Chirs'_Odyssey

Chris’ Odyssey One of the greatest decisive traits of a hero is his fatal flaw; for young Chris McCandless, whose final mistake was hubris, it brought about his destruction at the time of his life’s culmination. In his piece, Into the Wild, Krakauer glorifies his accomplishment despite this imperfection. His fatal flaw, along with his admirable traits of compassion, congeniality, intelligence and above all his unencumbered devotion to live life to the fullest, make him a relatable, commendable hero. There is no doubt in my mind that McCandless, like any other human being, has his share of flaws; overconfidence, hubris, and an inability to confront his family due to the harbored resentment he felt were the most prominent of such. Despite these flaws, McCandless was determined to live the life he believed was best. Even Krakauer, a powerful advocate for Chris’ veracity, acknowledges, “By design McCandless came into the country with insufficient provisions…evidence not just of stupidity but of the even greater sin of arrogance” (Krakauer 180). I believe the heart of McCandless’ mistakes was his detrimental reaction to failure. Hathaway recalls that, after McCandless failed to live up to his expectations in a cross country competition, “he wouldn’t want to talk about it. If I tried to console him he’d act annoyed and brush me off” (Krakauer 112). One can mistakenly view this flaw as the reason he is a dumb jerk, but the truth of the matter is that this is exactly what makes him heroic. No matter how cynically-minded one views McCandless, it can also be stated, unquestioningly, that he pushed himself to his limits. During 1992, his final year of life, “he was sufficiently skilled to last for sixteen weeks on little more than his wits and ten pounds of rice” (Krakauer 182). This immense feat of literally living off the land proves that, “[McCandless] was not just the common wayfarer” as noted by his close companion, Ronald Franz (Krakauer 48). Even at a young age, he exhibited natural skill when, “on his first overnight backpacking trip…Chris carried his own pack the whole way” (Krakauer 109). This determination, proved to be one of McCandless’ most admirable traits which allowed him to survive in the wild as long as he did. As seen by all around him, McCandless was also an extremely intelligent individual. He excelled at nearly everything he did. Even at a young age, “Chris was a high achiever in almost everything that caught his fancy” (Krakauer 109). He didn’t just have the intelligence measure in school though; McCandless possessed incredible emotional intelligence and “street” skills. His sister, Carine, notes her brother’s extreme actions with an endearing tone, “Chris didn’t think twice about risking his own life, but he never would have put Buckley in any kind of danger” (Krakauer 128). This demonstrates his compassion and strong sense of morals, both the determining traits of a hero. Although McCandless’ attitude towards the overbearing restrictions of society can be viewed as disobedience, the heart of his purpose in struggling is that he truly did not believe that to live his best life, that he should conform to the society he deemed was inadequate. For this hero, mediocrity was not enough. In this sense McCandless’ existence can best be summed up by the words of Chris’ fellow cross country teammate, Eric Hathaway, who spoke of how he ran, “The whole idea was to lose our bearing, to push ourselves into unknown territory. Then we’d run at a slightly slower pace until we found a road we recognized and race home again at full speed. In a certain sense that’s how Chris lived his entire life” (Krakauer 112). This exercise regimen, known as “Road Warriors” demonstrates his determination to drive himself to his full capacity, his courage to drive away the fear that he wouldn’t find his back, and the compassion to drive back to the recognizable world he knew and wanted to change. Ultimately, McCandless’ good qualities outweigh the bad. He set out to live his life to the fullest and he let nothing hinder that goal. He held ultimate dedication for what he believed in. His intelligence and compassion lasted up to his very end, one he documented as a peaceful surrender.