In chapter 18 of "Into the Wild," we see the final days of Chris McCandless, the protagonist of the book. This chapter is written in a more objective and detached style, as it is narrated by the author, Jon Krakauer, rather than being told from Chris's perspective.
In the beginning of the chapter, we learn that Chris has been living in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness for over a hundred days. He has survived on a diet of mostly rice and some small game that he has been able to catch. He has also been reading a lot, and has been keeping a journal in which he writes about his thoughts and experiences.
As the days go by, Chris begins to feel the effects of malnutrition and starvation. He becomes weaker and weaker, and is no longer able to hunt or forage for food. He begins to experience hallucinations, and his writing becomes more and more disjointed.
Despite his suffering, Chris remains determined to survive. He writes in his journal that he will "never give up" and that he is "going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth."
However, Chris's strength eventually gives out, and he passes away in the bus. His body is discovered by a group of hunters several weeks later.
In the final pages of the chapter, Krakauer reflects on the tragic end of Chris's journey. He speculates that Chris may have died from eating the wrong kind of plants, or that he may have simply been unable to find enough food to sustain himself in the harsh Alaskan wilderness.
Despite the sadness of Chris's death, Krakauer also notes that Chris's journey was one of "uncommon valor" and that he was "a brave and noble young man." In the end, Chris's journey into the wild serves as a testament to the human spirit and the desire for truth and authenticity.
Into the Wild Chapter 18 Summary
Some four years after McCandless's death, Krakauer finally discovers that a toxic mold can grow on legumes. Apparently, Ruess was expected in Marble Canyon, Arizona and never arrived, leading his parents to organize a search party in March 1935. Later editions show he changed his theory to mold, which we will now discuss. On his second day of hiking, he crossed the Teklanika River, which, in the early spring, was low enough to cross without difficulty. Her actions last night proved that she is brave and loyal. The hitchhiker was small and wiry, said he was from South Dakota, and was twenty-four years old. The note was a neatly written plea for help, signed by Chris McCandless and dated in August.
Into the Wild Chp 10
And the map showed a base built by U. When he reached a point about twenty miles from where he had been dropped off by Gallien, McCandless came across an old bus abandoned by a construction company almost thirty years earlier. Krakauer then speculates that mold on the seeds, or swainsonine poisoning, may have done Chris in. Whatever killed him, McCandless spent August trying to find berries and even killed a few squirrels, but he began to experience the late stages of starvation. Later, after several years, the author found out that it wasn't the seeds, but it was the mold that grew on the seeds that provided chemicals that result in starvation.
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer: Ch. 18
Instead of reaching any conclusions, Krakauer continues to read scientific literature. However, this idea is laid to rest when Krakauer sends the seeds to a laboratory to be tested and discovers that they show no signs of alkaloids in earlier editions of the book, this information was not known, and Krakauer still speculated that it was the seeds. Rather his death resulted from something that was beyond his knowing, as it was not explained in his foraging book. Chris was very close to Billie's dad. The traits Gallien noted about Alex's character, particularly his high-minded but impractical idealism and his obsessive drive to do things on his own terms, will later in the narrative be revealed to have manifested themselves repeatedly throughout his life and to have caused many of his enterprises to end in fiasco. The second date is today's date — the date you are citing the material.