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     It is easy to tell that from the very beginning, Christopher Johnson McCandless had a goal-driven personality and did not like to follow a normal path. In addition to his goal-driven personality, Chris was also a man who was stunningly stubborn but also a very sociable person. His way of living was based on his personality which meant that he lived in an eccentric way: living simplistically and in meager conditions,  which may have convinced people of his insanity and suicidal intentions. He absolutely admired Leo Tolstoy, who abandoned a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute, enough emulate Tolstoy. He was an intelligent and athletic man who excelled in school, but got too big for his britches. Nevertheless Christopher McCandless was someone who knew what he was getting into and did not have any suicidal intentions when he walked into the Alaskan wilderness.

     Many of the things Chris did during his lifetime was due to his peculiar personality. He just had an odd way of seeing things and an even stranger way of doing things, like he was the one who could tell himself what he could and could not do. When Jim Gallien asked McCandless whether he had a hunting license or not, Chris replied with: "Hell, no, how I feed myself is none of the government's business. Fuck their stupid rules," showing how Chris felt about the government and that he didn't care about any of their rules. Another trait that Chris had was stubbornness. With his mind set on living in the outskirts of Alaska in the beginning, there was no changing his mind. No one could change his mind unless he wanted to, including Wayne Westerberg who recalls "A couple of times I tried to tell him it was a mistake to get too deep into that kind of stuff, but Alex got stuck on things. He always had to know the absolute right answer before he could go on to the next thing." Chris McCandless's determination fueled his desire and helped him achieve most of the things he set out to do. In the words of Jon Krakauer  " No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny."

            Books played a major role in how McCandless acted, and felt about things. According to Ron Franz, "McCandless's face would darken with anger and he'd fulminate about his parents of politicians or the endemic idiocy of mainstream American life." The same way Jack London, one of Chris McCandless's favorite writers felt. London's "fervent condemnation of capitalist society, his glorification of the primordial world, his championing of the great unwashed", mirrored all of his passions. According to Jon Krakauer, "McCandless was so enthralled by these books that he seemed to forget they were works of fiction." Chris was basically looking for the things described to him in the books he read. It seems as though Chris's life was all based a variety of books combined into one. He reenacted Leo Tolstoy's actions, giving away all his money, leaving behind all his belongings, and living a simplistic life.

            Chris McCandless was given a false sense of security when he first started his adventure living off the land. He traveled through the West, encountering brushes with the law, and admiring the scenery, living off plants, using a book on vegetation.  Paddling through to Mexico and living off of five pounds of rice and fishing. These experiences led him to believe that he could handle Alaska. Jim Gallien, the man last to see Chris pointed out: " His gear seemed exceedingly minimal for the harsh conditions of the interior. Alex's cheap leather hiking boots, a .22 caliber. He had no ax, no bug dope, no snowshoes, no compass."  Chris McCandless fooled himself into believing he could survive in Alaska even though he had no prior experience or any information at all. He might have survived elsewhere, but all the places he went, there was one thing that they all had in common that Alaska didn't, these places had people. The Stampede Trail was the most isolated place Chris had ever lived, and that was probably what killed him.

            Christopher McCandless was and is a truly extraordinary person. Forsaking his former life and becoming Alexander Supertramp, doing things most people today tend to shy away from. Trying to live off of books he read, trying to experience what the characters in the stories had was what he wanted. There was no way that Chris McCandless was in any way suicidal. His actions may have seemed like he wanted to die to others, but that was just the way he was. All he was looking for was happiness, happiness that was attained by something that was out of the ordinary. His journal never says anything about being depressed and wanting to die, instead it tells of his adventures, how he met people, what he was looking for.