Into The Mind of Chris McCandless

American Literature 1st
December 19th, 2013
Into the Mind of Chris McCandless Schizophrenia is a widespread mental illness that affects over 2.4 million people in the United States alone. Like most people, they do not believe that they will ever be affected by this disease. And as for Jon Krakauer, the author of Into the Wild, believes that Chris McCandless, the main character in the book, did not have schizophrenia and that he was just an adventurer in over his head, although evidence will prove this inaccurate. Even though Krakauer writes that Chris is just an average adventurer, examining the evidence reveals that he is mentally ill, because he never came prepared to go into the wild, he acts out of character, talking about himself in the 3rd person, and he cut himself off from family and friends suddenly and without reason. These are all symptoms of schizophrenia, backing up the reasoning why Chris is suffering from this mental illness. It should be an expert’s decision if Chris McCandless had schizophrenia, not Krakauer’s. Krakauer depicts Chris as an adventurer , stating that Chris did all the necessary things to survive, and that his death was just a matter of chance. With this, he is jumping to conclusions based off his opinions, and some of Chris’s actions will disprove that he was sane. Krakauer brings up that Chris was prepared to go into the wild by reading the book of edible plants in Alaska, but still this was not enough. His clothing was not warm, he carried very little food, and he had almost no knowledge of actually surviving in the wilderness. Preparing to die is not a normal human function. Jim Gallien, the truck driver who dropped Chris off on the Stampede Trail, begged him not to go on his ‘adventure’ because of how unprepared he was. Gallien even convinced Chris to take his boots and sandwiches, so that maybe he could survive one more night. Although Krakauer believes that Chris had thought this through, being so unprepared is not a sign of being an adventurer. Reduced ability to plan or carry out activities (such as surviving) is a main symptom of schizophrenia. The evidence shows that Chris did have some planning into his trip, but the amount of things that he did not plan for or simply just did not do, make no sense when trying to survive in the wild. Although, there is another symptom of schizophrenia that Chris had been showing throughout his time on the road. The schizophrenic symptom that he showed was loss of identity. For instance, the journal that Chris kept on his person and wrote in often, had all of this stories from him being on the road. Though these stories are interesting, there are a few entries that seem very uncharacteristic from Chris. During his trip down in Mexico, he wrote this in his journal “Canals break off in a multitude of directions. Alex [Chris] is dumbfounded. Encounters some canal officials who can speak a little English… Alex [Chris] is crushed.” (34). Chris McCandless was writing about himself in the 3rd person, as if he was on some sort of epic journey, and that he was an up and coming hero of sorts. This represents a loss of identity, as well as the other name he went by [Alex Supertramp] which he referred to himself more often than he did his real name. In another entry in his journal, Chris described his experience in the wild as “A climatic battle to kill the false being within”. An ordinary, healthy person would not write something so out of the ordinary, even for Chris, a smart, sharp young man, this was uncharacteristic and just strange for him to do something like this. These are prime examples of loss of identity, which is a supporting and convincing symptom of schizophrenia, according the to the Mayo Clinic Staff. Another and more convincing example that shows that Chris was indeed suffering from the mental illness schizophrenia, is that Chris was having social withdrawals, and showing immense periods of isolation, without feeling lonely or lost. For instance, when Chris had found out that his father Walt had cheated on his mother Billie, Chris became very angry as most people would. But even though that this had happened way into the past, Chris had held this everlasting grudge on both his father and his mother because of it. In the upcoming months before Chris went on his adventure, he established a very good relationship with his mom and dad, to the extent where he and his parents were getting a very close bond between them. But one day Chris just cut them off from everything, and left to be out on the road. His parents grew very worried and even hired a private investigator to try and find Chris. Everybody has been mad at their parents to an extent, but this was just too far, even for the circumstances. While on the road, Chris had met some friends, but he never let them get close, he would make acquaintances, then he rarely speak to them again. In the book, Chris befriended a man named Ronald Franz. Franz liked Chris so much that he even asked to adopt Chris as his son, but Chris just replied “We’ll talk about it when I get back from Alaska, Ron” (55). He did not even acknowledge Ron’s request. He was cutting himself off from both his family and his friends, and felt no regret or emotion about it. In the case of his isolation, while in college, the only furnishings in his room was an old mattress held up on milk crates, he never spoke to anyone, and if he did it was only about his academics, he never tried to pursue a meaningful conversation. With the given information this is a prime example of social withdrawal, a main symptom of somebody who is suffering from schizophrenia. With the given evidence, it is clear that Chris McCandless is indeed suffering the mental illness schizophrenia, even though the author Jon Krakauer just depicts Chris as an ordinary adventurer, who met his fate due to a matter of chance and a string of bad luck. After stating the evidence, Chris shows three main symptoms of schizophrenia. While in the wild, he showed a reduced ability to plan or carry out activities. In his journal, he showed a loss of identity, and when it came to family and friends, he showed definite signs of social withdrawal, and isolation. It’s just too much to ignore the real nature of Chris McCandless, the once young, smart, and talented man had been a victim of the mental illness schizophrenia, and not that of an unfortunate adventurer.