At the beginning of the book, Chris wanted to go out on a journey to Alaska because he did not want to follow the mold that society had made for him. He thought that his father was trying to pressure him into going to law school to be successful and to get married and to live in a suburban neighborhood with two kids and a golden retriever. Because Chris thought that he did not want to do that, he set out for Alaska to in the wild to try to find his place in the world. He went there for many reasons: seeking adventure, truth, purity, and happiness.
I believe Chris’s mental journey began before he even got to Alaska. Chris covered his car and burned all of his money so his only mode of transportation was hitchhiking. By hitchhiking, he had to interact with people. This shows that even though Chris wrote that he desired to get away from civilization, he still wanted to be around people. If he did not want to be around people, he would have walked all the way to Alaska.
Chris’ entire journey was not just catching rides and mooching off other peoples all of the time. If that were the cause that would not be a journey. At one point in his journey, he was living in a tent and working at McDonalds flipping burgers. He would come to work and bathe in the sink in the men’s room.
Some might ask, “So why did Christopher McCandless trade a bright future--a college education, material comfort, uncommon ability and charm--for death by starvation in an abandoned bus in the woods of Alaska,” or “What longing led the twenty something McCandless to that bus and at what cost to himself and his family?” There are many different ways that people can try to answer these questions, however, the only way we could know would be to ask Chris but as we can’t we just have to try to put our selves in his shoes and walk through his journey in our minds.
Some would argue that Chris’s journey was not successful because he ended up starving to death in a bus in Alaska. On that note, I would have to agree. Nevertheless, that was only his physical journey. However, most importantly, what happened to his psychological journey?
Chris’s psychological journey is what made him desire to go on his physical journey in the first place. Chris’s psychological journey was trying to find what he really wanted out of life. In the beginning of the book, Chris really didn’t know, but after meeting so many people that actually cared about him all over the United States he realized that he wanted to be around people and back in civilization. He realized that he could still be successful and not have to follow the mold. He found out that it was okay to be different. Some would argue that he was not happy when he died because he was starving but I believe that he was. Therefore, Chris McCandless’s journey was successful because he finally found what he wanted to do and that was the whole goal of his journey and if starving to death and still being able to be happy is not Success I do not know what is. At one point in our lives we all take a McCandless journey I call it “The Journey of our lives.” In his final message to the world Chris McCandless wrote,” I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!" I will never forget Chris his sprit lives on forever in all of our hearts.
