Into the Wild: the Great Moose Tragedy

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“The Great Moose Tragedy” Question #22: Chris’ journal and the lessons contained in Walden help Chris to overcome the great tragedy of the moose. What does he learn from this incident and how does his and Thoreau’s journal help him? The incident was introduced in the journal entry of June 9th, “he bagged the biggest prize of all, ‘MOOSE!’” (166) Initially Chris McCandless clearly saw this small feat as a large victory. After a diet consisting of mostly porcupines, squirrels, and an unidentified “grey bird” (166), the moose to him, represented a guaranteed meal for days to come. He didn’t need people to survive, but as a human, nourishment was a necessity. Initially the moose served as a buffer to impending hunger, a form of relief and security. He was relieved he could then feed himself. Relief, initially masked the moral issue, that he had taken an innocent animal’s life, to improve his own. He found joy in his efforts. However, in his failure to properly smoke and make use of the meat, he was then forced to come to terms with what he had actually done, which hit him harder. He not only lost his means of guaranteed survival, but realized he had killed a creature to suit his own needs. In reality the moose was only doing the same thing McCandless was trying to do, survive in the wild. Not properly making use of the meat meant that the moose had been murdered. Sacrificed, for no greater cause than to sit there and rot, infested with maggots. This put the death of the moose into perspective for him. He not only suffered the loss of the meat, but had momentarily shared in the self-indulgent mentality of the same society he fought so hard against. It forced him to come to terms with the fact, that his kill was no longer a victory, but a waste. In Thoreau’s book, Walden, the chapter titled “Higher Laws” helped Chris to come to terms with the way he was feeling. The

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