McCandless' attitude toward a flawed society.

• "'Chris didn't understand how people could be possibly be allowed to go hungry, especially in this country,' says Billie. 'He would rave about that kind of thing for hours.'" (Page 117)

McCandless was very passionate about living off the only supplies you need to survive, but here are people who don't even have the means to get what they need. I think he was very frustrated with society because they did not stop and talk with the homeless even though they are people too and would enjoy the company. Our society believes money makes you better than the less fortunate. McCandless saw past this. Even though he came from a privileged family, he had compassion for them and took time to buy them a meal. I think he wanted others to embrace his lifestyle. I found it tragically ironic how passionate he felt about people going hungry in America when starvation played a role in his death.

• "More and more of the classes he took addressed such pressing social issues as racism and world hunger and inequities in the distribution of wealth." (Page 126)

This displays how McCandless believed in social equality that he did not see in the world. The classes he took are more ways he fought in a way for what he believed. When he was a teenager, he would spend his weekends giving food to the homeless and would talk for hours about what he did not think was right. When he was in college, he took classes and educated himself on the subjects he did not agree with. His educated sparked something in him to act on what he believed, and he did by living off the land. The issues he liked to study are issues debated to this day. We still struggle with equality. I think that is what he really wanted to see, everyone receive the same opportunity.

• "Chris was very much of the school that you should own nothing execpt what you can carry on your back at a dead run." (Page 37)

For most people, you could not pack up your house and carry it on your back let alone run with it. To do this it would require simple living which our culture is not familiar with. We have the access to numerous products at a very low cost. Advertisements tell us to buy more and keep up with the changing trends, and we do so desperately because we want to fit in with society. McCandless lived the simple, almost monk lifestyle. This suited his nomadic life, but went against how we all live. He did not value materialistic things but what really was important- living your life.

• "So many peole live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future." (Page 62)

McCandless believed there was an adventurer in all of us and we should take life as it comes at us. From the time we begin our lives, we are planning our futures; what career are we going to have, what we are doing this weekend, where we will attend school, we plan our road trips and vacations, everything we do is planned first. Instead of fretting over our plans, let go and go with the motions. Then you will really be living your life. McCandless' behavior reflects this. He had no clue where he was going to go on his trip; he went where the wind blew. By doing this, he did not worry what tomorrow may hold. If you follow the route McCandless took, he traveled all the way from the east coast to the west coast and as far down as Mexico to as far north as Alaska. He risked his life in all the places he went, but did it for the thrill.

• "During that final year in Atlanta, Chris had lived off campus in a monkish room furnished with little more than a thin mattress on the floor, milk crates, and a table." (Page 29)

This is another way McCandless actions speak louder than his words. He believed in a simple lifestyle and lived by it. The simplicity of his life is conveyed through the novel. When he was living in one place, he did not furnish it with luxury items and conveniences, but rather basic things. He does not keep or buy objects he does not need to survive. This is a sharp contrast with our society today.