Describe the kind of things you think Chris would do if he did make it out of the wild alive? Would he contact his parents? What would he say to them? Would he get a job, go back to school?
Back up your answers with examples from the text that make you feel this way.
It is extremely hard to say what Chris would do if he was able to make it out of the Alaskan wilderness alive. There are certain cues and hints that we can look at to give our best guess but I still think anyones best guess is a shot in the dark. Chris lived the last two years of his life SOOO spontaneously that it makes deriving any sort of pattern out of his life nearly impossible. Also, I believe the answer to this question would depend a lot on how he made it out alive. Did he walk out with no problem and without ever coming so close to death? Or was he rescued and saved right as he had given up and was prepared to die? A near death situation like that can play heavily on a person's mindset later on in life.
Without knowing the circumstances of how he made it out, I do believe there is evidence to help predict what he would have done later in life. I think after leaving Alaska he would spend a good deal of time in the company of others. He wrote into a book while alone in Alaska, "Happiness only real when shared." This makes me think that he would want to have some human interaction for a while and revamp his inner battery. And the person I think he would be most likely to see would be Wayne Westerberg. Chris really had a lot of respect for Wayne and he kept in contact with Wayne more than anyone else. I don't think Chris could resist visiting Wayne and telling him all about his time in Alaska.
On purley a personal level I would hope Chris would go see Ron Franz (the old man that wanted to adopt him). I thought that was one of the saddest parts of the book and I felt bad for Ron so I would just want Chris to spend some time with him too.
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I definitely agree with you that the circumstances of his leaving would effect his future outlook greatly, if he was near to death (as he was when he wrote some of his final things) Then he seems to have gained some insight into the very important things, at least for him. Relationships seem to be key in this, I think your right in assuming he would seek out some of his former acquaintance. For so long he lived without any difinate commitments wandering around, I think he would have changed that based on some of his last few writings.
ReplyDeleteYou analysis on this is really interesting. I like you idea that what Chris would do after he made it out would depend on how he made it out. This is a really good point. If Chris just walked out of the wild easily then Chris would probably continue what he was doing and live his life like he was, on the road. I believe that Chris would never go back to see his parents but he still would go back to see the people that he had relationships with like Wayne and Ron. Chris' last posts in his journal show that Chris wanted to have interaction with people after he came out of the wild. I always thought though that the Alaskan journey was kind of Chris' last harah and possibly Chris could settle down after it.
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