Into the Wild

At the end of Chapter 18 Krakauer compares McCandless, as seen in a photo, to a monk: “He is smiling in the picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God” (199). This is the last of many suggestions that McCandless’s journey was motivated by spiritual yearning. At the end of Chapter 9, for example, Krakauer describes the travels of the papar, the Irish monks who emigrated to Iceland for no greater reason than to find solitude and isolation. One arctic explorer suggests that the monk’s dangerous journeys were “undertaken chiefly from the wish to find lonely places, where these anchorites might dwell in peace, undisturbed by the turmoil and temptations of the world” (97).

Krakauer draws an explicit comparison between these monks and McCandless: “Reading of these monks, one is moved by their courage, their reckless innocence, and the urgency of their desire. Reading of these monks, one can’t help thinking of Everett Ruess and Chris McCandless” (97). Rather than being motivated by superficial or arbitrary desires, McCandless’s journey was motivated by a deep search for natural beauty, freedom, and spirituality. In this way he followed in the vein of fellow travelers who went before him, such as Everett Ruess and the papar.