19/02/24
Weekly series
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the world as a bookshelf. An overcrowded bookshelf packed with old magazines and bestsellers from the seventies that no one can be bothered to remember let alone read. A way too colourful, tasteless piece of furniture, most likely found at the home of that annoying relative you only meet at Christmas. Too much, that’s how the world feels nowadays. Too many social media posts, too many cars down the driveway, too much noise, too many pictures rushing one after the other. A mental image that makes me have such a strange aversion to crowds, neon lights, and even supermarkets that I can’t help but think of Christopher McCandless. I know it’s a strange correlation, but sometimes thinking about this congested world drives my brain to ponder about ‘The Supertramp’. A twenty-something guy who donated all of his money to Oxfam and travelled across North America to live alone in the wilderness of Alaska. Crazy, yes, a little bit overdramatic, definitely; but being perfectly candid, Christopher McCandless’s life choices sometimes feel almost reasonable.
Most people know about McCandless from the 2008 film “Into the Wild”, directed by Sean Penn and based on the book by Jon Krakauer about the explorer’s journey to Alaska. The film depicts Christopher McCandless (or Alexander Supertramp, a name he came up with during his travels) as a young man looking to detach himself from every possible social construct; a human searching for real autonomy. A man exhausted by America’s culture of useless consumerism and tireless conformance in a post-Cold War world forcing him to submission.
Years later, though, this notion of Christopher as the ultimate freedom seeker shifted as his sister, Carine McCandless, published a book depicting the physical and emotional abuse both siblings suffered during their childhood, rendering her brother less of a mythical creature and more of a regular human being looking for some peace of mind. This last piece of information makes me wonder: is moving to the end of the world the best solution to your childhood trauma? Probably not. Is true freedom, whatever that entails, only achievable through complete alienation? Perhaps. Is it even possible, though? Can it be done?
As far as we know, ‘The Supertramp’ didn’t achieve his goal of wilderness bliss. 113 days after reaching the Stampede Trail, he died inside an abandoned bus. It’s said he even tried going back to civilisation, but ended up sticking a rescue note to the door of his ‘magic bus’, perishing, some sources state, from food poisoning.
A lot of people think of McCandless as foolish and inconsiderate. After all, who in their right mind would travel to the wilderness with no compass and no proper gear, with just a rifle and no map? What a mindless, childish thing to do. But others, countless others, have elevated McCandless to a modern hero status. A true Romantic worthy of admiration and praise. Even his ‘magic bus’ became a mythical spot for fellow adventurers, a pilgrimage destination. So much so, that after the death of two explorers attempting to reach it through the Teklanika River, the government of Alaska opted to remove the bus in 2020. I can easily imagine so many park rangers hating the damn rusted thing, especially after having to rescue so many people looking for it since 1993.
What’s the matter with people and Christopher? Who would romanticise such a nonsensical, stubborn man? I did, at seventeen, as so many teenagers have for the last thirty-one, almost thirty-two years, since his body was found inside the ‘magic bus’.
So many out there yearn for total freedom. They yearn for a quiet spot in the middle of the wilderness, away from everything and everyone. The entire concept seems terribly alluring. But aren’t humans social animals at the end of the day? Don’t we need others to survive? Christopher McCandless did, just as we all do. But, is it tempting? To grab a backpack and enough grit and leave everything behind? My teenage self thought so, and sometimes I still do, as I find myself still thinking of Christopher from time to time.
Documentaries, books, television shows, and songs, ‘The Supertramp’ is still, after three decades of his tragic death, a polarising figure. So many have something to say about him, he who dared step out of the norm. Was he insane? Thoughtless and reckless? Or just really sick and tired of the damn bookshelf.
