IRA 20!

Last week I sort of blew through the main story line of the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I’m not going to lie this book has a lot of meat to it. Beside the tale of Chris McCandless the author also weaves in the tales of many other wanderers who meant an untimely end. The reason Krakauer takes the time to study and explain these other vagabonds is because Chris had been compared to them in one way or another but in reality he was his own.

Here are some the other men, the first is John Waterman when he was 16 he climbed Mt. McKinley becoming the third youngest person to do so. But there was more to John than climbing a friend recalls his first encounter with John. “When I first met John,” says James Brady, a fellow climber and college friend, “he was prancing across campus in a long black cape and blue Elton John-type glasses that had a star between the lenses. He carried around a cheaper guitar held together with masking tape and would serenade anybody who’d listen with long, off-key songs about his adventures. Fairbanks has always attracted a lot of weird characters, but he was wacky even by Fairbanks standards. Yeah, John was out there. A lot of people didn’t know how to handle him.” (76) Obviously John seems a little bit off his rockers as he aged his traits grew more wackier and reclusive. The psyche of John had been dealt some serious blows, soon after he learned how to climb eight of his close friends and climbing partners were killed or committed suicide. After he when on a dangerous solo climb and came back flat broke he began to unravel he became increasing critical and analytical. He would take copious notes of his days, a friend ran into him and had a 10-15 conversation and John had made almost 4 pages of notes.  One day the cabin where he lived burned to the ground and in the process destroying all of the notes and journals that he regarded as his life’s works. He was distraught and planned another solo climb and in the process died. None of his remains were ever found.

                There are some similarities between Chris and John but the psyches were completely different. Chris was an easy going guy who made friends with ease and a majority of people he ran into along his journey, even if it was for a brief day or so remember him fondly. John was on left-wing where Chris was planted firmly in the pursuit of beauty and solace.  When Chris began his journey into the heart of the Alaskan wilderness he already knew what conditions he could go through. He lived for several weeks in the desert on only a bag of rice and river water. This led Chris to believe that he could survive with minimal supplies and the wild berries in the area. He knew how to deal with solitude and was seeking out Alaska because of its beauty not for fame like John was.  Chris idolized the works of Jack London and went to see it for himself, firmly believing in the majesty and wonder described in the books. Sadly it led to his end. Soon I’ll learn what actually kept Chris in the valley and dying, the book isn’t done yet.