Chris Mccandlessness In Into The Wild

In 1992 a young man sacrificed his life, his family, his wealth, and all his possessions in the hope of living what he believed to be life to the fullest. He was smart, educated, and sensible, yet he donated the entirety of his savings to charity, abandoned his car, burned the remainder of his money, and walked into the alaskan wild with little to no planning or preparation. It wasn’t until his lifeless body was found decomposing in a nearby bus that the story of this man, Christopher Mccandless began to be known to the world. Into the wild is the story of his childhood, his upbringing, his journey to alaska, and perhaps most notably, his tragic demise. When the news of his death first reached the public the two most prevalent reactions were

Henry David Thoreau once suggested that everyone “be not simply good, [but] be good for something”. Although Thoreau was never knowing for his charitable actions, Mccandless showed time and time again to do all he could to help those less fortunate than himself. From the time he was a young child Mccandless cared and worried about issues like poverty and world hunger. His own mother acknowledged that from the time she could remember “Chris didn’t understand how people could possibly be allowed to go hungry, especially in this country,”(88). Living with many upper class luxurys from a young age, Chris never had to experience poverty related issues, however he always seemed to do his part to try. When documenting the story of his life, John Krakauer noted that “McCandless would wander the seedier quarters of Washington, chatting with prostitutes and homeless people, buying them meals, earnestly suggesting ways they might improve their lives.”(88). Similar to the ways in which he helped his friends and close acquaintances like Ronald Franz and Jan Buress, Mccandless tried to help anyone who needed it and even went out of his way to help those who did. Mccandless’s compassionate heart eventually lead him to go one step further when he first embarked on his journey. Rather then use the 25,000 dollars in his college savings account to buy supplies and transportation to

Because of this his life and journey was not only something to criticize but something to both admire and celebrate. While others who came before him, like author Henry David Thoreau sought to live similar lifestyles, none truly took advantage of their life the way he was able to. As a young boy he idolized men like Thoreau and of Mccandless’s greatest successes was having not only lived up to these men, but in fact surpassed them in their journeys and experiences.Unlike Thoreau, Mccandless devoted the entirety of his life to both helping those in need and living what he believed to be life to the fullest for the ENTIRETY of it. Thoreau spent a short limited time in a cabin that was less than 2 miles outside of the nearest town, his charitable contributions are nothing noteworthy, and he is never recorded as benefiting the lives of nearly anyone close to him. Mccandless gave up all that he had to charity, helped any who helped him and lived the remained of his life how he wanted to live it . That is in a sense a universally respectable dream, to live the way you want, undeterred by the thoughts and decisions of others. Chris was able to do this because