Chapter 8, Alaska Summary and Analysis

The opening quotes in Chapter 8 speak of the pathological extremes of some creative people and of how the Alaskan wilderness is a harshly unsuitable setting for those individuals wishing to cure their souls in the wilderness.

Jon Krakauer reports receiving many angry letters for glorifying McCandless's story in Outside magazine. The letters Krakauer chooses to quote are thoughtful and insightful albeit highly critical of McCandless. One writer speaks of McCandless's hubris and ignorance. The author sums up the public response by saying, "The prevailing Alaska wisdom held that McCandless was simply one more dreamy half-cocked greenhorn who went into the country expecting to find answers to all his problems and instead found only mosquitoes and a lonely death." (pg. 72) These letters serve as a contextual bridge for the series of flashbacks, which the author now presents. Krakauer cites several...