Growing up as You Walk Into Your Path.

Topic: Growing up from not just on the outside, but from the inside.

“It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it. When I decided to go to Alaska that April, like Chris McCandless, I was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic. I thought climbing the Devils Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing. But I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams. And I lived to tell my tale.” (Krakauer 155).

Based on the quote, it illustrates Krakauer's feelings about McCandless. He believes that McCandless is wiser and more humble than anyone in Alaska can believe, but McCandless follows the things he experienced as a child and he sometimes misjudge the world like other youths. He claims that was his character flaw. The passage's implication is that, if McCandless survived, he would likely mature mentally and emotionally - learning to bond with others, forgive the shortcomings of his loved ones, to interact with not only human society itself, but the world as a whole. However, because of his death - which is not necessarily deserving than if Krakauer had on Devil's Thumb - McCandless will never have that chance in life, and instead is blamed for his ignorance, hubris, immaturity, and his refusal to grow from the inside, like everyone else.