Krakauer's Focus on Outcasts

In Into the Wild, John Krakauer takes a break from explaining the life and motives of adventurer Chris McCandless to address the issue of outcasts, a name that many have labeled McCandless with. By leaving his family and stable life in order to live alone, many would think that McCandless was simply misunderstood because of his personal opinions. Krakauer goes on to explain why Chris's trek into the wilderness was more than copout and he also adds the accounts of others who undertook similar tasks. He takes a break from the main character and he instead focuses on several other adventurers who set out into nature for various reasons in order to contrast them with McCandless' situation.
Because Krakauer had already spent time on explaining McCandless' journey and motives expansively, the accounts of the other risk takers seem to be a bit more crazy than Chris's. Krakauer describes the lives of some saying that some came out of failure and could find no other way to find meaning than to go out into a dangerous environment. In one example in particular, a young man by the name of Everett Ruess went out into nature surviving on his own under several different names other than his own. Krakauer takes time to examine how these names depict Ruess' journey as well as McCandless'. For some reason, two of these adventurers decided that they needed to go out and rediscover nature and themselves but that they also needed a new identity to make it official.
Sometimes people grow up with difficult circumstances or bad choices that lead to awful experiences. In the end, these experiences create someone they never wanted to be; they were only an effect of what raised them. In regards to Chris McCandless, his family was never easy. He ended up leaving home because of the injustices he faced as a child through his parents. Once he found himself free and liberated on the road, Chris began calling himself Alex Supertramp. At first, this name seems rather silly but on the other hand, it shows how desperately McCandless wanted out of his old life. He wanted to start completely new, without knowing anyone beforehand and without the influence of his parents on his decisions or attitude. Alex Supertramp became his new identity which encompassed every opinion he had towards life.