The tragedy of Christopher Johnson McCandless captured my imagination like no other. In many ways he was the man I could never be, but could only live vicariously through. Upon graduation from the prestigious Emory University in Atlanta at the age of 22, he took a step of bravery that only the most intrepid millennials would dare to take. Despite (or perhaps in rebellion against) a bright pre-planned future ahead of him he forsook all his parents plans for him and went into the wild. McCandless spurned his parents wishes for him to attend law school and without consulting them, donated all of his $24,000 of savings to charity before completely disappearing. Adopting the sobriquet Alexander Supertramp (pulled from a character in Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”) he ditched his phone, identification, car, possessions and wallet for the vast expanse of the American West. Our hero was a hopeless romantic, fueled by the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, Jack London and Leo Tolstoy. Disgusted with the societal conventions and trappings of the “American Dream”, he sought out what was true, beautiful and unfiltered. His travels included a three month long solo paddle down the Colorado River into the Gulf of California, an excursion into the brutal heat of the Mojave Desert and his last and fatal expedition to the Stampede Trail on the outskirts of Mt. Denali in Alaska. In the end, an indomitable spirit was no match for a dominable body. For McCandless, the body was simply the conduit to transcendence, and the most pitiable life of all was the one that was not lived. His very life and death leveled this accusation at all the conformists who carefully crafted his upbringing for their own purposes, chiefly his own father. He was willing to risk his own body for the chance of escape from these things modern Americans value so highly: mortgages, excessive capital, crumbling marriages, greed, envy and a plush 401k. He had no interest in the false definitions of success or societal mores of manhood. Before his death on the Stampede Trail, McCandless had underlined a quote from a copy of Thoreau’s “Walden” that he carried with him: “I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, an obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board.” As I begin my young adult life, I ponder whether or not I have already taken a seat at the obsequious table. This is the path most traveled, and most young men are willing to sacrifice sincerity and truth for shallow relationships, unfulfilling careers, and the pursuit of an illusory dream that wealth, power and privilege will bring us satisfaction. We fawn over social media and public perception all the while betraying our true selves and relegating ourselves to a menial existence. McCandless would not. And while he died an untimely death, he will forever remain a personal hero of mine. May I always cry out with McCandless in the poetic words of Thoreau: “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”
All Hail the Dominant Primordial Beast!
And Captain Ahab Too!
Alexander Supertramp
May 1992
-Graffito found inside the abandoned bus on the Stampede Trail
Written by Cal Wilkerson
Christopher McCandless in Alaska
Brains and Brawn 