In the book “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer a young man from a wealthy family hitchhiked to alaska and walked into the wilderness. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. McCandless gave all his money to charity, abandoned his car, and burned his wallet. Many things are revealed about McCandless throughout the book. One thing that is revealed about McCandless is that he was ashamed of the fact that his family was wealthy and always wanted materialistic items. McCandless didn't care about luxury items and felt that his parents used them to create an image. Chris was very smart and good at almost everything that he did. He was a straight A student A minimalist lifestyle is an austere way of living by getting rid of everything except for
The year is 1992, Chris McCandless, age twenty four, has disappeared into the Alaskan forest by himself. He carried with him about ten pounds of rice, a few of his favorite inspirational books, and a gun. Chris ran away from his family in 1990 just after he graduated from Emory University. Over the course of two years he drove, walked, and hitchhiked from Atlanta, Georgia, to Healy, Alaska. Almost four months after being dropped off at the Stampede trail, Chris McCandless' body was found, by a group of a moose hunters, in a bus he was camping in.
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.
McCandless came from an upper middle class family. His father had a good job at NASA that allowed the family to move to the nation's capital of Washington D.C when he was a teenager. He had a big family consisting of one full sister and 6 step siblings so it was a mystery to his friends why he would drop his college education from Emory University, donate twenty four thousands dollars of “his college fund to OXFAM” and proceed to burn all the cash he in order to move off the grid for the rest of his life (Krakauer 31). After burning his money, he ditches his car and travels the Mojave Desert on foot with a few guns, a bag of rice and a few smaller miscellaneous items that all can fit in his backpack. Chris’s ability to take risks is allowed him to “invent an utterly new life for himself” in the wilderness away from his family (Krakauer 23).
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.
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
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.
McCandles always stays away and avoids collecting materialistic objects. Not only is he anti-materialistic, but he also encourages others to do the same. He gave away all of his belongings, demonstrating that having many possessions is not something he cherishes. This is especially portrayed when McCandless leaves his privileged life, which is hard for anyone to do. In a letter to Wayne Westerburg, McCandless writes, "My days were more exciting when I was penniless" (Krakauer 33).
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.
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.
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).
“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.
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.
(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
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.