Charles Crawford

Do you think that Chris McCandless’ journey was spiritual in any way?

Chris McCandless was an exercise in contradiction. This is not in any way an attack on his adventure, his principles, or his beliefs; but instead a discussion of his somewhat contradictory views as explained by his parents contrasted against the impression of Chris given by John Krakauer.
In the book Into the Wild it seems as though Chris McCandless is searching for something. He is searching for something that he considers to be sanctified, and in that sense he did embark on a spiritual journey. He had sanctified Alaska in his mind through the readings of authors such as Jack London and that is what he felt was his axis mundi. It was clear that McCandless wanted to go to the desolation of Alaska to be able to find his “way”, his method of living. It seemed as though McCandless chose Alaska for its solitude, he wanted to throw off the chains of societal living, a life in which he was held down by the often contradictory practices, and live a life based on his own principles. This view is very consistent with McCandless’ other readings of Tolstoy and other existentialist authors. This, however, is where an interesting dichotomy evolves.
The parents of Chris McCandless painted a contrasting picture of their son. His parents made Chris out to be essentially a “good Christian boy” and a people person. I will be the first to say that there is nothing wrong with that sort of label, but the claim makes me wonder why Chris’ parents would paint that picture of their son, especially when it seemed that Chris wanted to be away from people if possible. Was it just a case of proud parents perhaps exaggerating their child a bit for their own pleasure? Or was it that his parents did not know their son as well as they thought they did?
We will probably never know the answers to either of those questions. Realistically, the answer does not matter. It is clear that Chris McCandless was a strong dichotomy between belief in “the Other” and a belief in the idea that everything and everyone is connected in some way and that everyone should find that connection in some way. Chris sought that connection in communion with the wilderness, the untamed wild that he saw as his axis mundi.