The McCandless Makeover (NF1)

While there are many variations of the cover of Into the Wild, the copy that I have is a photo from the 2007 screenplay adaptation. 

The current cover is not necessarily horrible, but I have always had a dislike towards books that advertise their movie counterpart. Below I've compiled the main reasons why I dislike the current cover.

1. The book was released in 1996 but the cover is based on a movie from 2007
1. If I wanted to watch the movie instead of reading the book, I would. But, I want to read the book, so I don't need a constant advertisement for the movie. 
2. The person on the cover isn't even Christopher McCandless... It's the actor from the movie.
1. You can't have an entire book about one person and then put someone else on the cover. That alone should be grounds for the need to redesign the cover.

Although I am only halfway done the book, I think that I have a fairly solid idea of the significant things to be included on the cover, so here is my redesign of the cover. 

There are way more things going on in this cover than the original, so here's a breakdown of every aspect of the cover:

Of course, I had to include the famous Bus 142 on the cover. During McCandless' experiment in Alaska, he lived out of this bus. This bus is where he slept, rested, and wrote his detailed journals that document the entire experience. This bus has become one of the most iconic and recognizable symbols of his expedition. Every year, somewhere between 50 and 100 hikers make the journey through the Alaskan wilderness to see the bus with their own eyes. On average, the Alaskan State Troopers have to conduct 3 to 4 rescue missions per year to save McCandless enthusiasts. 

The car that McCandless is sitting on is a 1982 Datsun B210. This was McCandless' sacred possession prior to his expedition into Alaska. His parents offered to replace his car multiple times since it was getting old and beaten up, but he refused. Saying that he was heavily attached to the car was an understatement, and considering that he had taken the car with him on nearly all of his adventures in the wilderness, his attachment to it is not surprising. However, in 1990, while McCandless was on an expedition in Arizona, National Park Rangers found his car, stranded, with a note in it that read, "This piece of shit has been abandoned. Whoever can get it out of here can have it" (Krakauer 26). Although the car was still in perfect, working condition, McCandless abandoned it. This moment signified the start of the phase of his life where he refused to accept or amass any form of material wealth, resorting to living off of the land. This mindset is what set McCandless up for failure in his experiment in Alaska, so his decision to abandon his car signified an important change in his ideology. 

On the side of the bus, covered in rust, is the word "Nemo." In 1934, a poet and hiker named Everett Ruess set out on an expedition through Davis Gulch, Utah. Similar to McCandless, Ruess wanted to see how long he could live off of just the land. During his expedition, Ruess died of causes that are still unknown. However, Ruess kept a detailed journal where he wrote about his experiences. His expedition and mindset were huge inspirations for McCandless and were some of the main reasons for his own expedition 58 years later. The side of Bus 142 has "Alexander Supertramp 1992" carved into. Alexander Supertramp was McCandless' nickname for himself (explained more in a below section). McCandless carved his name and the year into the bus, emulating Ruess who carved his own self-assigned nickname "Nemo" and the year, 1934, into a rock structure in Utah. Furthermore, "nemo" is the Latin word for nobody. Both Ruess and McCandless thought of themselves as insignificant nobodies when in the scope of the entire world.

Instead of saying "Christopher McCandless" on the cover, it says his pseudonym, Alexander Supertramp. When McCandless first set out on his expedition, he knew that he needed to go by a fake name. If he went by his birth name, it would be easy for his family to track him down which was the last thing he wanted. The first instance of McCandless going by his nickname was when he was picked up while hitchhiking through Alaska by a man named Jim Gallien. When Gallien asked McCandless what his name was, he responded by saying "Alex." When "Gallien responded, fishing for a last name," McCandless replied, "Just Alex" (Krakauer 4). Keeping his identity a secret was very important for McCandless. In fact, he went as far as to burn his ID. From that point on, McCandless only used the name "Alexander Supertramp" when communicating with others and writing in his journal. 

The translucent image in the background is one of McCandless' journals. This particular journal is the one that he used to record the food that he ate during his experiment. Next to the number of each day, McCandless wrote a short phrase about what he caught/gathered and how he prepared it. The most noticeable days in the journal are 43 (when he caught a moose) and 100 (when he successfully lasted the length of his goal but was starving, nonetheless). Considering that he died of starvation while on this expedition, this journal seemed extremely important. 

This is a photo of the journal

Lastly, the words on the cover use a font called Rock Salt. I thought that it looked quite similar to McCandless' handwriting in his journals.