Billie McCandless tells Krakauer, “Many people have told me that they admire Chris for what he was trying to do. If he’d lived, I would agree with them. But he didn’t, and there’s no way to bring him back . . . Most things you can fix, but not that.”

Analysis

Krakauer ends this story of adventure that resulted in tragedy with a low-key but heartbreaking scene. By this point in the narrative, the reader has probably come to know Christopher McCandless better than many of those who crossed his long and tortuous path; thus, we share in their sense of loss. It is because of Krakauer’s reporting and writing skills and his capacity for empathy with the misguided young man that the reader is able to do so, rather than merely judging McCandless for what he did and failed to do.