We have all made mistakes, for some they are small mistakes that do not impact anyone. For others, they are of mammoth proportions and have a preponderant impact on how people think, or say about them. In the book Into the Wild it tells about the journey of Chris McCandless who died in the Alaskan wilderness. Chris McCandless was definitely one of these people who made a big mistake. People around the globe have mixed feelings about this twentieth century adventurer. Some view him as a hero whose ideals should be embraced, while others see him as an arrogant, stubborn, and reckless vagabond whose dreams led to his demise. With numerous opinions about who he was, it is up to the reader to choose their ideas of who he was. To me and many others …show more content…
Above all Chris McCandless was an arrogant man. He refused many offers of help he got under the ground of that it was cheating. His arrogance led to him taking unnecessary risks which led to him encountering many hapless events. A quote from Into the Wild, his sister Carine said, “ Chris didn’t think twice about risking his own life, but he never would have put Buckley in any kind of danger (Krakauer 128). This really shows that without a person to keep a handle on him, to give him a conscience about what he was putting himself into, he was really the only one credible for his ultimate demise. There were many people he met who tried to talk Chris out of it but since it was just him he never really listened. Shaun Callarman is just one of many people who agree with my ideas of who Chris really was. Shaun says, “I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, …show more content…
Chris lived in a way most of us will never get to experience. He lived his life to the fullest, and more importantly he lived the way he wanted to. This alone should be some solace to his family. Really Chris was a nice person who people loved to be around. Just talking to him for a little while would show this. In Into the Wild it says, “ The more they talked, the less Alex struck Gallien as a nutcase” (Krakauer 6). This really shows that Alex, or Chris, was a bright person who, on the outside looked like a strange vagabond was really a well educated person. More important, however, is the fact that Chris had a positive impact on everyone he met. A prime example of this would be another traveler he met named Jan Burres. In the book said, “ We got to talking. He was a nice kid” (Krakauer 22). Jan also said, “ He was a really good kid. We thought the world of him” (Krakauer 23). If Chris could earn the respect and love of people who he had just met, this shows a lot about his character and who he was. However let us not forget the fact of the kind of person he was on the inside. On the inside he was like a raging bull whose anger was focused mainly at his parents. Chris McCandless was a man of many faces. One face he showed only to himself while he was in the wild, the other to the complete strangers that he had just met. The final face is the face who he showed