Rocio Valdez - ISPI 4020 San Roque

Language III - Professor Silvio Bode

Into the Wild: Chapter 18 and Epilogue

McCandless came back to the bus on July 9, after a failed attempt to go home. He
had no problem in waiting until the water levels were favorables because it was summer,
that meant that the country was a fecund riot of plant and animal life. Also, his food supply
was adequate. In the last three weeks of July, McCandless killed 35 squirrels, 4 spruce
grouse, 5 jays and woodpeckers all of which supplemented with wild potatoes, wild rhubarb,
various species of berries, and large numbers of mushrooms. However, happiness doesn’t
last forever because after subsisting for 4 months on an exceedingly marginal diet,
McCandless had run up a sizable caloric deficit.
Chris used to write thought or opinions on the sides of the books he read, there was
a particular book called Doctor Zhivago in which he wrote “Happiness only real when
shared”. Some people interpreted it as an statement in which he decided to come back to
civilization, stop running so hard from intimacy and become a member of the society. That
never happened though.
On July 30, he wrote in his journal that he was extremely weak, had trouble to stand
up and that he was starving. According to a theory, McCandless never got around to planting
a garden even though it was on his to-do list, and that the reason of his death was
poisoning. It was probable that the young boy confused a wild sweet pea called Hedysarum
alpinum with another called Hedysarum mackenzii, the last poisonous if you eat them in
large quantities. Nevertheless, that theory was refuted by Jon Krakauer when he decided to
collect samples of H.alpinum and sent some dried seed pods from that sample to Dr. Thomas
Clausen. The Doctor alongside a graduated student called Edward Treadwell, came to the
conclusion that the seeds had nothing toxic and, that, McCandless was killed by mold that
had been growing on those seeds. Krakauer pointed that Chris stored those seedpods in
damp unclean Ziploc bags, and that McCandless ate that moldy seeds.
On August 5, 100 days had passed since he entered the wilderness of Alaska. That
day, Chris wrote that he was proud of what he achieved but that he was still weak and death
was near. McCandless didn’t write anything important in the following days until August 12,
when he wrote that he dragged himself out of the bus to forage for berries, after posting a
plea for assistance just in case someone would stop and see him. In that piece of paper he
begged for help and also signed the note with ‘Christopher McCandless’ which meant what
the thing was serious.
Jon pointed that the way in which Chris died was not pleasant at all. In advanced
stages of famine, the victim suffers muscle pain, heart disturbances, loss of hair, dizziness,
shortness of breath, extreme sensitivity to cold, physical and mental exhaustion. However,
some people who survived starvation said that in the last stage the person could experience
sublime euphoria and a sense of calm accompanied by mental clarity.
The last time Christopher McCandless wrote in his journal was on August 12, he
wrote in a blank page his last words, it was kind of a goodbye. The young man, claimed to
have had a happy life. After have written that, McCandless crawled into the sleeping bag and
slipped into unconsciousness. However, the last thing he did before write that note and die
was to take a picture of himself near the buss . In the picture, Chris was smiling, there was
no doubt that the man died in peace.
Christopher McCandless probably died on August 18, after have lived the best
adventure of his life.

Ten months after McCandless died, Billie and Walt decided to go to Alaska to explore
and see where Chris died and lived for months. The idea was to do the same path that Chris
did, however, they couldn’t because one day before the climb the man who would take
them there cancelled the journey, obliging them to take an helicopter.
When the couple were there alongside Jon Krakauer, they felt weird to be in the
same place in which their son died. Billie claimed that the place was smaller than she
thought, however, it was beautiful. Chris’ parents walked quietly around the bus for about
30 minutes, the first to enter the vehicle was Billie. There were no tears when she was there,
everything was so quiet.
Before leaving the place, Walt installed a memorial inside the door and sticked a note
in which he begged other visitors to call their parents as soon as possible.
The couple recognized that they didn’t want to go to Alaska at first, but then they felt
glad of visiting that place.