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\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Steve on Flickr,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d uploaded on April 27th<\/sup>, 2005, by Jason Michael.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alex used to sit at the bar in Cabaret and read that belt for hours on end,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Westerberg, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153like he was translating hieroglyphics for us.\u00c2\u00a0 Each picture he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d carved into the leather had a long story behind it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 – Wayne Westerberg, p. 68 First, is the image of an engraved leather belt, akin to the one McCandless created.<\/p>\n Besides his incredible story, McCandless left behind a loving family and a group of people he came into contact with, all of whom came to deeply care for him. \u00c2\u00a0Material possessions are far and few between; all that is truly left are his memories, what can be pieced together.\u00c2\u00a0 These, however, are intangible, the majority of which we rely on Krakauer and his sources to provide for us, as the readers.\u00c2\u00a0 The tangible evidence \u00e2\u20ac\u201c what few remains there were \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is what is most valuable as it is only from McCandless himself that we will ever gain insight \u00e2\u20ac\u201c what little there is \u00e2\u20ac\u201c into what was going on.\u00c2\u00a0 The leather belt McCandless engraved tells a deeper story, gives more meaning to who he was, than any other artifact.\u00c2\u00a0 Inscriptions detailed in the text on pages 51-52, include (but are not limited to) the name ALEX, his initials, a hitchhiker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thumb, and Westerberg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s house.\u00c2\u00a0 All of the engravings are symbols of what was important to Alex, the places and people he came into contact with in his life that meant something.\u00c2\u00a0 Also evident is the notion that there is no turning around and going back, shown by an engraved NO U-TURN sign.\u00c2\u00a0 That engraving in and of itself speaks a great deal about the character of McCandless, of his determination.\u00c2\u00a0 It is evident that Westerberg was important to McCandless – the fact that he engraved his house onto his belt is proof.\u00c2\u00a0 Additionally, McCandless’s pride over the\u00c2\u00a0belt and the story\u00c2\u00a0that it told\u00c2\u00a0illustrates the\u00c2\u00a0pride he himself felt over his journey, despite the fact that he\u00c2\u00a0did not always show it.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rice on White on Flickr,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d uploaded on January 3rd<\/sup>, 2006, by Crystl. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cooked a lot of rice.\u00c2\u00a0 You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d think he would of got tired of it, but he never did. \u00c2\u00a0Said he could live for a month of nothing but twenty-five pounds of rice.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 – Borah, p. 63 Second\u00c2\u00a0is an image of cooked, long grain rice.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Rice was one of the most important sources of nourishment for McCandless.\u00c2\u00a0 As it was mention by Borah, McCandless claimed that he could live<\/u> on twenty-five pounds for a month.\u00c2\u00a0 Why, then, would he leave Gallien and head off into the bush with nothing but a ten pound bag of rice (p. 5) in his backpack?\u00c2\u00a0 Not only is that not enough rice for even one month but he had intended to stay in the bush for approximately three to four months (from May until August).\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0There is no way that McCandless would\u00c2\u00a0have been able to survive, even he knew that.\u00c2\u00a0 This error, for lack of a better word, is one of the any similar contradictions throughout the narrative.\u00c2\u00a0 Moreover, I find it extremely ironic that McCandless died, in part, because of starvation all the while having donated his money in effort to ending starvation. \u00c2\u00a0The rice is one of the many examples of his naivet\u00c3\u00a9 that eventually cost him his life.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Myrtilles on Flickr,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d uploaded on December 27th<\/sup>, 2005, by Bibi. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On August 12, he wrote what would prove to be the final words in his journal: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBeautiful Blueberries.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Krakauer, p. 199 Third is a shot of blueberries.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n One of the most impressive facts about McCandless\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s personality was, for me, his ability to find the good and the beauty in objects and instances that others might not.\u00c2\u00a0 Similarly, there are many occasions where McCandless was unable to see the good that was there, or the positive parts of something that the general public would see as positive; maybe if he had been able to, this journey never would have occurred.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps, after you have been starving in the wilderness, almost anything looks beautiful yet in this passage, his last words, it is comforting to know that he was still able to find the beauty in something, despite the horrifying circumstances that were the end of his life.\u00c2\u00a0 These words are also significant, obviously, because they are the last words in his journal; they give finality to the situation as a whole.\u00c2\u00a0 It is interesting, however, that his last words are not something more profound, a message to the rest of the world about changing the way we live our lives or what his mission was.\u00c2\u00a0 All that follows this entry is a tally of the days but I think, in a greater sense, that is a very accurate account of McCandless \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he did all of this for himself, it was not for anyone else.\u00c2\u00a0 In essence, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153beautiful blueberries\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a perfect ending for McCandless.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153P1070797 on Flickr,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d uploaded on April 16th<\/sup>, 2006, by scherre. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And at the perimeter of this boneyard lies one much larger skeleton: that of the moose he shot, and subsequently agonized over.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Krakauer, p.77 Finally,\u00c2\u00a0a shot of a caribou\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head.\u00c2\u00a0 Ironically enough, the sheer fact that McCandless was convinced \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and distraught! \u00e2\u20ac\u201c over his killing a moose when it was, in fact, a caribou is, again, evident of his aforementioned naivet\u00c3\u00a9.\u00c2\u00a0 Krakauer writes, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d questioned Gordon Samel and Ken Thompson shortly after they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d discovered McCandless\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s body, both men insisted \u00e2\u20ac\u201c adamantly and unequivocally \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that the big skeleton was the remains of caribou, and they derided the greenhorn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ignorance in mistaking the animal he killed for a moose.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Thompson continues, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The kid didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the hell he was doing up here\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Krakauer, 177).\u00c2\u00a0 While there are some who simply do not understand the purpose behind McCandless\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mission, others understand the journey, the search to find oneself, if that is, in fact, what this journey was.\u00c2\u00a0 One problem I would agree that almost everyone has with this story, however, is how a man as smart as McCandless was, could be so ill-prepared.\u00c2\u00a0 How can someone purposefully enter the Alaskan wilderness without being equipped with a map, proper food supplies, proper hunting supplies, proper clothing; without the proper plan?\u00c2\u00a0 Mistaking a caribou for a moose (although I am sure that I would too!) is a mistake that he should not have made.\u00c2\u00a0 Eventually, enough mistakes are going to cost you your life, as was the case with McCandless.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A picture is worth a thousand words.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Or so they say.\u00c2\u00a0 I think that a picture is worth so much more than just a thousand words, yet the words that a picture portrays vary from viewer to viewer; we all see things in a different way.\u00c2\u00a0 One person might see something I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even noticed, I might see beauty where someone else doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, someone else might find the irony where there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t any.\u00c2\u00a0 It is all in how we perceive things.\u00c2\u00a0 With that in mind, the caption comes in handy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it gets the intended message across so that we all see things in the same light.\u00c2\u00a0 Words have a huge impact on the image.\u00c2\u00a0 In that respect the image also has an effect on the words.\u00c2\u00a0 Tying the two together can, at times, be tricky.\u00c2\u00a0 Depending on whether you first see the picture or the caption, the second part serves as a frame, it puts the first part into a box, makes the viewer focus.\u00c2\u00a0 If one reads the caption first, for example, he or she will look at the picture with something specific in mind.\u00c2\u00a0 Alternatively, viewing the image first allows one to take his or her own snapshot, taking away something personal.\u00c2\u00a0 Reading the caption then allows the viewer to narrow in to what he or she is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153supposed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to be seeing and\/or thinking.\u00c2\u00a0 Captions are the frame for each image.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \n \n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Steve on Flickr,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d uploaded on April 27th, 2005, by Jason Michael. \u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alex used to sit at the bar in Cabaret and read that belt for hours on end,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Westerberg, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153like he was translating hieroglyphics for us.\u00c2\u00a0 Each picture he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d carved into the leather had a long story behind it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 – Wayne Westerberg, … Continue reading A picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe more.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samplereality.com\/gmu\/spring2006\/325\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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