I expected to admire the protagonist of Into the Wild, the real-life Chris McCandless. But now I just think he's a bit of a brat. In 1990, McCandless graduated from Emory, then left Atlanta for the west, never to be heard from again. He never told his parents what he was doing or where he was going. After hitchhiking around the country, he walked into the Alaskan wilderness two years later, and never made it out after starving to death. It's an entertaining read, but I couldn't help thinking that McCandless (who went by the name "Alexander Supertramp" during his journey) was just an idiot.
First of all, he was given everything, but resented his parents for it. Disappearing was his way of getting back at them. Selfish. Second, despite warnings from those more experienced in the Alaskan bush that he was not prepared, he insisted he was just fine, and refused to take their advice. Stupid and cocky. If he had just had something as simple as a map, he'd probably still be alive today. I just kept thinking "what an idiot" every time I turned the page. Even though it's pretty clear the author admired the man, he couldn't persuade me.
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2 comments:
I was wondering what you'd think of him. I can definitely appreciate his wanderlust. And isn't all travel selfish to some extent? He just drew his lines (waaaayyy) further out than most people. And died for it. Not my style, either. Krakauer writes it well, though, and the movie is still on my to-watch list.
I do plan to read the book at some point, but I have to say the movie was very well done. It deserved way more credit than it got in a year when "No Country for Old Men" won best picture.
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