While Chris McCandless was hitchhiking, a man picked him up. This mas was Jim Gillien. Gillien was from around that area, and had said, “Alaska has long been a magnet for dreamers and misfits, people who think the unsullied enormity of the Last Frontier will patch all the holes in their lives”(4). He saw this kind of ordeal—maybe not as extreme as Chris’s case—many times. People have gone to Alaska, some successful, and others haven’t been so lucky. People who haven’t had the support from others, want to escape reality. The closest thing to being dead, might be being alone. Others just have a wild
mind; they explore thoughts and ideas no one else could comprehend. These are the dreamers. The exotic vision of being on an everlasting adventure might be their best decision. Gillien saw Chris as wanting to run away from previous horrors—whatever those may be. He was fully unprepared, but had a fire in his eyes only fueled with excitement for the unknown. They think somehow they will discover something—someone—out there to take away their problems.
mind; they explore thoughts and ideas no one else could comprehend. These are the dreamers. The exotic vision of being on an everlasting adventure might be their best decision. Gillien saw Chris as wanting to run away from previous horrors—whatever those may be. He was fully unprepared, but had a fire in his eyes only fueled with excitement for the unknown. They think somehow they will discover something—someone—out there to take away their problems.