Extended Inquiry

Diary Entry #1
Dear Diary,
Today is the day I learned who Chris McCandless was. What I know about him
so far is that he grew up in an upper-middle class family. Chris seems like risk taker.
He enjoys reading which may explain why he is so adventurously curious. From the
outside looking in, Chris McCandless has a perfect family. His parents are married
and he also has a sister who he seems very close with. He graduated from the
college of his choice. I also know that his family is wealthy because his father
worked for NASA (Into the Wild). I grew up in a home with three sisters and only one
parent. My mother and grandmother were my only support system. During my
childhood, my mother was a hair stylist. So far, it seems like he may have had a
fairly good upbringing with fewer struggles than mine. One ugly truth I am aware of
is his upbringing with an abusive father (Into the Wild). I cant tell that it had a
detrimental effect on Chris, as he seems to be full of life. He has plans to travel to
Alaska which seems extremely random because he has no real purpose there. If I
could think of any real purpose as to why he would want to travel to Alaska, it would
probably be to live through some brilliantly written novel hes read about the
wonders of Alaska. Anyhow, I dont see myself relating to him just yet because after
graduating college, Id surely be searching for a career.
Diary Entry #2
Dear Diary,

Today I learned how adventurous Chris was as a child. One time, he wondered
out of the bed in the middle of the night and was found in the neighbors kitchen
searching through their cookie jar (book citation). It seems like it was always in his
nature to discover what the world had to offer. I think that Chris family issues are
minor and I cant tell he was trying to escape from much of anything. My family and
I argue. In the past my sisters and I have gotten into physical fights. I can say that
there were times that I felt like getting away from my family, but nothing that has
seriously impacted me as a person from those occurrences. It is also possible that
Chris just doesnt like them. They seem very materialistic and socially pressured to
live their life to a certain standard. In contrast, Christopher doesnt place any of his
values around money or materialistic things. It can be annoying to be around people
you have nothing in common with. It is hard to tell but I still have more to learn
about him.
Diary Entry #3
Dear Diary,
It was said in the movie that Chris did make friends during college. They
discussed how McCandless was very book smart but lacked common sense. His
relationship with his family is another important factor to take into account when
determining the influence they have on his actions. As I stated earlier Christopher
and his sister Carine had a healthy relationship. During their childhood they
protected one another from the physical fights his mother and father had. She
seemed to really value his authenticity and adventurous nature. While traveling
Chris met Ronald Franz, someone he formed a close bond with. Ron eventually
wanted to adopt Chris because of his growing love for him and to continue his

ending family line. From my observation, Chris denied Rons offer because he didnt
feel like becoming too attached to anyone. Maybe this is a defense mechanism he
adopted because of the way he never fully connected with his own father. I can
relate to this because my father and I dont have a healthy relationship at all. It
hurts me that we cant seem to develop a better relationship. I am not sure on
whether my bad relationship with my father has impacted how I deal with
relationships. When I become stressed out about family issues or anything that
bothers me, I go exercise. When Chris feels stressed out, its a possible that his
release factor is adventure.
Diary Entry #4
Dear Diary,
I am starting to think that Chriss upbringing may have had a larger effect on
his life than I initially thought. I am learning to be more compassionate towards
people. Just because you have a wealthy family and are living with both parents,
doesnt mean your life is perfect. I mean, I can only imagine how vicious those
fights between his mom and dad were. Im sure Chris built a lot of resentment for
his father and mother, for not making them feel protected. He may have also
resented them for showing so much hate for one another, in front of him and his
sister. People who see and/or go through traumatic events dont always have an
outlet to relieve those emotions. Although my biological father did not live with me
growing up, I did not have to experience physical fighting between my parents. I
never felt scared in my own home and I can truly say Chris probably did. After
college I see why Chris decided to jet off. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a
mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event either experiencing

it or witnessing it (Mayo Clinic). Chris may or may not have had PTSD but it seems
very likely. A common therapy I recently learned of is Wilderness Therapy. The
experience must occur in a wilderness setting, and the wilderness must be
approached with a therapeutic goal in mind (Wilderness Therapy). In this particular
situation, Chris was searching for happiness. In the end I see that he learned that
happiness is better shared with other people. In knowing this about Chris, I learned
that Wilderness Therapy benefited him in the long run. Even in his dying hours, he
was able to express his healing through his writings.

Reflection
In the beginning of my project, I wanted to focus on self-identity and
discovery. I wanted to assess the factors that played a role in my decision making
and actions as an adult. This eventually changed to identifying those things about
Chris McCandless and how I relate to it. I wanted to focus on how I could relate to
his life since I initially didnt find us relatable in any way. I found that his family
issues did have a major effect on him. In my research, I discovered wilderness
therapy. Wilderness therapy is a very common therapeutic outlet. People find
healing, peace, and serenity in wilderness therapy. I discovered that Chris up-andleaving his family had nothing to do with his love or lack thereof for them, but more
about his emotional health. It seems that he didnt commit to relationships with

people he came in contact with because of the personal conflicts that he needed to
deal with him. I chose to write informally, because that is my voice as I writer. It is
my preferred style of writing because it feels authentic to me, I find this important
in writing.
Researching for this assignment may have been the most difficult portion of
this project. I had trouble finding sources for my topic. I think I had trouble because
my topic was too broad. I managed to find some credible sources that related to my
topic from Google Scholars. I think I was successful in finding sources through
Google Scholar because there is a lot of articles and documents related to
Psychology, which is similar to my topic. Finding out that Christopher McCandless
had undergone Wilderness Therapy surprised me. I never thought I would be able to
make sense of Chris actions and for that, I am proud of myself and my research. My
findings encouraged me to narrow my topic. My critique group played a big role in
the direction of my topic. The Critique group did this by always providing me with
clarity and assurance that I was on the right path. They always let me know if
something was unclear or if something needed to be modified. I appreciated this
because sometimes there are things you over look or lack in your writing that the
critique group will notify you of.

Works Cited
Irene G. Powch (1994) Wilderness Therapy, Women & Therapy, 15:3-4,
Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor, 1997. Print.
"Post-traumatic Stress Disorder." Mayo Clinic. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.