Malcolm McIntyre August 25, 2014 English Summer Reading Paper In Jon Krakauer’s novel Into The Wild, he tells a story of a young man named Chris McCandless. Chris was born into a middle class family in Pennsylvania and graduated high school in flying colors. After attending college at Emory Chris set off on the journey of his life. He left his home town and traveled across the country with only a backpack and his yellow Datsun. Chris ventured into the Alaskan Wilderness after _____ months traveling the country. Four months later he was found dead of apparent starvation on a trail ____ miles from Fairbanks, Alaska. The death of this young man was upsetting and very unusual, and it raises the question are we to interpret Chris’s journey and …show more content…
Chris had left everything including his family and started a new life. He realized as he neared his demise that in order to find peace within himself he must learn to forgive the ones he loved. Traveling the country and coming to Alaska had given Chris the happiness he always sought for, but when he read Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak he found it in himself to write, “Happiness only real when shared.” Chris had found happiness and he discovered the only way to truly be happy was to share his happiness to his family and the world. His story of his death and journey was spread around the world and affected many. In doing so Chris had forgiven his family and found true happiness. Through his story of finding peace and happiness he taught the world that forgiveness of your family and others can truly help you in finding an inner peace. This inner peace was found in Chris at the time of his …show more content…
McCandless was perfectly content with his life. At the end of the novel, McCandless writes in his journal, “I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!” (Krakauer, 199). McCandless wrote note in his journal just days before his death. What he is trying to say is that he died a happy death. He doesn’t care that he didn’t do what was expected of him, he achieved his dream and then died peacefully, which more than likely made his family feel much better knowing that he didn’t die a tragic death. A big part of McCandless’s journey and achieving his dreams was his support system. His support system consisted of no one. He was very self-reliant and “through Chris’ idealism, independence, and true self-reliance, he was able to create a new life for himself” (LaMarche). Although he was a very independent individual, he had some help from various people that picked him up by giving him various jobs, such as McDonalds and manual labor, both of which he was praised for being a great