What was Chris seeking? What did he hope to discover? Did he succeed?

That's a good question. Chris was seeking some sort of communion with nature free from the constraints of society.

Chris went looking for answers and happiness; this is summed up in one of his last journal entries;

“happiness is only real when shared”…

Did he find happiness? no, I don't think he did....... but if you're asking did he find answers, yes....... he was looking for happiness and trying to make sense of a world he just didn't understand. Not that he tried to understand, because his method of learning was to thumb his nose at everyone and just take off. He was unprepared and uneducated about the journey he'd chosen for himself. Maybe that's why readers have found it such a fascinating read. I've read the novel and watched the film, and I can't tell you how many times I'd shake my head at his actions...... he was young and foolish, but in the end he had to take responsibility for what he'd done.... it's a sad story.

Oh, I think he didn't succeed. His end was a bit of tragic irony. Chris discovered in his last minutes that being a rather inept hermit in the wilderness is not the meaning to life. Chris realized what most of us already know, that we are social beings and need each other. I think the fascination of Chris was his counter-culture sense of adventure. Many people find it refreshing to reject the madness of our consumer life style. Chris, in that sense, was successful. The direction he went was not. Alone and unprepared in the Alaskan wilds he suffered a horrid death.