Into the Wild

Christopher McCandless was not your average college student. Despite graduating from Emory University, majoring in history/anthropology, in Atlanta, Georgia in June 1990, McCandless wanted to free himself from society’s expectation of him. That is why McCandless decided to travel north after he graduated from Emory University. McCandless was the product of average upper-middle class parents, so it is safe to assume that McCandless’ parents expected McCandless to go to college and find himself a high paying career or a career that he like to do.
When people think about college students, two things come to mind: parties or studying. Thanks to movies/media, people usually associate college students with wild uncontrollable teens at frat partying every single night. This might be true for some college students, but not all. There is also another type of college students, the ones that actually studies. These types of students care about what they are in college for; education that would lead to a high paying career. Christopher McCandless does not fit in any of the two types. In Death of an Innocent, Eric Hathaway, Chris’s cross-country teammate, described that “Social life at Emory revolved around fraternities and sororities, something Chris wanted no part of.” That is why Christopher McCandless’s story is controversial.
When looking at McCandless from a broader view, a man from an upper-middle class family and an honors graduate from Emory University, goes off “into the wild” would not fit well with people. To me McCandless seems like a 90s hippie, without the psychedelic drugs; carefree and “insisting that titles and honors were of no importance.” People describe McCandless as “generous and caring;” McCandless, after graduating from Emory, still had $20,000 in his account, donated it to Oxford Famine Relief Fund.
McCandless way of thought was unusual from many people; McCandless third grade teacher inform McCandless’s parents that their son “march to a different drummer.” During high school McCandless would bring home A’s and developed to be one of the top distance runners in the region. While training for cross-country, McCandless would always use “spiritual aspect” to try to motivate team members: “think about all the evil in the world, all the hatred, and imagine running against the forces of darkness.” With many good qualities there are some bad. McCandless was impatience and self-absorbed, which intensify throughout college. During college McCandless became anti-social, “he kind of pulled back from his old friends and got more heavily into himself,” said Eric Hathaway. McCandless wanted to be independent from society.
In order for McCandless to free himself from modern society; McCandless disconnected himself from friends and family. McCandless hitchhiked throughout the United States. Along the way, McCandless meet and befriended people like Wayne Westerberg, a man who McCandless kept in contact. McCandless walked into the Alaskan wild on Tuesday, April 28, 1992. Despite early trouble of gathering food, McCandless situation changed for the better. What proved to be fatal to McCandless was the poisonous Hedysarum Mackenzii, wild sweet pea that he ate thinking that it was potato seed. McCandless became ill, due to the wild sweet pea, and was extremely weak. Just 113 days after McCandless entered the wild, McCandless died of starvation on August 18.