Do you think Krakauer's empathy for Chris may have influenced his judgment in examining Chris' actions-or the sympathetic way he tells the story...

I am sure that Krakauer was drawn to recount McCandless’
story, and to explore the motives behind his relentless drive, as he felt that there
were parallels with his own experience. He states in the Author’s
Note-

 I won’t
claim to be an impartial biographer. McCandless’ strange tale struck a personal note
that made a dispassionate rendering of the tragedy impossible…I interrupt McCandless’
story with fragments of a narrative drawn from my own youth. I do so in the hope that my
experiences will throw some oblique light on the enigma of Chris
McCandless.

Krakauer
illustrates that although McCandless was unusual, he was not unique in being driven to
pit his wits and strength against the forces of nature. He recounts the similar
experiences of Everett Ruess who disappeared in the thirties. Krakauer talks to Ken
Sleight, who followed the story of Ruess. He observes

readability="10">

 Everett was a loner, but he liked people too
damn much to stay down there and live in secret the rest of his life. A lot of us are
like that …We like companionship, see, but we can’t stand to be around people for very
long.

When Krakauer recounts
his own experiences, he reflect on how they were similar in motivation to McCandless’
but without the tragic end-

readability="7">

I suspect we had a similar intensity, a similar
heedlessness, a similar agitation of the
soul.