"Then, in a gesture that would of done both Thoreau and Tolstoy proud, he arranged all his paper currency in a pile on the sand-a pathetic little stack of ones and fives and twenties-and put a match to it. One hundred twenty-three dollars in legal tender was promptly reduced to ash and smoke."
Chapter 4. Page 29. Paragraph 2.
McCandless might of done Thoreau and Tolstoy proud, but he was also showing the way he felt about society. He burned the money because he knew that he wouldn't need it. He would get everything he needed from his own two hands and the world around him. The money is the government's and McCandless wanted nothing to do with the government. He would live off the land without any help from anyone or from the government. This was a bold move by McCandless, because he might have needed that money in the future to get food when times got tough. He had the drive to do everything on his own and he knew that the money wouldn't help him reach that goal.
ReplyDelete