When McCandless ventures into the Alaskan bush, he carries with him a crude and crumbled map that shows an obscure pathway to The Stampede Trail. But it fails to show a cluster of cabins, stocked with food and supplies, nearby Chris’s bus-campsite. Krakauer suggests that had Chris known about them, he might have looked to them for survival. In this way, Chris’s map is a symbol of his attempt to live off the map without help from the outside world and his ill preparedness for danger.
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Chris’s Map Symbol Timeline in Into the Wild
The timeline below shows where the symbol Chris’s Map appears in Into the Wild. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1 - The Alaska Interior
...nearly dying off the coast of Mexico during a storm. He shows Gallien his “crude map” of the national park, pointing out his intended hiking route: the Stampede Trail.
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Chapter 17 - The Stampede Trail
...line a year earlier he might have lived, but he refused to carry a detailed map.
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Chapter 18 - The Stampede Trail
Krakauer further observes that had Chris carried a map, he would have known that four cabins circled the bus site. Chris could have sought...
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