The Use of the Third Person Narrative

Christopher McCandless changes his name to Alexander Supertramp when he hits the road after graduating college.

Being a person who frequently used metaphor and saw symbolism in many things and a smart kid who well read and frequently quoted authors such as Jack London, Henry David Thoreau, Ernest Hemmingway, and Leo Tolstoy in his writings, it is no doubt that this alias of sorts had some sort of meaning for McCandless beyond just the fact that it was a way to disguise his true name and this is why he used the third person narrative in his writing as well.


In my opinion, I believe that McCandless used this writing style for three reasons:
First: He was experimenting with a new genre in life, the open road. He wanted to avoid any possibility of being traces by his former identity. He wanted to be free from the entrapping that came with being Christopher McCandless.


Second: He wanted to protect himself as he did not want to be recognized by anyone that may have heard he was missing or perhaps knew his family somehow.


Third: maybe he was ashamed of himself because of what he had done. On the other hand, he wanted to express his feelings but he was too embarrassed to admit that he was talking about himself so he preferred to use the third person narrative and maybe that is what made him change his name at the first place too!