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Christopher mccandless character traits into the wild
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Character traits of chris mccandless essay
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McCandless sought social interactions despite his primary introverted demeanor. Psychological Safety: “McCandless distrusted the value of things that came easily. He demanded much of himself- more, in the end, than he could deliver.” (Krakauer 184) Although subconsciously, McCandless was rather strict with his lifestyle, contradicting his seemingly appearing care-free attitude.
Do you believe “Alex” Christopher Johnson McCandless was successful? Many people say Alex was not successful in any way. Why burn 25,000 dollars and hitchhike to Alaska. “Some readers admires the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals; others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity”(Krakauer, Authors note). I Believe Alex was very successful at times, but there were times he was not at all.
Christopher McCandless was a free spirit. Ever since he was young he never needed to conform to society’s rules of how life should be lived. He was a fiercely intelligent human being who had a serious case of wanderlust. The idea of being free to travel and live life how he thought it should be lived, attracted him like bees to honey. To put it simply, McCandless was just a man who believed life should be lived a different way, and he went out to live his life that way.
Miller states in his article “Tragedy and the Common Man” that to be a tragic hero, one must fit into certain criteria. One of them includes the hero’s primary struggle to search for their sense of dignity and identity. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a book about Chris McCandless who abandons his current life to explore the world in search of his real self but dies in the process. He fits this particular criteria about being a tragic hero because he abandoned everything he had som he could go find himself. McCandless did not think this decision through because he had no idea what he was getting himself into and as miller says the protagonist cannot be stupid, insensitive, or incapable of overcoming obstacles.
Realist: This means to have an understanding of what can be accomplished. By using this word, Krakauer was able to let the readers know that he viewed McCandless as more of a realist than an idealist. Being a realist is a noble trait, due to its denotation meaning of the word which implies that one knows their own limit and weakness and knows how to set forth and complete a goal. Ambivalent about killing animals: The meaning of the phrase is having mixed or contradictory feelings or ideas about killing animals.
(Thoreau). This expresses that Thoreau thinks that men would rather live on the basic needs of life rather than have the luxury. They do not think that one needs the extra things to be happy. All of this shows how Chris McCandless and
Brown suggests that McCandless is ignorant, selfish, and lacks wisdom. He did not live up to his parents’ standards because he only valued his own opinion. Brown proves this point by saying, “He was very near sighted” (Brown 2). This metaphor means that McCandless did not value other people’s opinions and thought his way was the only way. After reading the book, many people felt remorse for Chris.
The distinction between whether an individual is to be considered an admirable person or a arrogant/ignorant person lies on their death. The difference is the impact, and the impact differs for an admirable person than a arrogant person. When a admirable man/women dies, the magnitude of the impact on society is greater as society reflects on all the positive achievements that have been accomplished. However, an arrogant person dies many times before their actual death. Throughout the novel of Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, is thought to be a admirable person.
Chris McCandless was someone who didn’t believe in having money, and items that were materialistic. He was considered an idealist because he didn’t put judgement on people based on how they look, he did it based on his personal values. In the author’s note Krakauer also believed Chris was a “intense young man and possessed a streak of stubborn idealism that did not mesh readily with modern existence”. After getting your degree in college, and your parents buying you a new car you don’t think to just throw it all away to go live in the wild on your own, but that’s exactly what Chris did. Items that would seem extremely important to everyone one else in society didn’t matter to Chris, because it wasn’t a necessity for him.
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).
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.
–For example, when McCandless donates his life’s savings to charity, burns his money, and abandons his car, he’s showing no signs of interest in a lavishing lifestyle (Krakauer 20-22) –Here, McCandless expresses his disgust with luxury living. Materials and possessions mean nothing to him, and it is a clear point to see. –Thoreau says in Walden, “… Ruined by luxury and heedless expense…” (Walden). –This shows Thoreau sees luxurious lifestyles and expensive tastes meaningless, and that wealth is nothing more than the popular desire.
McCandless didn’t want to live a life full of unhappiness and he felt that the only way to avoid that was to get away from his family and go into the wild. McCandless was raised in a wealthy family and he had all the opportunities that came with that. He was a bright student and had a bright future ahead of him. He wanted to live a simple life and experience nature. So he left everything behind and went into the wild.
“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.
In this unit, my classmates and I read Into the Wild and discussed on the few reasons why Chris McCandless may have gone to Alaska. I have developed an understanding on why he may have gone into the wild and I believe that the reason is because of his family situation. McCandless never had a trustworthy family and with his father hiding secrets behind their back made the situation worse. Going into the wild was his only escape from the disgrace of the world. Despite his reference to Tolstoy, Emerson, Thoreau, and London, it is only reasonable to believe that the actions he took for going into the wild was because of his personal life with his family issues.
