What is the purpose of Chapter 4?

The purpose of this section is to make McCandless’s intense distaste for society abundantly clear to the reader. In these chapters, he comes close to rejoining society a few times, going to Los Angeles with the intention of getting a new ID and possibly a job, working in Las Vegas, staying in Bullhead City longer than he has stayed anywhere else, and even working for a McDonald’s using his real name and social security number. Yet each time, he finds himself quickly moving on again, unable or unwilling to reintegrate himself.