One of the quotations preceding Chapter 15 discusses a son's anger at his father. Thus, Krakauer implies that his struggle with the mountain is his way of working out his relationship with his father. The reader can further infer that McCandless's wilderness exploits were a similar means of working out his feelings about the elder McCandless.
For three days after descending, Krakauer is snowbound in his tent on the ice cap. He has lost his desire to climb the Thumb, but the prospect of returning in defeat spurs him onward. Frustrated and feeling trapped, he smokes the marijuana cigar he brought to celebrate his victory and gets the munchies. Making oatmeal is a drawn-out process involving gathering snow and lighting the stove. Somehow he burns a hole through.....
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