Exploring the United States of America and the nature of it has been a dream to the many adventure seekers throughout the world. Long adventures like this create long-lasting memories and friendships with Mother Nature and the society around it. Chris Mccandless, a newly college graduate, gives up everything including his Family and possessions to fulfill his dream to travel the west and live in the wild of Alaska. Throughout his long journey he creates many strong relationships with the many people he met hitchhiking his way to Alaska. His ultimate goal was to survive in the wild of Alaska with as little supplies needed and without contact to any human being. The life of Chris Mccandless as shown in “Into the Wild” by John Krakauer reflects off of the ideas of courage and nobility through his interactions with society, philosophies on life, and his pursuit to fully achieve his goal. Throughout Mccandless’ journey he encountered many people in which he inspired. No matter how long the visit was with each stranger he always “made an indelible impression on a number of people” (Pg. 48). Mccandless has even left such a huge impact on people that they completely change their lifestyle. A man under the pseudonym Ron Franz followed in Mccandless’ footsteps to live in a trailer and be free. Similarly to Mccandless, …show more content…
One of his beliefs was that he felt no one “could possibly be allowed to go hungry, especially in this country” (Pg. 113). In college and high school as a hobby he talked to the homeless and gave them full meals. Along with this Mccandless felt that money was unnecessary and at times evil. He was able to express this in a humble and courageous way. Just into the start of his adventure, Mccandless donated all of his savings and burned his cash. Following this he had lived the best and happiest years of his life only living off of
Discovering Chris McCandless In the nonfiction book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer some people need money and flashy things to be happy but Chris McCandless only needs himself and nature. McCandless is hubris , adventurous and determined. These are just some of his characteristics. He has a deep love for nature and nobody can ever take that away from him.
The national bestseller Into The Wild written by Jon Krakauer follows one of the best known transcendentalists of the late 20th century, Christopher McCandless, through his journey across the country and into the Alaskan wilderness. The trip helps Chris find pure happiness, and being tested by the elements lets him experience what he believed to be the true beauty of life. In spite of the fact that Chris always seemed to have been drawn to nature, Krakauer hints to other reasons as to why Chris originally left. There are a few reasons for Chris’ departure from civilization, but the push that propelled him away from the only home he ever knew was his parents, Walt and Billie. Despite his overwhelming awe for nature, the most plausible reason
The type of life McCandless lived is shared by few and understood by even less, inviting negative judgment for his lack of conventional life. Krakauer, however, illustrates McCandless’s journey as a monumental change, “At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence" (Krakauer 22). The tone in which Krakauer displays McCandless’s reasoning invokes a sense of understanding as to who McCandless was as a person and the disposition he presented throughout his life. While the statement is neither negative or positive, the descriptive language used implies an undercurrent of joy and the thrill of adventure, all of which McCandless had expressed to others and mentioned in his personal journal. However, the wording can be considered flowery, supporting the claim that Krakauer glamorizes “…the poacher Chris McCandless…into some sort of poor, admirable romantic soul lost in the wilds of Alaska” (Medred 1).
Worst of all, school attempts to prepare students for the real world, but doesn’t provide typically. All the restrictions, directions, and turmoil of the real world can make a person not strong enough, or not willing to comprehend cower and seek freedom. McCandless was certainly not weak, which means he was one of those not willing to comply with society’s rules. This both a great display of his bravery, and his
Venturing out into the wild may seem outright moronic or frightening to some, while to others, it is a new adventure and beginning. Chris McCandless, an intelligent individual and high achieving scholar, may be seen to some as downright crazy for exposing himself to the Alaskan wilderness in an attempt to live off the land. Many, like Shaun Callarman, claim that McCandless was arrogant and crazy for doing what he did, however; there are people, like myself, who believe that although what McCandless did ended tragically, he was not crazy for pursuing this outing. Throughout his life McCandless was an intelligent individual who seemed like he had a bright future, it just so happens that he had a desire to venture out into the country alone and
McCandless set off into the Alaskan depths to test himself, to find himself, and to free himself from society’s values. Because of Chris’s radical ideas and his purpose in life to push him into the unexplored, he believed that life is not about the materialistic
Cyanne Hall Mrs. Quassy English 4P 22 February, 2016 Into the Wild Essay One day in July of 1990, Chris McCandless severed all contact with his family and set out West and started his two year long journey that would ultimately end with his untimely death in the frozen, unforgiving landscape of Alaska. McCandless was like us, the only difference, he went for his dreams. Although criticizers of Krakauer and McCandless believe Chris was mentally ill, McCandless suffered through emotional damage from family problems and was easily influenced in his vulnerable state through literature. How can someone throw away so much and want nothing in return except the wild? The more I read into McCandless the more I saw why the wild interested him
Throughout his journey, McCandless rejects the materialism and conformity of modern society and instead seeks a simpler, more authentic way of life. For example, he gives away his life savings and abandons his car, seeing them as symbols of consumer culture. He is trying to escape. As he writes in a letter to a friend, “The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure” (57). McCandless also spends a lot of time in nature, which he sees as a source of spiritual inspiration.
In 1992 a young man sacrificed his life, his family, his wealth, and all his possessions in the hope of living what he believed to be life to the fullest. He was smart, educated, and sensible, yet he donated the entirety of his savings to charity, abandoned his car, burned the remainder of his money, and walked into the alaskan wild with little to no planning or preparation. It wasn’t until his lifeless body was found decomposing in a nearby bus that the story of this man, Christopher Mccandless began to be known to the world. Into the wild is the story of his childhood, his upbringing, his journey to alaska, and perhaps most notably, his tragic demise. When the news of his death first reached the public the two most prevalent reactions were
In literature, there are an abundant amount of themes and life lessons written in between the lines of every individual piece of work. In some works of literature, there are even various themes being displayed throughout a single book’s story line. In the story, Into the Wild, John Krakauer writes about a boy named Christopher McCandless. McCandless is a boy who aspires to attain more in life than just materialistic values. Since McCandless grew up in a fairly wealthy family, he already experienced living a materialistic life.
He had the courage to give up every bit of money he had by getting “A pathetic little stack of ones and fives and twenties- and put a match on it”( Krakauer 29). No normal person would undergo this process but McCandless did which shows the courage he has in trusting the wilderness. Not only did he give up his possessions but he did infact have the courage to take on a new name he had given himself. “No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny”( Krakauer 23).
Born in A Different Life Life on the road is an idealistic way to escape from societal problems. There is no denying that it grants individuals satisfaction by allowing them to fulfill their goals, as well as providing immense freedom and control over one’s life; however, it is a fundamentally illogical path to take due to nature’s malevolence. In Into The Wild, Krakauer writes a biography about a young man named Chris McCandless, in which he illustrates the similarities between himself and McCandless’s overly ambitious journey to accomplish feats in the wilderness. Coinciding with their similarities, they also faced an oppressive father figure at home, which lead the both of them to believe that their journey will provide them an answer to their problems at home. McCandless planned to survive in Alaska by living off the land while Krakauer wanted to be the first one to climb the Devil’s Thumb.
This is just one of the many people who comment on McCandless’s small weight. This shows that McCandless was constantly hungry, but he still did not decide to go home. He enjoyed living this way. Also, he encountered many unpleasant events in the wild such as “a crown [falling] off one of his molars” (Krakauer 164) and “fly and mosquito hordes” (Krakauer 166). These events were months before his death, so he could have decided to go home before it was too late, but he does not.
So does Chris McCandless really believed that he was finding the true happiness of the life? However, his belief was so strong that he was willing to encourage an eighty year old man to live the same lifestyle as he. One Thursday in mid-January 1992, Ron Franz an accomplished leather worker, stopped the car to give Chris McCandless a ride. Ron Franz was eighty-one year at the time, but his age didn't stop him from forming strong friendship with Chris McCandless. Ron Franz appreciated McCandless so much, therefore he thought that it was a huge waste for McCandless to live his life as a
In the book, Christopher McCandless rejected the American Dream and sought a more fulfilling experience in the wilderness that is Alaska. His demise from starvation was the result of underestimating the scale of civilization and the uncivilized