“…he wrote, ‘Can this be the same Alex that set out in July, 1990? Malnutrition and the road have taken their toll on his body. Over 25 pounds lost. But his spirit is soaring (Krakauer 37).”
It seems that McCandless’s ambitious journey into the wild has not been fruitless. Chris McCandless set out for the wild in order to find his true inner self: someone who is not locked up in the safe society inside the walls of a building. He wanted to find something new, and so he set out on his journey to Alaska
“’He always wore shoes without socks – just plain couldn’t stand to wear socks. But McDonald’s has a rule that employees have to wear appropriate footwear at all times. That means shoes and socks. Chris would comply with the rule, but as soon as his shift was over, bang! – the first thing he’d do is peel those socks off…kind of like a statement, to let us know we didn’t own him, I guess’ (Krakauer 40).”
McCandless is living a new kind of lifestyle, one that includes nothing but pure freedom without being told what to do. His old lifestyle was so heavily based upon orders and rules that he wants to make the most out of his newfound freedom. Though he keeps socks on during work, he takes them off right after as a demonstration of his free will. It may seem like a small thing, but the main idea behind it is it's symbolism. He is the master of his own life, and he does what he wants to do. McCandless has almost completely stripped himself of all attachments to the mainstream way of life, by donating or leaving behind his belongings. He even went as far as to live as a hobo for weeks, and enjoyed it. It is apparent that never before has he experienced true liberty. Some may say that the way he carries himself throughout the journey may be self-degrading (he lives as a hobo!) but I can personally see pride in what he did. He let go of the shackles of the "acceptable way to live" in order to truly live.
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