After reading pages 41-60 of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, we discussed possible reasons for Chris’ disconnection with his parents. We mentioned the possibilities of Chris’ mental health, having a dysfunctional family and wanting to abandon it, or even having abusive parents. The consensus we arrived on was Chris having abusive parents. And after reading about Chris’ sister, who, after Chris’ death, talked about her parents being abusive, it seems like that must have been the reason Chris left, although there are certainly other possibilities, too.
Another theme we discussed was how consistently well-regarded Chris is. Postmortem, everybody speaks very highly of Chris. Wayne Westerberg, Jan Burres, and Ronald Franz (pseudonym), all very important people throughout Chris’ life instantly took a liking to him because of his well-mannered, respectful, and civilized personality.
I am very excited about what we will learn about Chris next chapter.