Chris Mccandless Heroism

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” -Arthur Ashe. What makes someone a hero? A question often addressed in literature, media, and art, as well as by people themselves. The typical idea of “heroism” tends to bring to mind an image of a superhero or someone who saves many lives, but does being heroic always involve having superpowers or putting yourself in danger to save others? Exploring what makes someone a “hero” in others’ eyes could just mean looking at people who do things that no one else would think or care to. Evaluating what defines a hero in the most basic sense can help to show what being a hero actually

Chris McCandless, for example, starved to death while staying on the Stampede Trail in Alaska due to being rather unprepared, causing people to say he was less of a hero and more of a naive youth. When Jon Krakauer-- author of Into the Wild-- interviews Chris’s sister, Billie McCandless, she explains, “Many people have told me that they admire Chris for what he was trying to do. If he’d lived, I would agree with them. But he didn’t, and there’s no way to bring him back” ( ). On the other hand, as the only survivor of a plane crash in episode two of Bull “The Woman in 8D” the pilot is primarily blamed for all of the deaths. During the crash, Captain Taylor Mathison is blamed for crashing the plane she is piloting when all passengers are killed and Mathison loses her memory due to head trauma, causing the case to be extremely more difficult to settle the case. Similarly, in Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, he depicts his experience climbing Mount Everest and surviving the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, where eight climbers died and several others were stranded by storms. Being a relatively new climber, many denounced Krakauer for his criticisms of some of the professionals as well as the fact that he survived when several others did not, despite having more

Chris McCandless was a young white man, whose background was thought by many to be one of wealth, considering the savings he had put away for college. However, after Krakauer explores Chris’s home life and discovered the truth, readers learn that maybe cont. ( ). In The Woman in 8D, Captain Taylor Mathison faces much bias after being the only survivor of a crash of the plane she was piloting. When Bull takes the case and sets up a mock trial to explore how to shape the plea in Mathison’s favor, discovering that the only scenario in which she is proven not guilty, is when Mathison is represented by a man. During the trial, Bull convinces the jury that they cannot let their prejudices cloud their decisions and due to this Mathison is proven not guilty. In Tolkien’s The Hobbit, one of the reasons Bilbo’s heroism was rather surprising to some of the character was the rather unthreatening and generally looked down upon manner of Hobbits as a race. “Find” ( ). Finally, in Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, he describes the events of his climb of Mount Everest as a relatively inexperienced climber. However, his unseasoned nature and critical attitude towards some of the more experienced climbers and their decision making some readers consider Krakauer to be less of a hero and more of an onlooker with a poor attitude. In subjective