Chris McCandless’s Letter to Ron Franz

In the pages of Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild,” an extraordinary bond unfolds between Chris McCandless and Ronald Franz. Two souls, driven by their own quests for meaning and connection, cross paths in the vast expanse of California’s desert, setting in motion a journey that would resonate deeply within them. This connection is not a typical one; it transcends age, background, and circumstance.

Ron Franz, an octogenarian, had endured profound loss in his life — a devastating car accident that claimed the lives of his wife and son. These wounds had driven him to the depths of alcoholism before he found solace in supporting young lives in Okinawa. His encounter with McCandless ignited a spark — a bond that transcended mere friendship, evolving into something far more profound.

McCandless, the young wanderer in search of solitude and self-discovery, found an unlikely mentor in Franz, an experienced leatherworker. Franz, despite his own wisdom and experience, could not steer McCandless away from his unconventional path. Instead, it was McCandless who urged Franz to leave behind the comfort of routine and possessions and embrace the nomadic lifestyle which we will see in McCandless’ letter to Franz.

Without any further ado, let’s journey into the intimate words penned by Chris McCandless in his letter to Ronald Franz.

Chris McCandless’s Letter to Ron Franz:—

Alex here. I have been working up here in Carthage South Dakota for nearly two weeks now. I arrived up here three days after we parted in Grand Junction, Colorado. I hope that you made it back to Salton City without too many problems. I enjoy working here and things are going well. The weather is not very bad and many days are surprisingly mild. Some of the farmers are even already going out into their fields. It must be getting rather hot down there in Southern California by now. I wonder if you ever got a chance to get out and see how many people showed up for the March 20 Rainbow gathering there at the hot springs. It sounds like it might have been a lot of fun, but I don’t think you really understand these kind of people very well.

I will not be here in South Dakota very much longer. My friend, Wayne, wants me to stay working at the grain elevator through May and then go combining with him the entire summer, but I have my soul set entirely on my Alaskan Odyssey and hope to be on my way no later than April 15. That means I will be leaving here before very long, so I need you to send any more mail I may have received to the return address listed below.

Ron, I really enjoy all the help you have given me and the times that we spent together. I hope that you will not be too depressed by our parting. It may be a very long time before we see each other again. But providing that I get through this Alaskan Deal in one piece you will be hearing from me again in the future.

I’d like to repeat the advice that I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.

If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. And so, Ron, in short, get out of Salton City and hit the Road. I guarantee you will be very glad you did. But I fear that you will ignore my advice. You think that I am stubborn, but you are even more stubborn than me. You had a wonderful chance on your drive back to see one of the greatest sights on earth, the Grand Canyon, something every American should see at least once in his life. But for some reason incomprehensible to me you wanted nothing but to bolt for home as quickly as possible, right back to the same situation which you see day after day after day. I fear you will follow this same inclination in the future and thus fail to discover all the wonderful things that God has placed around us to discover.

Don’t settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. You are still going to live a long time, Ron, and it would be a shame if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience.

You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.

My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.

Ron, I really hope that as soon as you can you will get out of Salton City, put a little camper on the back of your pickup, and start seeing some of the great work that God has done here in the American West. You will see things and meet people and there is much to learn from them. And you must do it economy style, no motels, do your own cooking, as a general rule spend as little as possible and you will enjoy it much more immensely. I hope that the next time I see you, you will be a new man with a vast array of new adventures and experiences behind you. Don’t hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it. You will be very, very glad that you did

Take Care RON,
ALEX

Please write back to:
Alex McCandless
Madison, SD 57042

This plea resonated with Franz on a deeper level, leading him to take a leap of faith that would forever change the course of his life. We will discuss the impact Chris McCandless had on Franz in our next blog post.

You might like: 9 Books Chris McCandless Took on His Journey — Into The Wild

Grab your copy here from Amazon.in | Amazon.com

Also, If you enjoyed reading Chris McCandless’ Letter To Ron Franz, be sure to check out my other blog posts ―,”Kafka’s letter to his father,” The existential Dilemmas of Ivan in Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov,”, and Bukowski’s Thank-You Letter To John Martin. Each of these captivating insights invites you to uncover the hidden layers of humanity within these literary giants.

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