I Now Walk Into the Wild

Topic: Venturing through your journey no matter what, even if it will cost you your life.

“Please return all mail I receive to the sender. It might be a very long time before I return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again, I want you to know you’re a great man. I now walk into the wild.” (Krakauer 69).

This quote is completely written in McCandless's words, written on his last postcard to Wayne Westerberg before going to the Alaskan wilderness. Because of his acknowledgement of death, it is used as evidence that McCandless is intentionally suicidal on his journey of truth, but many people find it untrue. On the flipside however, McCandless's acknowledgement of the danger shows that he is not as arrogant as many imagine, at least he is not arrogant at extreme levels of course, but it shows that he does not want to die, but he knows how dangerous his journey is, and his margin for error is slim. He believes that the journey is worth it, because he believes that he can experience the wonder of complete independence and freedom, and his joy is seen in the last sentence of his postcard sent to Wayne Westerberg, the last person he has interacted with before venturing into the cold unknown.