Campbell's Introduces NEW! Primordial Soup, Chicken McCandless Style

"The dominant primordial beast was strong in Buck, & under the fierce conditions of trail life it grew & grew. Yet it was a secret growth. His newborn cunning gave him poise & control."

This is the perfect metaphor for McCandless's journey. In AP Bio, we're learning about early Earth & how organisms came about. Scientists speculate that the oceans of Earth were once the ideal "primordial soup" from which life arose. Many people thought this to be a hopeless hypothesis because conditions on Earth were far from accomodating: horrifically low oxygen levels, virtually no nutrients, and an atmosphere thick with inorganic material, such as methane, hydrogen sulfide, and nitrogen oxides. Yet, experiments have given more weight to this argument that conditions were just right.

It turns out that the environment was a reducing (electron adding) one. in which organic compounds could easily form from simple molecules. The energy needed for such synthesis came from penetrating UV radiation because the Earth had not yet established an ozone layer. And thus, amino acids, the building blocks of life, came into existence, and life began as small, prokaryotic cells, relying on RNA for gene replication, which later became the intermediate step in DNA replication and the emergence of eukaryotic organisms, like ourselves.

McCandless is not too different from this scenario. He, a "primordial beast", with respect to the Alaskan wilderness, is so deeply committed to his quest to find meaning in his life. People doubted his load: inadequate shoes, gear, food supply, knowledge. But he was set, like clay, and he pressed on. His growth was indeed secret. He received aid when absolutely necessary, and learned by doing, or in some cases, not doing. As the story unfolds, he is becoming more and more in control of his situation, and this, too, is a growth that comes only with time.

Primordial beast?

Ya... he is.