How Is Chris Mccandless Intelligent

Chris McCandless was an intelligent man when it came to book work or tests, but was considered to be a fool and ignorant when it came to like. McCandless runs away from his problems and leaves everything he knows to go live in the wild. He traveled across the country meeting new people and seeing new places. Was he just unlucky or was it his own actions that lead to his death. Chris is what we call book smart. He excels in school related activates. For example “graduating with honors from Emory University in the summer of 1990” (Krakauer authors notes). He was very academically gifted which lead to him being so successful in school. Although he was gifted in education he lacked basic common sense. Westburg remembers “nor was McCandless endowed with a surfeit of common sense” (Westburg Pg.62). Chris did not know the basics of how to survive on the streets and often relied on others. …show more content…
Gallien recalls “Alex backpack looked as though it weighed only 25 or 30 pounds which struck Gallien … light load for a stay of several months in the back country” (Gallien Pg.4). The size of Chris’s pack was noticeably smaller than the expected size for a journey of that length. The normal pack would have been much larger. Chris’s food situation was also a concern for Gallien “Alex admitted that the only food in his pack was a ten pound bag of rice” (Gallien Pg.5). The only food that Chris brought with him was rice which he could not live off of as his only supply of food. He lacked the proper tools necessary to survive his journey in Alaska. For example “Alex had no ax, no bug dope, no snow shoes, no compass” (Gallien Pg.5). They say that if Chris had maybe had a map he would have survived Alaska and crossed the river. His choice not to bring one directly results in his