Summary of Into the Wild

Into the Wild was written by John Krakauer and was published in 1996. This story is about a man's, named Christopher McCandless, journey when he was missing for two years. All of his steps through the wild are retraced as the story goes on. Christopher McCandless traveled through many different places and met different people. He went to Carthage, South Dakota and met a man named Wayne Westerburg. Throughout his journey, Christopher McCandless compared himself to other adventurers and how he relates to them. During his journey, he started to keep a journal of how far he was and how he felt. One of the last places that Christopher visited was Alaska. In Alaska, he had very little to eat, only edible roots and berries and caribou that he shot. Christopher McCandless wanted to hike the coast in the summer, but it was too difficult for him. Instead, he camped in a bus. It is unknown how Christopher died, but there are many theories. One theory is that when Christopher was trying to eat the roots of a potato called Hedysarum alpinum, he accidentally ate the seeds. The seeds had a poison in them that was possibly swansonine, which is a toxic chemical in locoweed. This poison caused weakness, lack of coordination, and starvation. Since the author found out that there were no toxins in the Hedysarum alpinum, he hypothesized that Rhizoctonia leguminicola, a digestive problem, killed Christopher McCandless. Christopher McCandless had a diet of rice, lean meat, and wild plants. When he died, he only had 10% of fat on him. By the time Christopher was found, he was only 67 pounds.

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