chapters 12-16

This section shows when Chris was happy(er) with his parents. a fresh grad, he decides to go on a trip and be on his own for the summer. I think this trip changed him. I think he realized what his life would be like if he cut his family out. At the end of the summer he had strayed away from the " a call every three days" rule that his parents had put in place, in addition to apparently having been lost in the Mojave Desert and succumbing to dehydration.

I don't fully understand why the author put his story in the book ( chapters 24-25). To me it was kinda like " OK now I'm going to talk about me!" It only took away from the book i think. I mean good for him he climbed a mountain, but what dose that have to do with Chris and his story?

In chapter 16 McCandless leaves Carthage for Alaska on April 15, 1992. He hitches with Jim Gallien and arrives at the Stampede Trail. After being at the buss for a good chunk of time Chris kills a moose. he races to preserve the meat but looses it to maggots. It was recorded that this caused him a great deal distress. He looked upon food as holy, and had just wasted so much that it ate away at him.

In early July he attempted to leave, but was stopped by the river he crossed earlier. Due to the season ( spring ) a lot of snow was melting, causing the river to swell, making the crossing impossible. Chris decided to return to the buss, a leading fatal mistake.I admire him for his perspective on food, its something that the average person take for granite. For this section of the book i lean a little bit to the reckless idiot side of things. It was a dumb move, half a mile down the river he could have found salvation in a basket and wire crossing.