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Into the wild by jon krakauer essays
Into the wild by jon krakauer essays
Into the wild introduction john krakauer
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Into the Wild recounts the story of a young man, Chris McCandless, who tries to escape from society in order to find himself. Fascinated by nature, Chris gives up most of his material possessions to hitchhike around the western United States. Interestingly enough, he severs all ties with his family and believes that he can find happiness within himself, yet makes connections with several people along his journal. Fueled by the ideology of writers such as Tolstoy, London, and Thoreau, Chris camps alone in the Alaskan wild to find a purer version of himself until his death. Throughout Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer develops the idea that Chris McCandless’ quest for solitude is essential to obtain true freedom; however, Chris ultimately realizes
Firstly, Into The Wild written by Jon Krakauer is one of the best book I have read this year. Throughout the novel, I can see Chris McCandless is brave enough to do things that most people will not even think about doing as he is “looking for more adventure and freedom than today’s society gives people” (). From the beginning, even though his parents, Billie and Walt McCandless set him up for an impressive, promising life, Chris gives up this promising, successful future and spins into a journey filled with idealist literature and danger that skews his world view. This is due to the modern society offers that does not appeal to Chris, who just wants a different life that many have themselves. He sees the influences society puts on our lives
In the novel, Into the Wild, author Jon Krakauer presents the journey and life story of Christopher McCandless, a twenty-two-year-old adventurer from Annandale, Virginia. Chris McCandless, also known by the alias Alexander Supertramp, abandoned his former life in the suburbs of Virginia and traveled into the Alaskan wilderness in an attempt to escape the materialistic ideals of society. After one hundred and thirteen days in the wilderness, McCandless passes away due to starvation. Along with his decomposing body, cryptic messages from his diary are found indicating that he was gradually perishing. Throughout the novel, Krakauer admits to seeing himself in McCandless’ actions.
The late Helen Keller once said “Life is either a great adventure or nothing,” mirroring Chris McCandless’s view on how he wanted to live his life. At a young age of only 22, Christopher Johnson McCandless hitchhiked to Alaska ditching his well-to-do family, donating $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoning his possessions, burning his money and social security card in hope to discover a new life. Four months later his body was discovered by a moose hunter leaving, his family to wonder about his final days. McCandless’ tragic story became a national sensation when Krakauer released an article in Outside magazine. The article aroused many opinions as to whether or not Chris was to be admired or criticized for his foolishness..
Chris McCandless was never too thrilled over following and living by the rules his parent's imposed. He was always a rebel, following his parents' rules until he could escape to the wild. When they learned of their son's demise in Alaska, they were devastated at most parents would be. They didn't know that the last time they saw Chris, would be their last because of his intention to leave them. Upon Chris disappearing from their lives, they were angry but thought they would see him again.
Throughout Krakauer's account of Chris McCandless’ life, we see Chris’s innate need to be his own person and to be one with nature. We discover his want to be away from a big government and from America’s imposing societal structure. Through his love of nature and want for individualism, Chris McCandless is a modern day Transcendentalist. Individualism is one of the fundamental ideas of Transcendentalism, throughout the book we see Chris leave behind his old life, to start a new. One thing that Transcendentalist believe is that money can lead people astray from the true meanings of life.
Chris acquires his energy through his adventures. Not just physical adventure to new places, however, also experiencing new things and ideas. For the reason, Chris finds it difficult to narrow his time to one activity. In his youth, he ventures from one sport to another. His father even remembered that, “he had so much natural
He wasn’t antisocial-he always had friends, and everybody liked him-but he could go off and entertain himself for hours. He didn’t seem to need toys or friends. He could be alone without being lonely” - Pg.107,Carine. This longing for individuality and freedom that Carine documents was never fulfilled when Chris was a child.
Chris McCandless was a very determined individual, he set out to invent a new life for himself and there was no stopping him. Chris finished his four years of college and he could’ve continued to further his education and go to law school but instead he set his mind on going to Alaska and live off the land. Getting to Alaska involves great determination because along the way to getting there Chris could’ve changed his mind and returned home but he was determined to get there one way or another. People often confuse stubbornness with being determined , for example, as cited in Into the Wild, “Once Alex made up his mind about something, there was no changing it” (Krakauer 67).
Chris strived for freedom and release from his household and society itself, to achieve that he sought to the woods to live a positive and beautiful existence on the earth. The blog post “Note from Carine McCandless” by Carine McCandless is the most likely interpretation of Chris McCandless’s life and his choices. Carine explains and supports what led up to Chris McCandless making the decisions he made. Carine, who grew up, lived, and most likely spent the most time with Chris, will have the most truthful information and experiences. The experiences that Carine has gone through in the McCandless household are very close to what Chris could have experienced which led up to the decisions he made.
Chris McCandless was a intelligent, idealistic young man who lived his life alone, in nature. Chris rejected the ideals of society and had a yearning for a nomadic lifestyle. McCandless went into the wild seeking a life without materialism and a life without rules. He does find what he was looking for; but his journey leads to death in the end. Most people wouldn’t have made the journey that Chris made; nevertheless survive as long as he did, with as little as he had.
In contrast to what some individuals may believe, Chris McCandless was not a lonely hermit who lived his life alone wanting no correlation with humans. Infact Chris had several friends at home in Virginia and met a number of people whom he became very close to on his expedition. In order for the audience to truly understand not only Chris’s actions but his mind, Krakauer uses several credible sources who knew or met Chris on his journey so that we can catch glimpse as to what made Chris tick. One person who is not crucial to the story however shares great insight the reasons behind Chris’s departure is Eric Hathaway. Eric was an old highschool friend of Chris’s, he remarks about something Chris said during cross-country.
He wanted to get out there and connect with nature or be part of nature. In the article Film Captures Young Man’s Journey Into the Wild by Robert Siegel, states “I mean, I wasn’t very smart, and I was way too intense,but, you know, when you’re that age, you think you’re immortal, and Chris certainly thought that” ( 3 of 4). This proves that teens want to do things that makes them feel unstoppable or in other words live a life like McCandless without restrictions. Teens just want to do what they love or what makes them forget about their problems. Instead of doing things they don’t want for example staying home and do nothing at all, they go out and enjoy nature by getting lost in it.
Leaving his life behind to travel and live in the wild was very reckless, however being reckless is what made Chris so courageous and what makes his journey admirable. Chris wanted to carry out his journey all on his own and to do this he gave up most of his material things. To start things off, the first thing he did was give all his money to charity. Chris did this so that he couldn’t rely on his money if times got tough. Most people would
Chris McCandless abandoned the modern world and chose the wild because he believed that he could improve himself through living in the wild, and found the true happiness of the life. McCandless abandoned his wealthy family because of his complicated relationship with his father, and he was ashamed with his father’s adultery. Therefore, McCandless believed that human relationship was not the only thing that forms happiness, instead a man’s connection with the nature brings joy as well. He also believed the habitual lifestyle was not what people were meant to do, and people shouldn't have more possessions than what they need. For this reason, McCandless traveled with little effects.
