Chris Mccandless Materialism

In the Non-Fiction by Jon Krakauer, Into The Wild, we are introduced to the eccentric mind of 24 year old Christopher Johnson McCandless. Chris came from a family who was financially stable. When he graduated from Emory University, Christopher Johnson McCandless took off without the awareness of his loved ones, gave all his savings to OXFAM, destroyed everything in his wallet, and reinvented a whole new life for himself. In my opinion, I think what McCandless did is something to be admired. He did so many things without the need of a companion or society in general. McCandless lived those two years in great pleasure while having the freest spirit you could have in the United States. McCandless was also never selfish and found the materialistic

This could easily be proven by quoting what his sister, Carine, states about him in chapter seven. “Her son, the teenage Tolstoyan, believed that wealth was shameful, corrupting, inherently evil..”. This clearly shows that if McCandless did not appreciate wealth then the fact of people basing their happiness on wealth would discomfort him as well. Another example which sets the point a bit more clear would be when Krakauer states “ they didn’t flaunt their modest wealth, but they bought nice clothes, some jewelry for Billie, a Cadillac. Eventually, they purchased the townhouse on the bay and the sailboat. They took the kids to Europe, skiing in Breckenridge, on a Caribbean cruise. And Chris, Billie acknowledges, “was embarrassed by all that.” this just supports by showing us that Chris did indeed hate even the materialistic ways of his parents. This in my opinion is great because it shows that not all people think that money will grant you happiness during your lifetime.
One notable thing about Christopher Johnson McCandless was that he never gave up on what he loved doing. For example on chapter 1, Gallien states “ he wouldn’t give an inch. He had an answer for everything I threw at him.“ This is a clear example of how Chris McCandless never gave up on the goals he set for himself. Another example to support this claim is found in chapter three. Westerberg states that

McCandless himself had his reasons to hurt his parents that way mainly because they kept living a lie and it just exploded in their face when Chris found out. I am led to believe as well, that McCandless was trying to leave the Stampede Trail because he had forgiven them but since he couldn’t leave due to the river being so high and strong. McCandless had never anticipated or let alone plan to die just to hurt his parents. That was something that came totally unexpected and without his awareness. McCandless was also never a harm to people he met. He would actually help out and instead of being a “leech”, he would help out and was even considered to be a hard worker. the only case of him hurting anybody would be that of Ronald Franz. He was hurt by Chris’s unintentional