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Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

765 Words4 Pages

Many criticizers of Chris McCandless believe that he was so naive and ill-prepared for his adventure to Alaska that it was what ended up costing him his life in the end. Some would disagree with that opinion and say he was courageous and admired that he followed his dreams and ambitions. In the author’s note of “Into The Wild” Jon Krakauer states, “Some readers admired 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” (Authors Note). In my opinion, McCandless was prepared for this adventure, knew what risks he was going to face, and therefore wasn’t naive about his journey. When McCandless first started his journey he may have …show more content…

Many thought he was ignorant and didn’t think through any of the risks enough to survive off of the land, but what they didn’t realize is that he wanted it to be difficult. He wanted a challenge, not just an adventure but something that would test him in a way society doesn’t, “But he was sufficiently skilled to last for sixteen weeks on little more than his wits and ten pounds of rice. And he was fully aware when he entered the bush that he had given himself a perilously slim margin for error. He knew what was at stake” (182). If he had wanted an easy going trip he would’ve brought more food, clothes, equipment, etc. He didn’t though because that wasn’t his dream; his goal was to find out if it was possible in today’s society to live off of the land and nothing …show more content…

Just because McCandless’s life withered away there doesn’t necessarily have to mean the man was naive, now does it? Yes, he starved to death but that’s not the whole story. What is said to have happened is that he ate some bad seeds that caused his body to reject nutrients and eventually starve him to death , “The plant that poisoned him wasn’t toxic, per se; McCandless simply had the misfortune to eat moldy seeds. An innocent mistake, it was nevertheless sufficient to end his life” (194). This statement has then been disproved after Krakauer published the book due to further investigation and research, but what still remains true is that the seeds were not safe to have eaten in McCandless’s health condition. Now that may make him sound naive about plants of the area but the catch is that there was a little amount of poisonous amino acids in the seeds, something his guidebook didn’t mention. His death wasn’t the result of being unknowledged, it was simply a misfortunate mistake that anyone, besides probably a highly trained botanist, could’ve made since it was a kind of poison that had only affected a few cases of starving

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214 Words | 1 Pages

It was clear that McCandless was ill-prepared for many of the situations that he was presented with throughout his adventure to Alaska. McCandless was very passionate about pursuing his dreams to live off the land. Although, if he wanted to survive long enough to enjoy living in one of the most harshest environments on earth, it would have only made sense that he carefully planned out every detail of his trip to prevent him from dying. However on the contrary, it was as if he had no plans or strategies to prevent this from happening. The ultimate sacrifice McCandless paid from unpreparedness was death.

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346 Words | 2 Pages

Survival: “He had a book about plants with him, and was using it to pick berries... Said he’d been surviving on edible plants he identified from the book.” (Krakauer 30) McCandless successfully provided the necessity of a sufficient amount of nutrients to fulfill his dietary needs. It is acknowledged that McCandless survived by foraging from the wilderness, essentially allowing him to consume meals without distress.

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800 Words | 4 Pages

In the Southwest he survived for many days on just a bag of rice through and through sheer luck he made it out alive. In fact, this poorly planned adventure could very well be the basis of his ignorance. I think when he survived all those days in the desert he lost sight of his own mortality. The same thing is seen again in Alaska. Nearly everyone he tells about his plan either tells him it’s too dangerous

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986 Words | 4 Pages

Krakauer also put some of McCandless’ journals and letters in the book. According to Shaun Callarmans analysis Chris McCandless had no business going to Alaska. Callarman thinks Chris McCandless is just plain crazy. Callarman doesn't admire his courage or noble ideas. Even though Shaun Callarman thinks Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant, also made mistakes because of his arrogance, I disagree with Callarmans analysis

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1216 Words | 5 Pages

"I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going to Alaska with his Romantic silliness. He made a lot of mistakes based on ignorance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy."

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1231 Words | 5 Pages

Each man had his own goals and purpose for taking upon himself that certain project to accomplish. The purpose of McCandless's journey was he wanted to make it to Alaska without taking anything from anyone. Chris wanted to live off the land and not take short cuts by flying places or in his words anything that was considered “cheating.” Krakauer stated, “Chris McCandless intended to invent a new life for himself, one which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience. ”(4)

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1343 Words | 6 Pages

In Into The wild, Krakauer narrates the last couple of journeys Mccandless had on his adventure to Alaska where he ultimately died. Mccandless Touched many people's lives through all of his journeys. Mccandless went on these journeys because he was confused in life when he figured out his dad had cheated on his mom. This changed Mccandless to the point he began to hate his parents. Mccandless had a lot of confidence in himself so he left on an adventure to find his identity.

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630 Words | 3 Pages

By this point, i think i would agree with Callarman’s opinion because there are abundantly details on how he deviated from his life. He believed that he would be safe and thought he understood everything, however that was not the occurrence. McCandless was an astute, clever kid but was exceedingly obdurate. He did everything he could do to survive but at the end, death was inevitable. There was nothing that he could do nor anyone else, so he had to face the facts.

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987 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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871 Words | 4 Pages

Into The Wild was a tremendous story which Shaun Callarman did not have many positive things to say about Chris McCandless, the main character. He went on this adventure to find out what life is all about in his own eyes. He wanted to see how different living in the wild really was compared to society because he was not satisfied with his living arrangements and household. Shaun’s quote says that he thinks “Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness.

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688 Words | 3 Pages

Everyone sets their goals at different expectations than others which is why you typically don’t go for the same goal as other people. The adventure that McCandless went on was dangerous, but it fit his expectation to be independent and to find where he belongs. McCandless valued self-reliance ,he needed to be his own person, with his own vision and way of thinking so that others wouldnt influence him along the way. He recognized that the only way for him to find his own truth would to be self-centered and focus on his own being first, without others clouding his sense of

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1892 Words | 8 Pages

But I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams.” (pg. 182). Similar to Krakauer, McCandless was always reaching for the goal, unknowingly having already found his refuge in the thrill of the journey. Although McCandless' first intentions were to explore the Alaskan wilderness in total isolation and to find the refuge he sought after in such circumstances, McCandless unknowingly established refuge in the course of his travels. It most likely did not cross McCandless’ mind,

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462 Words | 2 Pages

Some of these situations could have been prevented yet he decided to do some sort of an “trial and error”. Whether it was kayaking through the colorado river or surviving under extreme weather conditions, McCandless made it his responsibility to beat the odds. So what and who was he proving that he could live within nature and survive?

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915 Words | 4 Pages

However, Jon Krakauer proves his argument that McCandless was not arrogant, foolish, antisocial, or crazy by giving examples of other young men who were similar to McCandless to show that his journey wasn’t unprecedented. He also proves that McCandless wasn’t antisocial because he developed personal relationships with Ronald Franz, Wayne Westerberg, and Jan Burres in such a short amount of time and explaining the many times that McCandless respected the Alaskan Bush. Krakauer admits that McCandless may have suffered from hubris; he was still a victim of circumstances. Krakauer proves that McCandless had an intrinsic motivation to discover and that he wasn’t alone because Krakauer too ventured into the Alaskan Bush when he was younger. The Alaskan Bush is a very difficult place to survive if one isn’t prepared for many challenges such as hunting for food or staying warm in the frost ridden

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783 Words | 4 Pages

This is just one of the many people who comment on McCandless’s small weight. This shows that McCandless was constantly hungry, but he still did not decide to go home. He enjoyed living this way. Also, he encountered many unpleasant events in the wild such as “a crown [falling] off one of his molars” (Krakauer 164) and “fly and mosquito hordes” (Krakauer 166). These events were months before his death, so he could have decided to go home before it was too late, but he does not.

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