Mrs. Whitsett
Honors III English
3 March 2016
Shortcomings
“What is dear of living? It's being preeminently afraid of dying. It is not doing what you came here to do, out of timidity and spinelessness. The antidote is to take responsibility for yourself.--- For the time you take up and and the space you occupy. If you don’t know what you’re here to do, then do some good” (A Tribute To Dr.Maya Angelou). You must take care of yourself and not fear the ability of death, your cure to make as much good as you can. Into The Wild tells a true story about Chris McCandless, who abandons all his materialistic possessions for a untraditional way of living in the wild. He neglected the traditional American dream for a more fulfilling existence …show more content…
Within Into the Wild the uncivilized nature poisons Chris into believing he was in blosoming condition. In a short-term survival situation, food is of minor importance. However, in long-term survival or living off the land, becomes of paramount importance. Christopher grossly underestimated the amount of food that he needed. Before his trip to Alaska he had spent periods on a negative calories diet and lost a huge deal of weight. In one of his journal it stated, “Malnutrition and the road have taken their toll on his body. Over 25 pounds lost” (Krakauer 37). Although accessible to food, these excursions inflicted a tramendus toll on his body. During his replenishment period, after a time of living on wild plants, Jan Burres described him as “big-time hungry. Hungry, hungry, hungry” (Karakuer 30). It is fine to lose twenty pounds over several weeks, but continuing the very same negative calorie budget over several months is deadly with the addition of binge eating whenever possible. What Chris did …show more content…
Alas, his only mistake was underestimating Alaska and the harshness that comes with the brutality and unpredictability of mother nature. Most all Alaskan’s fault Chris and believed he got what he deserved. “By design McCandless came into the country with insufficient provisions, and he lacked certain pieces of equipment deemed essential by many Alaskan’s: a large caliber rifle, map and compass, and an ax” (Krakauer 180). Chris undoubtedly should have planned out his Alaskan travels more prepared. More food, warmer clothes and boots would have been a great help as well as the items already mentioned. Many rivers run through Into the Wild. It is the river that ultimately defeats McCandless and kills him. Because he has not predicted that the river separating the Magic Bus from civilization will swell with snow-melt, he cannot cross it in late summer, when he intends to leave the woods. And because he intentionally lacks a map, McCandless is unaware of options for fording the raging waters. If Chris would have at least have had a map, he would have known that Healy was just a few miles to the east of his makeshift camp and this would have indeed saved his life. Unfortunately that’s not the way things worked