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Karina Khanna
Professor Katya Reno
FP 136 02
Travel
10/06/2017
Title
Even twenty years after his death, the obsession with Chris McCandless still continues.
Krakauer published his last theory on Chris’s death in 2015 in The New Yorker where he stated
that it was the seeds of the potato plant that killed Chris. People still try disproving these
theories and come up with new ones every day. People often wonder why he decided to embark
on this entire journey. There are websites dedicated to him. These websites post pictures of his
travels, pictures of “The Magic Bus.” Many adventurers, try tracing Chris’s path and go across
America trying to go to all the places he visited. They also pay homage to “The Magic Bus” in
Alaska. Many of them do these journeys with such passion and dedication that one might even
consider them as a pilgrimage. They try connecting the dots and finding the missing pieces of
the puzzle like where he might have been during times when he did not utilise his journal to
write about where he was going. They post and publish papers by various people written on
Chris and his journey. There are also non-profit charities that have been created in his name.
Some websites are dedicated to finding his purpose and continue to promote his values. He was
a firm believer of truth, of being free and being in control of your destiny. McCandless has
become a symbol of freedom from society but romanticising his journey can cause someone to
forget why they need society and if they can truly live without it.
Chris McCandless represented freedom in almost every sense of the word. He left
behind his family, donated his remaining college fund to Oxfam and went on a voyage around
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America without too many possessions in his second-hand car without telling any of his family
or friends. Over the next two years, during the course of his ‘odyssey’, he did not try contacting
any of them (Krakauer Author’s note, 22, 125). He freed himself of the material world. He
freed himself of familial relations and societal connections. When his car broke down in the
Mojave Desert, he did not let that stop him. Chris burnt all his money, left his car behind and
continued on. He did not let any adversity stop him (Krakauer 29). He travelled all across the
country and never stayed anywhere for too long. In that sense, he was truly free. He was not
bound by anything or anyone. His decisions and choices were mainly influenced by what he
wanted to do rather than what others wanted him to do. Every decision that Chris made was
for himself. And that is what sets him apart. He did something that everyone wanted to do: he
freed himself.
Most people at some point in their lives feel constrained by society and the rules it
imposes on us. At times, they get bored of the mundane routines and tasks of their daily lives.
Sometimes, they might feel like they aren’t serving a purpose by engaging in society. They
want to try finding meaning in their lives and want to discover themselves. They want to find
