled out when he was working for Westerberg and gave them his social security number. The troopers took him seriously this time. They turn their search towards Annandale, Virginia from the newfound information. His family had moved out but one of his brothers had stayed. They called Sam McCandless using an old school phone book. The troopers showed him a picture of Chris and he confirmed that it was him. Sam head towards his family in his car and he didn't know how to tell his family that one of their family members has died.

Analysis: They went through all of that to find McCandless. It was all just coincidences too. It was a coincidence that Jim was reading the newspaper, it was also a coincidence that Bob informed Westerberg about the radio broadcast. I find it amazing that these things happened and we are unbelievably lucky to get the full story on McCandless. I feel bad for his family since someone who they cared about suddenly disappeared and then they learned that he died. It must've been hard on Sam too since he had to stress out on how to tell the family that he died.

#oldfriends #luck #breakingthenews

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Summary: This chapter introduces the man named Everett Ruess. He had a seemingly good life set up for him with two very successful parents. His life in society is similar to McCandless's. He attended UCLA and dropped out after a single semester. He would live out a meteoric  (pg.90) life on the move. He's done eerily (pg.92) similar things to McCandless when he sets out on his journey. For example, he writes postcards and it's almost as if McCandless's words are echoes (pg.92) of Ruess's words. He even makes up a new name like McCandless but in his case it's a series (pg.93) of names. He settles on the name Nemo which stands for "nobody" in Latin. His parents that were worried for him, called the authorities (pg. 93). They found traces of him passing through the bottom of Davis Gulch but never found him. There has been speculation about his death. For example, most people believe that he fell to his death while climbing a canyon wall. Some believed he drowned, however there's no way to tell how he died since he seemingly disappeared.

Analysis: This chapter showed that Everett is very similar to Chris. The last chapter also spoke about people that were similar to McCandless's. Of course, there are differences between all of them but the storyline of their lives are extremely similar. I like Everett's story very much because instead of trying to get away from his family, he's just doing what he loves. He had an incendiary passion for wandering and he seemed very happy while doing so. I admire him for following his dreams.

#collegedropout #findingnemo #deathspeculation

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Summary: This chapter is a bit odd, because it doesn't focus on McCandless. It focuses on people that have similar stories to McCandless but isn't exactly the same. They all have stories about Alaska about venturing into their demise (pg.70). The first person that is introduced to us is Gene Rossellini. He was extremely smart and he immersed (pg.73-74) in all sorts of studies just because he saw there was no reason not to. He was also very athletic. He was interested (pg.74) to see if people could live independent of modern (pg.74) technology. He even went to the point where he fashioned primitive tools from native materials on his own. He lived off the land for a decade and was discovered in November 1991 with a knife through his heart. In his studies, he was convinced that people had devolved (pg.74) into inferior beings. The second person that was introduced to us is John Mallon Waterman. He was a talented rock climber. He managed to climb Mt. McKinley, otherwise known as Denali and became the third youngest person to stand there. After that, he kept pulling off stunt after stunt and made waves in the alpinists community. His parents got divorced, and this left a huge impact on John and his siblings because they were basically abandoned. They lived with their uncle and his father, who taught him how to rock climb, never visited him once. This broke his heart. The chapter goes on to talk about his friends who have either got killed in accidents while climbing or committed suicide. He also conquered Mt. Hunter which made another big wave in the rock climbing community and as a result, he was hailed a hero. He ran 2 political campaigns. One was for a school which promoted unrestricted sex and legalization of hallucinogenic drugs. He lost that campaign. The second was under the banner of the Feed-the-Starving Party. He wanted to promote his campaign so he went to conquer Denali again with minimum food. He chickened out but then came back two months later for a second attempt. The second attempt, his cabin burned down so the date was pushed back and he got on his third attempt. He went on to climb in the dead of winter and disappeared forever. The third person introduced is a person named Carl McCunn. Carl is an outgoing person like Chris. He has all the qualities Chris has but, thinks people will bail on him if he messes something up. Carl flies into the wilderness well prepared and wants to leave until August. He forgets to schedule a return flight though. It was past August and he was running out of supplies. A plane came by and he waved with one hand. However, waving with one hand means that you're all good and don't need to be rescued. Carl slowly dies to starvation and frostbite. He took his 30-30 gun and shot himself in the head after writing goodbye in his diary.

Analysis: All these people are similar to McCandless. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between all of them. Now when I compare all these stories together, it just seems McCandless story is just some rich guy who didn't like his rich family, so he decided to become a hobo. In my opinion, his story kind of pales in comparison to the other story. His story is good though.

#comparison #storytime #tragicstories

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Summary: Krakauer makes a visit to Carthage. He interviews Ms. and Wayne Westerberg. He also interviews Gail Borah who is Wayne's girlfriend. Wayne describes McCandless as hard working in the previous chapters, however, he describes McCandless here as having no common sense (pg.62). Wayne said that there were gaps (pg.63) in his thinking. They talk about McCandless's family problems but Westerberg explains that he wasn't really interested in his family affairs. However, now that he's dead he would've chewed him out. He would've complained and said that one of his kids didn't have any parents but no one heard him bitching (pg.64). They talk about McCandless's relationship with his family. They talk about how he was going to trick them into thinking that their relationship was stabilizing (pg.64) then he was to cut them out of his life and "divorce" (pg.64) them. They also mention Carine who was her younger sister and was very close to. They talk about McCandless's personality and his talents, like singing and playing the piano. Even with all these good qualities he died a virgin. McCandless wanted to reach his goal of reaching Alaska so he didn't have any time to look at any relationships. He writes his very last postcards to Westerberg and Burress just before he goes out into the wilderness.

Analysis: McCandless has met a lot of people and has had a sizeable impact on all the people he met on his journey. The news of his death must've made the people he met sad. It's also revealed that McCandless is quite petty when it comes to his family. I find this quality of McCandless a bit funny because I'm very petty, yet he's petty to the point where he would die than rather see his family again.

#petty #nocommonsense #virgin

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Summary: The chapter opens up with a person named Ronald A. Franz being concerned about McCandless's death. Ron is a Vietnam War Veteran who lost his family on New Years due to a drunk driver.  Ron and McCandless met each other while McCandless was hitchhiking. They spend a few weeks together and bond over that time. Ron and McCandless have a bond that a father and son would share. McCandless wants to make his way toward Carthage to make money. However, Ron asks if he can adopt (p. 50) him before he goes. McCandless doesn't want to be adopted and said that he had a college education (pg.51) and that he wasn't destitute (pg.51). Before leaving Ron, McCandless left a letter saying that they will see each other again. He also says that Ron should lose his monotonous security (pg.57) and lead a helter-skelter (pg.57) life style. Ron listens to what McCandless says in the letter and follows his advice. He became a rubber tramp and in Christmas 1992, he picked up 2 hitchhikers. They tell him that McCandless is dead based off an article in "Outside Magazine."

Analysis: Ron's backstory is kind of dark. He participated in a war and he also lost his family due to a drunk driver. He went through so much pain and agony due to the death of his wife and son. He also must've felt anger towards the one that killed his son and wife. McCandless, who he also considered his family, died before him. Getting used to death doesn't get easier so he went through the same emotions he felt when his wife and son died. This chapter was good and Ron's story was sad but amazing.

#deadfamily #notbloodrelated #deadfriends

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Summary: McCandless left Las Vegas and left to Bullhead City. McCandless liked Bullhead city. It might've been his affinity (pg.39) for the lumpen (pg.39) or he just found the city interesting. He stayed there for about two months and even thought about abandoning (pg.39) his tramping life. He applied for a job at McDonalds and used his real information on his paperwork. His colleagues remembered that he was a drifter and didn't like to wear socks even though they were a requirement for work. When he finished his shifts he would always take them off. This would send a reminder to everyone that they didn't own him. McCandless quit after 3 weeks and left for Slab Town. He was going there to meet Jan and Bob. His visit came as surprise since Jan and Bob planned to meet him at Bullhead City. McCandless claimed that he was tired of the city life and all the "plastic people" (pg.43). McCandless helped Jan and Bob sell books at a swap meet (pg.43) and always tried convincing people to read "Call of the Wild." He did well selling books because everyone knew him. He even had someone develop a crush on him. McCandless leaves them eventually to avoid talking about his family. Jan tries to give him supplies and he accepts. He hides it under the seat of their van.

Analysis: I don't understand why he can't settle down. Earlier in the book he said he felt like settling down but then he left the city. He also could've settled down with Jan and Bob. He's had so many opportunities to take a back seat and he's never taken it. He liked both environments but as soon as something goes wrong he just leaves.

#capitalism #running #backtoit

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Summary: The story starts with a couple of rangers (pg.26) finding a yellow Datsun (pg.26).  The rangers find out it's abandoned. The car contains a few of McCandless's possessions inside. It's also filled with mud from a recent flash flood (pg.26).  A few days later it got jump started by another ranger and got taken to maintenance. It's been used to make undercover (pg.27) drug buys. The story goes back in time to where McCandless still had the Datsun. McCandless arrived in Lake Mead National Recreation Area. He got caught in a flashflood and his engine got wet. McCandless couldn't start the car and he drained the battery as a result. McCandless decided to resume his odyssey on foot (pg.29). He hiked around July 10th. He went to places like Lake Tahoe, Sierra Nevada, and the Pacific Crest Trail. He got a job on a ranch offered by Crazy Ernie. Ernie never paid him so McCandless stole a bike and resumed his journey. McCandless met a couple of people named Jan Burres and Bob. They realized McCandless was hungry. He responded by saying he was eating edible plants. McCandless hitched a ride with the couple and after a week he left. He sends them postcards. On August 10th McCandless got ticketed for hitchhiking. McCandless gave his parents address when the officer wanted to know his place of residence. His parents got a private investigator involved and his name is Peter Kalitka. The parents were worried because he gave away his money to OXFAM. They also knew he loved his house and knew it wouldn't make sense that he abandoned it. McCandless bought an aluminum canoe and wanted to take it down the Colorado river to the Gulf of Mexico. He stopped by Yuma for supplies and to write Westerberg a letter. McCandless sneaked through the border by canals. He got lost in a swamp but a group of duck hunters agreed to tow him to the Gulf of Mexico. He got there and got caught in a storm when leaving. He left the canoe behind and walked back towards the border. When he made it to the border, he had to stay in jail and make up a story about chasing a python. He went to LA but he was very awkward. He then camped in the Grand Canyon with a German couple. He recognized he's not the same person he was before. However, he was the happiest he's been. He went back to the spot where he ditched his car. He dug up the stuff he buried. He went to Las Vegas and got a job in an Italian restaurant. McCandless buried his backpack outside the city. However he broke his camera.

Analysis: I find McCandless's story interesting. I find it interesting that he was being tailed by a private investigator. I also found it strange that he left his car since he was so devoted to it. He didn't even try to claim it back. I'm also impressed by how many tricks he picked up as a hitchhiker. Overall, very impressed with McCandless.

#nostopping #naturaldisasters #lostitems

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Summary: In a lone bar, a person named Wayne Westerberg is smoking and reminiscing about a man named Alex. Wayne thinks about how he first pulled over for Alex. After picking up Alex, Wayne sops by the town of Ethridge to deliver a package (pg.17) for a friend. Alex explains that he ran out of money and hadn't eaten in days. Overhearing this, the friends wife cooked Alex a big dinner. Alex wolfed (pg.17) down the dinner and fell asleep at the table. Alex tells Westerberg that his destination (pg.17) is Saco Hot Springs. He heard about this place from "rubber tramps" (pg.17). Alex stayed in Westerberg's trailer for 3 days and went out to the field to work with his men. Westerberg offered Alex a job if he ever came back. He came back a couple weeks later and Alex got a job a grain elevator. Westerberg also rented (pg.17) him a cheap room in one of the houses he owned. While Alex was working, Westerberg realized that Alex was one of the hardest working people he has ever met. Westerberg also realized that he was intelligent (pg.18) but he did too much thinking. He always tried to make sense of situations that don't need much thinking. Westerberg found out through a tax form that his real name was Chris. Westerberg didn't pry further and assumed that it had something to do with his family. Westerberg got attached to Carthage. However, Westerberg got arrested for making black boxes and had to serve a four month prison sentence. Alex left a few days after. He kept in touch with Westerberg when he was roaming the West. He called or wrote to Carthage every month or two. He forwarded all his mail to Westerberg's address and told everyone that he was from South Dakota. He was the son of a NASA employee and owns a business with Chris's mother. Chris graduated from Emory University and declined titles and honors. He had extra money lying around from college and he had donated the remaining money to OXFAM America. He didn't want any presents and argued against getting a car. Chris wanted to disappear from his family, so he wrote all his letters and made sure that they got back to them on certain dates. When they checked where he was supposedly living in, his family discovered he already left. 5 weeks before he changed his name from Chris McCandless to Alexander Supertramp.

Analysis: I respect him a lot more now. The reason why is because, he donated a lot of his remaining money from college to a charity. However, he also disappeared without a trace and his family couldn't find them. He was close with one of his sisters as well. He didn't give any reason why he left. It seems to me that he's running away from something and I don't like that.

#carthage #backstory #namechange

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Summary: The chapter starts off with an epigraph saying "Jack London is King" and it was discovered that it was carved into a piece of wood at the site of Mcandless's death. The chapter then goes on to explain some history about how The Stampede Trail came to be. Yutan Construction (pg.10) have been trying to upgrade the trail and brought some buses out to house construction workers. However, the project was halted (pg.10) in 1963 and Yutan took 2 buses back. Yutan left a bus to serve as a backcountry shelter (pg.10) for hunters and trappers. In early September 1992, 6 people in three separate parties found the remaining bus on the same afternoon. People usually pay a visit to the bus when moose season opens up. Ken Thompson, Gordon Samel, and Ferdie Swanson were heading towards the bus to stalk moose. This group of friends off-roads to the bus. When they get there, they find a couple standing fifty feet away from the bus looking spooked (pg.12). They hadn't been inside the bus, but they noticed a bad smell from inside. They saw that the door was ajar (pg.12) with a note taped to it. The note was disquieting (pg.12) and it has an SOS request written on it. Samel looked through the window and found some items. He also saw a blue sleeping bag that had light contents inside. He shook the contents and when he walked around the bus he saw a head sticking out of it. Chris MCcandless was dead. Samel wanted to evacuate the body but there wasn't any room on anyone's vehicle. A while later a person named Butch Killian showed up. He works as a coal miner but moonlights as an emergency medical technician. He notified dispatch and at 8:30 a police helicopter showed up and took McCandless's remains. There was an autopsy on McCandless's body. The exact reason for death was unsure because the reamins were so badly decomposed. He weighed around 67 lbs so the conclusion was that he died of starvation. The police had no clue who he was, where he was from, or why he was there.

Analysis: I find it weird that the autopsy at the end couldn't find anything that indicated that McCandless was injured. His note states that he was injured and near death. Even though the body was badly decomposed, surely the body couldn't be that bad. I find it sad that even though he was badly injured, he was still able to move. He clearly went through excruciating pain while fighting for his life and I find that sad. He lost the battle against the wilderness and he went out quietly.

#peoplefounddead #tragic #whoisthis

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Summary: Into the Wild is based on a man named Christopher Johnson McCandless. He starts an adventure with minimal amounts of aid (pg.5). He gets picked up by a man named Jim Gallien. While Jim is heading towards Christophers destination, he notices that Chris only has a few supplies and is not very prepared for his journey. One of the things he brings is a tattered state map (pg.5). He tries to hunt without a hunting license (pg.6) which shows his inexperience in hunting. Despite all of the odds stacked against him, he's very excited to go out into the wilderness and live his life out.

Analysis: I don't admire Chris. The feeling that I get when reading this book is more like a feeling of respect instead of admiration. I believe that you should do anything that you want to do. I don't think the decisions he made were good. For example, he could've been a lot more prepared. He also had the option of giving away his money to a charity. He had all these options to do something that's admirable, but he didn't. I respect his decision of doing what he wanted, however I don't respect his decision to suddenly disappear.

#wilderness #dowhatyouwant #adventure

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When I was a kid, I went camping with my whole family and my brothers scout troop. I enjoyed the camping trip and have liked the wilderness ever since. I ended up joining boyscouts and I stayed there for about a year or two. I didn't enjoy it like I thought I would. This was because everyone already knew each other and I'm not good at socializing. Even though they were welcoming, it didn't feel like we were friends. I also had to do things the scout master wanted us to do. I didn't like that aspect and I just wanted to do whatever I want. However, I couldn't leave immediately because of my parents. I ended up leaving by not showing up. I stayed away from the wild for a little bit but I do like the wilderness.