The essay deals with McCandless’s quest for identity from Jon Krakauer book titled, Into the Wild. As in the book the writer illustrates how McCandless is in exploration of the self limits signifying, he felt he had no identity in the society. McCandless departs, from the civilized way of living, preferring the uncivilized life of the wild animals. This way the explorer feels, he will be much more content rather than living in the civilized society he was before. In this book, the explorer is in search of enlightenment by living with the wild. The writer is in the quest, to answer many questions about the way McCandless acted and related with family and friends. In the book, the writer tries to show what happened prior to the death of McCandless.

McCandless was raised up in the suburban of Annandale, Virginia. He studied in Emory University, which is an internationally prestigious university, and graduated in 1990 with excellent grades (Krakauer 2). The high grades from such a great college could have been a good reason for him to feel he had an identity in the society. Ironically, he felt like, he had lost this identity; by the way he acted after this. First, he cut communication with his family, threw away his $25,000 savings fund for college to a charity by the name Oxfam. This brings up a lot of questions like, “Why would a recent college graduate from an affluent family renounce that family and his friends and set off alone in the wilderness?”(Krakauer 3). McCandless began the adventure by traveling, where he abandoned his car.

McCandless hitchhiked to the Stampede Trail in Alaska, two years later, in April 1992. He had carried less than 10 pounds of rice and a small rifle (Krakauer 4 pdf). He was in big boots and had the confidence he could make through the wild. McCandless went down the trail that was covered with snow. He was neither dressed nor prepared for the adventure though he felt he could make it. He began the thrilling adventure with a small rifle, several rifle rounds boxes, and some reading material, camera – consisting of a guide to the edible plants in the field, and the 10 pound rice. This showed he felt he could survive the expenditure and proclaim a good identity of being a hero.

After four months, McCandless’s body was found in an abandoned bus. He did not survive the expenditure as he thought he was on the start of the journey. Later on, his backpack was retrieved, and it had his wallet. The wallet had different kinds of identification of his identity, a credit card worth $300, and library cards (Krakauer 4). This shows he was on hold of his past life as he connected to the future life he was in search of in the wild. This also meant that somebody who would find him weak starving or injured could trace his identity fast using these documents. He was full of hope; he would survive many more days in the wild. The area map was retrieved from his backpack. He refused an offer to be bought better clothing for the weather of the place of adventure and also the outside cold. He survived about 119 days as he is assumed to have passed on August 18, 1992.

His death did bring a lot of controversy to the society who had different opinions of him. Some had the perception that he had brilliant ideas of the world while others felt, he was stupid to starve himself to death. In his book, Into the Wild, Krakauer says, “McCandless did not conform particularly well to the bush-casualty stereotype. Although he was rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry, and the point of foolhardiness, he was not a sociopath, he wasn’t McCandless was something else – although precisely what is hard to perhaps” (Krakauer 85). The writer tries to identify with McCandless’s situation. He relates his own experience in the wild with that of McCandless’s experience. He talks of how he almost died in his tour of the wild. McCandless was much more prepared for the exploration. At first the writer claims McCandless had eaten something poisonous by mistake. According to the writer, a well balanced food can consist of seeds as the body can utilize the seeds amino acids and glucose store to dispose the poison consumed. McCandlesss survived on lean meat, wild plants and rice. This is justifiable since; McCandless’s body fat was not more than 10% at his death. Later on the writer tries to hypothesize that he could have died from the toxins contained in the potato with mold he was consuming. The hypothesis was aimed at showing that McCandless died of starvation due to the fact; he had poison in his body that made him lie in the bus camp. Although this hypothesis did not prove to be true, the writer later tries to clarify on the cause of McCandless’s starvation to death.

The book dates back that on “June 9, 1992: McCandless kills a moose and takes a photo of himself with the carcass. June 14, 1992: Discovering maggots on the carcass, abandons it to the local wolves” (Krakauer 9). After this happening McCandless takes up his backpack and goes back to his bus camp. The writer illustrates how weak he is after two days, even to cross a pond. It seems like a lake since he was too weak to cross the pond. This clearly shows that the lean meat from the wild hunt had now become disgusting after discovering maggots in the moose carcass. The supply of rice and the seeds he had stored in a pot had run out. Starvation had now caught up with him, and he did not have the energy even to move out of the bus (Krakauer 9).

McCandless writes that he had made it through the 100 days though he was weak. He could see death beckoning at him. He was still determined to live more days than anyone would have survived. Later on McCandless kills five squirrels and later a ptarmigan. This signifies that he still strived to survive for few more days. He posts an S.O.S. on the door of the bus he was residing.

The writer is out to discover why McCandless decided to go in the wild and tolerate all those days. Even when McCandless felt that starvation had caught up with him, he would not think of turning back home (Krakauer 9). The writer identifies the McCandless’s quest to explore the wild with his own. The writer had the same determination and confidence like that of McCandless when he climbed the mountain that his other three climbers were not able to climb. The writer is the voice of the late McCandless where he identifies his own situation with that of McCandless’s. So, as the society condemns the act of this young graduate the writer tries not to be judgmental of the McCandless’s deed. In this way, Krakauer is questing to give McCandless an identity that best defines him. The writer does not criticize the way McCandless acted, but rather puts to light how his desire and passion made him travel through the harsh weather conditions. The writer wants the readers to praise McCandless’s tremendous courage. Since the writer is also a survivor, who has seen his fellow climbers die, he could understand well what McCandless was going through.

In conclusion, the illustration essay has shown how McCandless’s quest for identity went on. The essay has illustrated how McCandless’s exploration of the self limits signified he felt he had no identity in the society. The essay has succeeded in showing how McCandless tried to survive in the harsh wild life to the point of starving to death. The writer of the book has claimed the identity of McCandless while the society had tarnished it with all kinds of critics.