To the Editor

I agree that Chris McCandless undoubtedly lived an amazing life. Doing things in his twenty-some short years which many others could only dream of. Yet it would be unreasonable to believe his vision wasn't at least a bit too big for him. He knew to an extent what he was getting himself into, as evident in the foreboding letters he sent to many close acquaintances. He knew that it would be endangering his life, yet he still insisted on going obviously under supplied, and gung ho. This was either a death wish or a naive view of the true power and unforgiving harshness of nature. Ralph Waldo Emmerson said of his late student Henry Thoreau "his genius was better than his talent." I believe much is the same with Chris McCandless, he had a romantic beautiful view of nature, but he was ill-prepared for the challenges he met, and in a way didn't fully respect the finality of Nature's power. He was "supremely over-confident."
However I respect McCandless' Transcendental ideals of individuality, and natural beauty. Yet I somewhat question his motives. He grew up in a well to do New England home, with a happy family which loved, and nurtured him. He got a good education and always at the top of his class, he could have been anything. Yet he abandons it all in search of even more. Some people are content just dreaming, yet McCandless was constantly setting new limits, always setting "pretty high standards for himself."
Additonally McCandless' was gifted with an extremely outgoing personality. Instead of using this to his advantage, he tried to cast it aside. In college being offered chances to enter into prestigious greek fraternities, he had opportunities many others did not. Instead he insisted that honors and titles meant nothing. Throughout his journeys he met many who tried to help him, yet he was too stubborn in his own intent to take any assistance. Refusing money gladly given, because it "made tramping too easy."
While it is undeniable that Chris McCandless was a intellectual, a great transcendentalist, and a romantic visionary, this seems all balanced out by his stubborn attitude, his uncalculated approach to life, and his overall cockiness. Using the talents, genius, willpower, and personality McCandless could have done amazing things for the world. Yet like Thoreau it seems he selfishly wasted it on personal pursuits, which only led to his untimely death.