My Editorial Paper

Chris McCandless: Courageous Hitch Hiker on a Journey

By: Rita Watson

            From canoeing in Arizona to hitch hiking in Alaska, Chris McCandless takes a leap of faith leaving his home in Virginia to live in the wild. Leaving everyone he loved and a chance to go to his dream college, Chris embarks on a two year long journey. Chris set out on this journey and lasted 113 days until he died of starvation. He was very determined and ready for this trip into the wild. People heard of his expedition and claimed he was crazy, but he did something no one would ever dream of, he was a courageous hero.

       Chris was, “five feet seven or eight with a with a wiry build, he claimed to be 24 years old and said he was from South Dakota”Krakauer (4). He wasn’t very social, but was very intelligent. He was always smart and top of his class. He graduated college and was all ready to go to Harvard University, until he left his family unexpectedly on a journey to Alaska’s wilderness. Chris wanted to live life to the fullest and he wanted to do everything he could to make his time on earth worthwhile.

     Chris had other reasons to be upset, release all of his stresses ,and leave his family. When he found out he was born when his parents were not married he wasn’t upset. He was. He was upset and didn’t want to forgive hid dad, he wasn’t ready. He was shocked.

     People often thought of Chris as an amateur or unintelligent. They often said he was unprepared and he was crazy for doing this when he wasn’t. “Gallien thought the hitchhiker’s scheme was foolhardy and tried repeatedly to dissuade him” (5). There were many reasons they thought that he was crazy and not smart. First With the caribou and the moose. Chris killed a moose, well at least that what he though, other people thought he killed a caribou. People said the difference between a caribou and a moose were very distinctive and you’d have to be pretty dumb to not be able to tell the difference between them. Though later in the story Krakaur found out that Chris did in fact kill a moose and not a caribou, proving he was right. Another example was when Chris ate the wild potage root. Everyone thought he was dumb because he couldn’t tell the difference between the identical poisonous and non-toxic potatoes root, when really it wasn’t his fault. He ate the root that had mold growing on it because of the moister in the bag they were in. These people were wrong and wrongly accused him things that didn’t happen.

       Chris did not have many supplies, he didn’t take food and he burnt all of his money. This was definitely not smart at all. That made him somewhat unprepared for his journey. This was a risky move,and in the long run food and money could have helped him out.

     Overall, Chris was courageous and did something no one would ever think of doing. He was smart and he knew what he was doing. People didn’t believe in him, but in the end he did everything he could to survive. He was a courageous hero.