The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that

your very existence is an act of rebellion (Albert Camus)

Freedom is a difficult concept to explore. It is nothing more than idea, a
relative one at that, yet it is something people spend their lives chasing afteror
die trying. Freedom has laid the foundation for governments throughout history.
Wars have been fought for it. Various schools of thought question its meaning.
Freedom can be considered the very reason for human existence. Without it we are
not experiencing the full range of lifes joys. Now, when I talk about freedom I am
not just referring to civil-political rights, like freedom to elect ones leaders or to
practice religion. I am talking about the most basic of liberties- freedom of the soul.
Belief as to what constitutes the soul is a conversation for another day. Here, I will
use the term very loosely. The soul I allude to is interchangeable with freedom of
person or freedom of humanity. However, this is how I define freedom. It means
along the way I am free to create my own happiness. It means I have freedom of
opportunity and the power to decide what is best for me. It means that I am entitled
to freedom to be myself as an individual.
Individual freedom often comes into conflict with society. According to JeanJacques Rousseau, when man chose to enter the civilized world he also signed a
social contract. A social contract is based on a cooperative agreement that people
willingly sacrifice some liberties for the good of the society, the republic, in which
they live. They do so by allowing themselves to be governed and subjected to law
and organized justice. This arrangement benefits society by providing peace, order,
and security. Laws, according to the social contract, represent the will of the
majority. Policies are decided by the needs of the common good. Ideally, everything
is executed by way of democracy and the citizens are content to live within the
framework of the republic they have constructed. Rousseau also believed that while
obedience by civil law is required for all individuals by the terms of the social
contract. While government is not a condition of the contract, but its very
existence reflects the will of its citizens (Philosophy and Philosophers). Lastly,
Rousseau acknowledges that there is no such thing as pure democracy; as man is
an agent of democracy and man is not and will not ever be perfect. Rousseaus
philosophies, and other notable philosophers during The Enlightenment, have
provided the language for government constitutions and other founding documents.
When I began my research for this piece, I started with a quick Google search
of what is freedom? The first result was multiple definitions of freedom from
Oxford Dictionaries. Two in particular caught my attention. The first defined freedom
as the power to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
The second definition of freedom described it as the quality of being independent
of fate or necessity (Oxford University Press) . To act, speak or think as one
wants, without restraint and independent of fate were key phrases that really
struck me when I considered what freedom consisted of. How exactly do these
definitions and Rousseaus social contract relate to Christopher McCandless? I
believe the implications of social contracts; that people must sacrifice individual
freedom to conform to the general population, is what alienated Chris from the
modern world. Ultimately, he was seeking a state of total independence where he

was in full control of his destiny. He longed to return to a more natural state where
he was not influenced by what he saw as the artificiality of society.
I included the quote above by Albert Camus because Camus philosophies
have a strong connection to Chris. I believe Chris would have identified with Camus
ideas regarding mans rebellious nature. One of Camus more notable works was
The Rebel, written in 1951. In his book, he says that man lives in a perpetually
contradicting state; torn between the want to rebel against societal norms while
also living within them. He discusses rebellion as the primary motivation for
revolution. Camus also fathered the concept of absurdism; the conflict between
people seeking value and meaning in their lives, and being unable to obtain it.
Absurdists believe that self-fulfillment is an endless cycle of trying and failing to
create meaning. Camus prescribes that people must embrace the absurd nature of
life, while continually searching for value within the meaningless abyss. I consider
Chris journey was an attempt to do just that. He believed that most of what
America is putting its energy towards is fruitless. His perception of success and
purpose was radically different from the culture in which he lived. Chris refusal to
walk the straight-and-narrow path demonstrate what Camus talked about as mans
internal struggle.