Shared Happiness

"It is tempting to regard this latter notation as further evidence that McCandless's long, lonely sabbatical had changed him in some significant way. It can be interepreted to mean that he was ready, perhaps, to shed a ltitle of the armor he wore around his heart upon returning to civilization, he intended to abandon the life of a solitary vagabond, stop running so hard from intimacy, and become a member of the human community." (Krakauer 189).

Topic: Inspiration or fool

It is shown that during Chris's adventures alone out in the country have changed him in a way that he now thinks that he cannot be happy if none of his happiness is going to be shared with others. He was possibly ready to go back to his family and stop being so distant from everybody that he was close with. He would never have the chance to try to share his happiness as his life came to an unfortunate end early on.

Passing of Chris McCandless

"Chris almost always had short hair and was clean-shaven. And the face in the picture was extremely gaunt. But I knew right away. There was no doubt. It was Chris. I went home, picked up Michele, my wife, and drove out to Maryland to tell Dad and Billie. I didn't know what I was going to say. How do you tell someone that their child is dead?" (Krakauer 102)

Topic: Family Dynamics

Due to the urgency shown in Sam's actions of taking his family and traveling to where his parent's live show the strong connection that Sam had to his half-brother. It is also shown that despite the family's troubles described by Carine in the TED-talk, Sam knows that his parents would still care about what has happened to Chris and what he has been doing since he had left them. Sam asks how you tell someone their child is dead because he knows it will be hard on their entire family emotionally to know that Chris is gone.

McCandless' Rants

"More than a minute passes before Franz speaks again; squinting at the sky, he begins to reminisce further about the time he spent in the youngster's company. Not infrequently during their visits, Franz recalls, McCandless's face would darken with anger and  he'd fulminate about his parents or politicians or the endemic idiocy of mainstream American life. Worried about alienating the boy, Franz said little during such outbursts and let him rant" (Krakauer 52).

Topic: Inspiration or fool?

You can see that McCandless's family had a big influence on the decisions he made, and were likely the majority of the reason he had left to go on his adventures. I personally think that Chris is an inspiration because of him having the courage to do something about his toxic relationship with his parents, by leaving them and never communicating with them again. People could call him a fool for leaving while ill-prepared, but in reality many people would not be brave enough to take action like he did. At least during the short life Chris had lived, he spent doing what he preferred to do, rather than live the normal American life which he had interpreted as idiotic.