Into the Wild
Encyclopedia
'Into the Wild' is a 1996 non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer
. It is an expansion of Krakauer's 9,000-word article on Christopher McCandless
entitled "Death of an Innocent", which appeared in the January 1993 issue of Outside
. The book was adapted into a 2007 movie of the same name
directed by Sean Penn
with Emile Hirsch
starring as McCandless.
grew up in suburban Annandale
, Virginia
. After graduating in 1990 with high grades from Emory University
, McCandless ceased communicating with his family, gave away his college fund of $24,000 to Oxfam
, and began traveling, later abandoning his car.
In April 1992, McCandless hitchhiked to the Stampede Trail
in Alaska
. There, McCandless headed down the snow-covered trail to begin an odyssey with only 10 pounds of rice, a .22 caliber rifle
, several boxes of rifle rounds, a camera, and a small selection of reading material – including a field guide to the region's edible plants, Tana'ina Plantlore. He declined an acquaintance's offer to buy him sturdier clothing and better supplies. After surviving more than 100 days, he is thought to have died on August 18, 1992.
, South Dakota
laboring for months in a grain elevator owned by Wayne Westerberg before hitchhiking to Alaska. Krakauer interprets McCandless's intensely ascetic personality as possibly influenced by the writings of Henry David Thoreau
, and McCandless's favorite writer, Jack London
. He explores the similarities between McCandless's experiences and motivations and his own as a young man, recounting in detail Krakauer's own attempt to climb Devils Thumb
in Alaska. Krakauer also relates the stories of some other young men who vanished into the wilderness, such as Everett Ruess
, an artist and wanderer who went missing in the Utah
desert
during 1934 at age 20. In addition, he describes at some length the grief and puzzlement of McCandless's parents, sister, and friends, particularly an aged man, named Ronald Franz, who had befriended McCandless in the Mojave Desert
and was very fond of him.
McCandless survived for approximately 119 days in the Alaskan wilderness, foraging for edible roots and berries, shooting an assortment of game
—including a moose
—and keeping a journal. Although he planned to hike to the coast, the boggy terrain of summer proved too difficult and he decided instead to camp in a derelict bus. In July, he tried to leave, only to find the route blocked by a melted river, which was tragically unfortunate as there was a hand powered tram just upstream. On July 30, McCandless wrote a journal entry which reads, EXTREMLY WEAK. FAULT OF POT. SEED... Krakauer hypothesized that McCandless had been eating the roots of Hedysarum
alpinum, a historically edible plant commonly known as wild potato (also "Eskimo potato
"), which are sweet and nourishing in the spring but later become too tough to eat. When this happened, McCandless may have attempted to eat the seeds instead. Krakauer suggests that the seeds contained a poisonous alkaloid
, possibly swainsonine
(the toxic chemical in locoweed
) or something similar. In addition to neurological symptoms such as weakness and loss of coordination, the poison causes starvation
by blocking nutrient metabolism in the body. However, he realized that Chris had not confused the two plants and instead a more likely scenario is that he was poisoned by mold growing on the local flora he had gathered. The 2007 film adaptation by Sean Penn
shows Chris confusing two different plants, and he chooses the wrong one.
According to Krakauer, a well-nourished person might consume the seeds and survive because the body can use its stores of glucose and amino acids to rid itself of the poison. Since McCandless lived on a diet of rice, lean meat, and wild plants and had less than 10% body fat when he died, Krakauer theorized he was likely unable to fend off the toxins. However, when the Eskimo potatoes from the area around the bus were later tested in a laboratory of the University of Alaska Fairbanks
by Dr. Thomas Clausen, toxins were not found. Krakauer later modified his hypothesis, suggesting that mold of the variety Rhizoctonia leguminicola
may have caused McCandless's death. Rhizoctonia leguminicola is known to cause digestion problems in livestock, and may have aided McCandless's impending starvation. Krakauer now hypothesizes that the bag in which Chris kept the potato seeds was damp and the seeds thus became moldy. If McCandless had eaten seeds that contained this mold, he could have feasibly became sick, and Krakauer suggests that he thus became unable to get out of bed and so starved. His basis for the mold hypothesis is a photograph that shows seeds in a bag.
However, in 1997, it was determined by “Dr. Thomas Clausen--the biochemist at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, who examined the wild potato plant (Hedysarum alpinum) for Jon Krakauer--concluded after exhaustive testing that no part of H. alpinum is toxic. Neither the roots nor the seeds. Accordingly, McCandless could not have poisoned himself in the way suggested by Krakauer in his 1996 book Into the Wild, and in every subsequent reprinting of the book over the next decade. Likewise, Dr. Clausen’s analysis of the wild sweet pea (Hedysarum mackenzii)--given as the cause of Chris’s death in the current Sean Penn film--has also turned up no toxic compounds, and there is not a single account in modern medical literature of anyone ever being poisoned by this species of plant. Moreover, Penn’s on-screen excerpt from the ethno-botany guide Chris was using, indicating otherwise, is a complete fiction, for all that this plant lore text actually states is that the wild sweet pea "is reported to be poisonous" (Tanaina Plantlore, Priscilla Russell Kari, p. 128). The rest of it is simply made up. And so, even if McCandless made a mistake of botany, something that even Krakauer claims is unlikely, he would not have been poisoned as it is portrayed in the Penn film.”
was released in 2007 and stars Emile Hirsch
as McCandless. The film emphasizes, and in some cases exaggerates, certain aspects of personal relationships that McCandless experienced, including his parents' domestic conflicts and his own interaction with teenager Tracy Tatro, played by Kristen Stewart
. Other interactions portrayed in the film, however, seem very accurate based on Krakauer's research, including the characters of Jan Burres, played by Catherine Keener
, and "Ronald Franz" (pseudonym), played by Hal Holbrook
. The film's depiction of McCandless's death differs from the theory put forth by Krakauer in the later edition of the book. Penn controversially and falsely depicts McCandless confusing the seeds of H. alpinum with those of the claimed to be toxic H. mackenzii; whereas, Krakauer revised his theory and claimed that McCandless died because he had ingested seeds that were infected with a particular type of mold, which has yet to be proven by any scientific evidence.
McCandless's story is also the subject of a 2007 documentary by Ron Lamothe
named The Call of the Wild. In his study of McCandless's death, Lamothe concludes that McCandless starved to death and was not poisoned by eating the seeds of the wild potato.
A survival show set in Alaska
, entitled Out of the Wild
, is inspired by the story.
The directors of the Christopher Johnson McCandless Memorial Foundation, Bille and Walt McCandless, are in the process of launching a new book about the story based on Chris McCandless's hundreds of unseen pictures and journal entries. The book is titled Back to the Wild and will be released, along with a DVD, in early 2011. Jon Krakauer has also written a piece in the book's introduction.
Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer, primarily known for his writing about the outdoors and mountain-climbing...
. It is an expansion of Krakauer's 9,000-word article on Christopher McCandless
Christopher McCandless
Christopher Johnson McCandless was an American hitchhiker who adopted the name Alexander Supertramp and hiked into the Alaskan wilderness in April 1992 with little food and equipment, hoping to live for a time in solitude...
entitled "Death of an Innocent", which appeared in the January 1993 issue of Outside
Outside (magazine)
Outside is an American magazine focused on the outdoors. The first issue debuted in September 1977 with its mission statement declaring that the publication was "dedicated to covering the people, sports and activities, politics, art, literature, and hardware of the outdoors..."Its founders were...
. The book was adapted into a 2007 movie of the same name
Into the Wild (film)
Into the Wild is a 2007 American biographical drama film directed by Sean Penn. It is an adaptation of 1996 non-fiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer based on the travels of Christopher McCandless across North America in the early 1990s. The film stars Emile Hirsch as McCandless with...
directed by Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
with Emile Hirsch
Emile Hirsch
Emile Davenport Hirsch is an American television and film actor. He began performing in the late 1990s, appearing in several television films and series, and became known as a film actor after roles in Lords of Dogtown, The Emperor's Club, The Girl Next Door, Alpha Dog, and Into the Wild. In...
starring as McCandless.
Background
Chris McCandlessChristopher McCandless
Christopher Johnson McCandless was an American hitchhiker who adopted the name Alexander Supertramp and hiked into the Alaskan wilderness in April 1992 with little food and equipment, hoping to live for a time in solitude...
grew up in suburban Annandale
Annandale, Virginia
Annandale is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 41,008 at the 2010 census, down from 54,994 in 2000 due to the splitting off of the western part of it to form Wakefield and Woodburn CDP's.-Geography:...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. After graduating in 1990 with high grades from Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
, McCandless ceased communicating with his family, gave away his college fund of $24,000 to Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, and began traveling, later abandoning his car.
In April 1992, McCandless hitchhiked to the Stampede Trail
Stampede Trail
The Stampede Trail in Alaska was a mining trail blazed in the 1930s by Alaska miner Earl Pilgrim to access his antimony claims on Stampede Creek, above the Clearwater Fork of the Toklat River...
in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. There, McCandless headed down the snow-covered trail to begin an odyssey with only 10 pounds of rice, a .22 caliber rifle
Remington Nylon 66
The auto-loading .22 caliber Remington Nylon 66 rifle was introduced by Remington Arms in 1959, featuring a synthetic stock built from the DuPont material Zytel, a compound similar to Nylon. The largely synthetic construction meant that the Nylon 66 could operate without any added lubricants...
, several boxes of rifle rounds, a camera, and a small selection of reading material – including a field guide to the region's edible plants, Tana'ina Plantlore. He declined an acquaintance's offer to buy him sturdier clothing and better supplies. After surviving more than 100 days, he is thought to have died on August 18, 1992.
Summary
On September 6, 1992, Christopher McCandless's body is found inside an abandoned bus in Alaska (63°52′06.23"N 149°46′09.49"W). One year later, author Jon Krakauer retraces the young man's travels that followed in the two years after McCandless's college graduation. McCandless shed his legal name early in his journey, adopting the moniker "Alexander Supertramp". He spent time in CarthageCarthage, South Dakota
Carthage is a city in Miner County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 144 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Carthage is located at ....
, South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
laboring for months in a grain elevator owned by Wayne Westerberg before hitchhiking to Alaska. Krakauer interprets McCandless's intensely ascetic personality as possibly influenced by the writings of Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
, and McCandless's favorite writer, Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
. He explores the similarities between McCandless's experiences and motivations and his own as a young man, recounting in detail Krakauer's own attempt to climb Devils Thumb
Devils Thumb
Devils Thumb, or Daalkunaxhkhu shaa in Tlingit, is a mountain in the Stikine Icecap region of the Alaska-British Columbia border, near Petersburg. It is named for its projected thumb-like appearance. Its name in the Tlingit language has the meaning "the Mountain That Never Flooded" and is said to...
in Alaska. Krakauer also relates the stories of some other young men who vanished into the wilderness, such as Everett Ruess
Everett Ruess
Everett Ruess was a young artist, poet and writer who explored nature including the High Sierra, California Coast and the deserts of the American southwest, invariably alone...
, an artist and wanderer who went missing in the Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
during 1934 at age 20. In addition, he describes at some length the grief and puzzlement of McCandless's parents, sister, and friends, particularly an aged man, named Ronald Franz, who had befriended McCandless in the Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
and was very fond of him.
McCandless survived for approximately 119 days in the Alaskan wilderness, foraging for edible roots and berries, shooting an assortment of game
Game (food)
Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...
—including a moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
—and keeping a journal. Although he planned to hike to the coast, the boggy terrain of summer proved too difficult and he decided instead to camp in a derelict bus. In July, he tried to leave, only to find the route blocked by a melted river, which was tragically unfortunate as there was a hand powered tram just upstream. On July 30, McCandless wrote a journal entry which reads, EXTREMLY WEAK. FAULT OF POT. SEED... Krakauer hypothesized that McCandless had been eating the roots of Hedysarum
Hedysarum
Hedysarum is a genus of the botanical family Fabaceae, consisting of about 309 species of annual or perennial herbs in Asia, Europe, North Africa, and North America.-Description:...
alpinum, a historically edible plant commonly known as wild potato (also "Eskimo potato
Eskimo potato
The Eskimo potato is a type of edible plant that grows in the northern areas of Canada and Alaska. The plant's scientific is name variously attributed as either Claytonia tuberosa or Hedysarum alpinum...
"), which are sweet and nourishing in the spring but later become too tough to eat. When this happened, McCandless may have attempted to eat the seeds instead. Krakauer suggests that the seeds contained a poisonous alkaloid
Alkaloid
Alkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Also some synthetic compounds of similar structure are attributed to alkaloids...
, possibly swainsonine
Swainsonine
Swainsonine is an indolizine alkaloid. It is a potent inhibitor of Golgi alpha-mannosidase II, an immunomodulator, and a potential chemotherapy drug...
(the toxic chemical in locoweed
Locoweed
Locoweed is a common name in North America for any plant that produces swainsonine, a phytotoxin harmful to livestock. Worldwide, swainsonine is produced by a small number of species, most in three genera of the flowering plant family Fabaceae: Oxytropis and Astragalus in North America, and...
) or something similar. In addition to neurological symptoms such as weakness and loss of coordination, the poison causes starvation
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
by blocking nutrient metabolism in the body. However, he realized that Chris had not confused the two plants and instead a more likely scenario is that he was poisoned by mold growing on the local flora he had gathered. The 2007 film adaptation by Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
shows Chris confusing two different plants, and he chooses the wrong one.
According to Krakauer, a well-nourished person might consume the seeds and survive because the body can use its stores of glucose and amino acids to rid itself of the poison. Since McCandless lived on a diet of rice, lean meat, and wild plants and had less than 10% body fat when he died, Krakauer theorized he was likely unable to fend off the toxins. However, when the Eskimo potatoes from the area around the bus were later tested in a laboratory of the University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of Alaska Fairbanks
The University of Alaska Fairbanks, located in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska System, and is abbreviated as Alaska or UAF....
by Dr. Thomas Clausen, toxins were not found. Krakauer later modified his hypothesis, suggesting that mold of the variety Rhizoctonia leguminicola
Rhizoctonia leguminicola
Rhizoctonia leguminicola is a fungus that is a plant pathogen that most often attaches itself to the Trifolium pratense or red clover. It is also called Black Patch Disease. The infection is first seen as small black patches on the leaves of red clover and spreads to cover the entire plant,...
may have caused McCandless's death. Rhizoctonia leguminicola is known to cause digestion problems in livestock, and may have aided McCandless's impending starvation. Krakauer now hypothesizes that the bag in which Chris kept the potato seeds was damp and the seeds thus became moldy. If McCandless had eaten seeds that contained this mold, he could have feasibly became sick, and Krakauer suggests that he thus became unable to get out of bed and so starved. His basis for the mold hypothesis is a photograph that shows seeds in a bag.
However, in 1997, it was determined by “Dr. Thomas Clausen--the biochemist at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, who examined the wild potato plant (Hedysarum alpinum) for Jon Krakauer--concluded after exhaustive testing that no part of H. alpinum is toxic. Neither the roots nor the seeds. Accordingly, McCandless could not have poisoned himself in the way suggested by Krakauer in his 1996 book Into the Wild, and in every subsequent reprinting of the book over the next decade. Likewise, Dr. Clausen’s analysis of the wild sweet pea (Hedysarum mackenzii)--given as the cause of Chris’s death in the current Sean Penn film--has also turned up no toxic compounds, and there is not a single account in modern medical literature of anyone ever being poisoned by this species of plant. Moreover, Penn’s on-screen excerpt from the ethno-botany guide Chris was using, indicating otherwise, is a complete fiction, for all that this plant lore text actually states is that the wild sweet pea "is reported to be poisonous" (Tanaina Plantlore, Priscilla Russell Kari, p. 128). The rest of it is simply made up. And so, even if McCandless made a mistake of botany, something that even Krakauer claims is unlikely, he would not have been poisoned as it is portrayed in the Penn film.”
Film adaptations
The film adaptation directed by Sean PennSean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
was released in 2007 and stars Emile Hirsch
Emile Hirsch
Emile Davenport Hirsch is an American television and film actor. He began performing in the late 1990s, appearing in several television films and series, and became known as a film actor after roles in Lords of Dogtown, The Emperor's Club, The Girl Next Door, Alpha Dog, and Into the Wild. In...
as McCandless. The film emphasizes, and in some cases exaggerates, certain aspects of personal relationships that McCandless experienced, including his parents' domestic conflicts and his own interaction with teenager Tracy Tatro, played by Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Jaymes Stewart is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has also starred in films including Panic Room , Zathura , In the Land of Women , The Messengers , Adventureland and The Runaways .- Early life :Stewart was born and raised in Los...
. Other interactions portrayed in the film, however, seem very accurate based on Krakauer's research, including the characters of Jan Burres, played by Catherine Keener
Catherine Keener
Catherine Ann Keener is an American actress. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Being John Malkovich and Capote...
, and "Ronald Franz" (pseudonym), played by Hal Holbrook
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
. The film's depiction of McCandless's death differs from the theory put forth by Krakauer in the later edition of the book. Penn controversially and falsely depicts McCandless confusing the seeds of H. alpinum with those of the claimed to be toxic H. mackenzii; whereas, Krakauer revised his theory and claimed that McCandless died because he had ingested seeds that were infected with a particular type of mold, which has yet to be proven by any scientific evidence.
McCandless's story is also the subject of a 2007 documentary by Ron Lamothe
Ron Lamothe
Ron Lamothe is a director of documentary films and the founder of Terra Incognita Films.In 2000, Lamothe began pre-production on The Political Dr. Seuss, a documentary on the life and "political" works of Theodor Geisel. In 2004, the documentary aired nationwide on PBS as the season premiere of...
named The Call of the Wild. In his study of McCandless's death, Lamothe concludes that McCandless starved to death and was not poisoned by eating the seeds of the wild potato.
A survival show set in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, entitled Out of the Wild
The Alaska Experiment
Out of the Wild is a Discovery Channel reality television series. The first and second seasons followed volunteers from urbanized backgrounds as they try to endure life in the back-country of Alaska during the fall and winter...
, is inspired by the story.
The directors of the Christopher Johnson McCandless Memorial Foundation, Bille and Walt McCandless, are in the process of launching a new book about the story based on Chris McCandless's hundreds of unseen pictures and journal entries. The book is titled Back to the Wild and will be released, along with a DVD, in early 2011. Jon Krakauer has also written a piece in the book's introduction.
See also
- Into the Wild (film)Into the Wild (film)Into the Wild is a 2007 American biographical drama film directed by Sean Penn. It is an adaptation of 1996 non-fiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer based on the travels of Christopher McCandless across North America in the early 1990s. The film stars Emile Hirsch as McCandless with...
, 2007 film adaptation of the book - Into the Wild (Uriah Heep album)Into the Wild (Uriah Heep album)Into the Wild is the 23rd studio album by the progressive rock band Uriah Heep. It was first released in Japan on April 12, 2011 by Universal Music Japan with 12 tracks and in SHM-CD and in Europe by Frontiers Records on April 15, 2011 with only 11 tracks and in standard material. A video for its...
, the 23rd studio album by Uriah Heep - Into the Wild (Warriors)Into the Wild (Warriors)Into the Wild is a children's fantasy novel written by Kate Cary under the pseudonym Erin Hunter after concepts and outlines created and developed by Victoria Holmes. The novel was published by HarperCollins in Canada and the United States in January 2003, and in the United Kingdom in February...
, the Warriors book - Into the Wild TourInto The Wild TourThe Into the Wild Tour is the second worldwide concert tour by American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars in support of the band's third studio album, This Is War...
, 30 Seconds to Mars worldwide tour
External links
- Back To The Wild, following up from the original book.
- Hiking The Stampede Trail, a guide to hiking to Bus 142 on the Stampede Trail.