Sunday, April 22, 2012

Dan Matarazzo, Outside Reading 3


Christopher McCandless finds himself in the middle of the Alaskan terrain living off of nothing but scarce vegetable and whatever game he can find a shoot in the book Into the Wild. Christopher was able to survive almost 120 days in the Alaskan wild, all the while keeping a journal of his journey. The terrain of Alaska continues to be a challenge as he attempts to make his way hiking back to the coast. The landscape controls Christopher’s fate, he waits for July to cross the frozen desert, however he is met with misfortune when he crosses an impassible river overflown from melted snow. He leaves to find another route around the river when the summer begins to end and his food sources become scarcer. He has been eating Eskimo potato to keep his energy up, with the coming of winter the potato became too hard to eat. Instead he attempted to eat the seed of the plant, which in a twist of irony, turns out to be poisonous and kills Christopher McCandless. The power of the wild to obtain something that nourishes you as you travel through its landscape, and then just months later, have the power to kill you with the same plant that kept you alive. 

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