Thursday, January 28, 2010
What To Do
From the very second Alex got in the car, Gallien tried to figure out his motives. Gallien tried to buy him more gear, drive him to a better location, and offered his advice to Alex in many different areas. However, Alex cleary wasn't buying into the help and I would have done the same thing as Gallien, let the boy do what he wanted to do. Alex gave many signs that he had a lot of expertise and knew exactly what he was doing, how did Gallien know that the boy wouldn't be alright? If this were me, I would think about the intelligence Alex has demonstrated in his life including a degree from Emory University and let him be, leave him to do what he wants. Gallien didn't call the police for this exact reason, he knew Alex had a plan and knew calling the police would only lead to further problems for the young boy, although Alex's plan didn't work out. I felt like a lot of Gallien's decision came in the last few minutes, sifting through the odds of what was most likely going to happen and making a decision, unfortunately he made the wrong one.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree that Gallien just wanted to let McCandless go and leave him be. Gallien offered all the help he thought he could and then sent him on his way. But I do think that Gallien made the right choice. He tried to help and it was Alex's choice to go into the wild. Although Alex ended up dead which is awful, he still got to complete a lot of what he wanted to do and "find himself" before he passed away. If Gallien had stopped him or called the police I think it would have pushed Alex even more to go on a crazy journey and break away from society.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Gallien probably made his decision based on how smart and stubborn McCandless was. Gallien may have made the wrong choice, but I think he made made the choice after a lot of thought considering that Gallien had about 25 miles more to drive down to Healy. And with all that Gallien knew I think that he made the best decision he could.
ReplyDeleteMany times there are people that are stubborn, and there is nothing anyone can do to sway their mind. Some people are on a certain mission and will not stop until it is completed. I am not entirely sure if Gallien knew that Alex (aka Chris) had a college degree or not, but you prove a good point there. Also, having the police come in could produce some problems for Chris, and Gallien did weigh his options and decided as you said earlier.
ReplyDelete