Chris Mccandless's Success In Into The Wild

What does the word success mean? Many argue different things, some say that success is how much money you have and some say that it’s how happy you are. In reality, success has little to do with those things; the definition simply depends on who you ask. In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krauker distinguishes Chris McCandless’s ultimate goal very early in the book; Chris wanted to avoid the norms and live a simple life in the Alaskan wilderness. Success is not defined as fame, money, or power, but as the goals, people achieve for themselves and society. McCandless was successful because he accomplished his goals of facing the wilderness in Alaska and living out his values of independence, self-reliance, growth, and change.

Success is different

Chris McCandless’s main goal was to leave his life and head into the wild, more specifically he wanted to travel to Alaska. Krauker narrates that “Driving west out of Atlanta, he intended to invent an utterly new life for himself, one in which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience. To symbolize the complete severance from his previous life, he even adopted a new name” (23). Chris changed his name to Alex not only because he wanted to run away from his previous life but to run away from his family and the values that surrounded them. Chris creating a new life for himself helped him move towards his goal of reaching Alaska. To get to Alaska, Chris believed that he needed to be independent of his family and the pressures they put on him. That was the only way to get to Alaska, so when he threw away his relationships and became self-reliant, it was for his ultimate goal. Since he was young he had the plan to go out to the wild, once he had this goal there was no convincing him otherwise. This was revealed before Chris left for Alaska, “Once Alex made up his mind about something there was no changing it, “Westerberg laments. “I even offered to buy him a plane ticket to Fairbanks …but he said, “ ‘No, I want to hitch north. Flying would be cheating. It would wreck the whole trip’ ” (67). This implies Chris’s goal but also establishes that he wants to complete it

Chris believed in his independence and relying on himself in tough situations, he also believed in growth and change in people. The goal of Alaska didn’t suddenly come to him, the goal of going to Alaska was something he wanted to accomplish when he was young. He shares this with Stuckey, “He said it was something he wanted to do since he was little, " says Stuckey. "Said he didn't want to see a single person, no airplanes, no sign of civilization. He wanted to prove to himself that he could make it on his own, without anybody else's help.” Chris’s values that he cherished were independence, self-reliance, and the growth of an individual. He wanted to know if he could depend on himself and nothing else, and be independent of his old life and identity. This small goal was another he accomplished along with venturing and exploring Alaska. This goal was developed when he was little and even until death he lived out the value of being independent and trying to prove to himself that he doesn’t need anyone but himself to reach his goals. Although not everyone agrees with the fact that McCandless was successful, letters were sent to Krauker voicing opinions about how they thought the death was a “foolish pointless death”. Others voiced in and dismissed Chris’s intelligence and