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Analysis Of Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

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Jon Krakauer in Into The Wild about the significance of an individual’s attempt to live unconstrained by convention or circumstance. What does it mean to be free? The idea is that you are able to live your life apart from the status quo. To be unconstrained by responsibilities or management. Individuals may isolate themselves to seek a refuge from the stress and pressure from their communities. The novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer follows the story of Chris Mccandless in his quest to live alone in Alaska. Chris's goal was to live unrestricted by his family as well as in the modern world. He pushed himself away from the people that loved him, he need a space for himself where he could achieve peace and quiet. As Chris lives and journeys …show more content…

In society, he never felt like he belonged he would think differently than other people and act differently. For example, after his graduation, he gave away all of his savings to charity. Chris's feeling alone in society is more of the reasons that drive him to be alone in the wild. Chris would yet to realize that being in a society with people that love him is better than being isolated in the wild. Chris had been feeling alone in society, but he only experience true loneliness when he was in the wild. Although Chris ended up dying alone he found everything that he was looking for by being surrounded by nature and pure isolation. He liked to live life on the edge which can be dangerous by yourself. Alaska is a very unforgiving place, it's a place where if you do not know what you're doing then it will kill you. Chris messed up big time by going out there by himself with no experience or advice from anyone. Chris had too much pride and was too stubborn to ask for help due to the fact he wanted to be …show more content…

Although after living months in the wild as Alex, he signs his name to his SOS letter as Christopher Johnson McCandless. Reverting back to his given name shows his regrets about departing from society, and how he wishes he was back in a community with the ones who loved and cared for him. While Alexander Supertramp could be the name of a lonesome wanderer in the wild, Christopher Johnson McCandless is the name of someone trying to find meaning in life. It took Chris dying alone in Alaska for him to come across that going on adventures are only really worth facing if you have someone to undergo it

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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

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Into the wild is a biography and nonfiction book written by Jon Krakauer. The book is about the journey of Christopher Johnson Mccandless ( Alex )journey throughout the west coast of the USA. Christopher’s journey takes him places such as the the snowy state of Alaska, and the mountainous terrains of the Sierra Nevada’s. The main protagonist Christopher Mccandless is 24 years old, and believes that life is best lived alone. Testing his theory Christopher goes to live alone in the western US, until testing his limits and venturing to Alaska.

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480 Words | 2 Pages

People that knew he was going to Alaska though he was a psychopath for trying to hitchhike all the way to Alaska. He didn’t care what anybody thought about him he wanted to be different than everybody else. Chris thought it was cool to be different; he wanted to try and see new things. Chris was very independent and brave. He just found it interesting and he wanted to enjoy a new experience so he ignored what everybody had to say about him.

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While he headed across the United States to Alaska, he, “...Introduced himself as Alex”(Krakauer 4). Chris intentionally gave up his given name because he did not want any ties with his family. Things may have been different if he had not gathered together all, “... The facts of his father’s previous marriage and subsequent divorce-facts to which he hadn’t been privy”(Krakauer 121). Chris had never been extremely close to either of his parents before his discovery, but this extinguished any chance of there every being a meaningful

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According to Jim Gallian, on page four, “He wanted to walk deep into the bush and ‘live off the land for a few months.’ ” This shows the fact that Chris wanted to just go straight into nature away from everyone else. Being away from civilization also made it to where he could just truly be himself without being judged or looked down upon. Chris was also an adult who is allowed to make his own choices with his life as long as it doesn’t harm himself intentionally or

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597 Words | 3 Pages

He then proceeded to change his name, donate all of his savings to charity and abandon his car. Chris really was nothing short of crazy. The book Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer tells the story of how Chris completely abandons regular life and goes off the grid. Chris possessed a streak of stubborn idealism that did not mesh readily with modern existence. On page 2 in the author's note Krakauer states, ¨Captivated by the writing of Leo Tolstoy, McCandles particularly admired how the great novelist had forsaken a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute.¨

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The author writes in one of the epitaphs, "The solitude and total freedom of the wilderness created a perfect setting for either melancholy or exultation. " This shows the wilderness causes raw emotions of sadness and happiness. I believe Chris was looking for happiness on his journey to Alaska. That Alaska was the answer to Chris's situation because he was able to meet so many people along the way and explore nature in ways many won't be able to. I believe by making it to Alaska like Chris wanted, he was a happy person, even though he ended up dead.

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He also had a soft spot for his mother even though their relationship was complicated. He always found an escape and his main one for awhile was running. Eventually, Chris decided that he needed a longer distance and to leave his family. So, his next big goal was to hitchike to Alaska. “Chris was long gone.

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598 Words | 3 Pages

Into the Wild Essay Being on your own can truly bring out who you are as a person. In life, people tend to take the path most traveled, this is usually the easiest/simplest path to take. In Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, he implies that people who choose their own path in life should be admired because it shows how a person gaining their own independence can and will bring out how they truly are as a person. In Chris’s life, he always has to abide by the rules of society, which he never enjoyed doing.

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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).

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Chris decided to leave his entire life behind. He didn’t tell anyone where he was going and what he was doing and only briefly mentioned to his sister his plans. He changed his name to Alex so no one could try and find him. Jon Krakauer perfectly described Chris that showed his young, native and arrogance, “[Chris] was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic (Krakauer 155) ”. He really left one day without any real preparation and had this romanticized idea of what it was he was doing and thought that he was enough.

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1165 Words | 5 Pages

Chris realized this too late as he was dying in Alaska. Chris had wanted to be in Alaska so badly, but it wasn’t what he thought. As Chris was dying he remembered all of the people in his life and how they impacted him and made his life better. He realized that he was at his happiest point with all these friends he made. While he was in Alaska, a place he thought would fulfil him he felt isolated and was incapable of survival.

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510 Words | 3 Pages

This makes his story more heartbreaking in my opinion. Because he was carrying numerous forms of ID on him, he unmistakably wasn’t planning on deserting society forever; he wanted to return hopefully someday. Perhaps he would have written a book about his whereabouts or what he grasped about the significance of life while absorbed in the wild. Maybe he would have justified why he never contacted his parents. Although Chris inspired many people from his Alaskan expedition, he could have inspired so many more if he had survived.

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783 Words | 4 Pages

“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” ―Maya Angelou. Jon Krakauer’s true story titled Into the Wild is about a man who decides to throw away his old life and escape the rules of conventional society. Twenty-two-year-old Chris McCandless came from a well-to-do family in Virginia and, without warning, abandons everything. He changes his name, loses contact with his family, gives away his car and all his money, and begins a two-year long journey hitchhiking to Alaska where he eventually dies of starvation.

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703 Words | 3 Pages

If someone has not suffered a similar inner turmoil, it would be easy for them to misunderstand his actions and assume that he was just an uneducated, crazy man. Chris McCandless despised the phoniness of the world around him and wanted to escape it by engaging in a, “climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual revolution” (pg. 112). These thoughts are similar to those experienced by people who struggle with depression. Chris McCandless felt that he was living in a world full of superficial beings whose only concern was what other people thought of them. His solution was to journey into the wild where he would, “no longer answer to Chris McCandless he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny” (pg. 18).

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