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Christopher Mccandless A Tragic Hero

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Society is a limitation, often preventing many from following their dreams or beliefs. Some may forsake these dreams and ideals and forget who they are in an attempt to conform. Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer narrates the story of Christopher McCandless, a young man from Virginia. McCandless hitchhiked to Alaska in 1992 to follow his beliefs and managed to live off the land for four months until he met his death in the wilderness. His story gained a lot of publicity and it has led to debates about his sanity and heroic qualities. Many believe that he was naive and neglectful to himself, or that he had a death wish. However, McCandless proved that he had the bravery to discard the standards of society and live by his own ideals. He was not to be dissuaded by those …show more content…

Although some of Christopher McCandless' decisions portray him as an anti-hero, his personality and determination demonstrate the qualities of a tragic hero, one who makes mistakes but still tries to follow his beliefs and ideals.
Christopher McCandless is often described as a sociopath, and although he did hurt those around him, he was aware of what he had done and was beginning to reconcile with the idea of returning to society. McCandless had walked away from his parents and the life they had built for him. His father comments upon this, saying how he didn’t know how “‘a kid with so much compassion could cause his parents so much pain’” (104). McCandless was able to

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492 Words | 2 Pages

Why is Chris McCandless is noble, or brave? He is like this way because he is going to go against the status quote. He is doing actions that people would not normally do in today 's society. People today would not think of doing the sort of things that McCandless did, and ended up losing his life over it. He did things that we would consider slightly insane; mad, but he adhere to a doctrine of no safety and constant adventure, or he went, “Into the wild.

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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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This led to his death in the Alaskan wild. Many people offered to give him things, such as Ronald Franz who wanted to adopt McCandless, but not once did McCandless say “I need your help”(Krakauer 198) until a few days before his death but no one was there. It was at this point that he realized he needed someone there because his life depended on it. He knew the impact he had on his parents and those that drove him along his journey. If McCandless realized this prior to putting himself in danger, he would have lived a longer life devoted to others more than himself.

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Although some might argue that McCandless should have notified his parents that he was going to take this trip, however, if he would’ve told his family they would have gone out of their way to bring him back home. Furthermore Mccandless did tell his parents that he was going on this trip and didn’t find the need to tell them where he was going minute by minute. He was an adult and understood what the consequences were. Ever since Mccandless was a kid he was isolated, he felt that he didn’t belong in the world he lived in.

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100 Words | 1 Pages

This quote states that McCandless’s behavior is not completely unique or unusual. Though he obviously lives in a way that very few do, and particularly very few who grow up with the opportunities he has, the motive behind his behavior is not uncommon. This also reflects the idea that he would have been looked upon with appreciation and would have been considered a person who had accomplished something impressive. Because he died, however, many have criticized him, and have seen in his daring only arrogance and stupidity, when in reality it was probably mostly influenced by his crave for adventure.

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630 Words | 3 Pages

Christopher McCandless was a reckless, disregard kid that did what he wanted to do before he died. McCandless had everything, but had nothing. What I mean by that is that he

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765 Words | 4 Pages

In the beginning, McCandless starts his adventure by cutting himself off from all the human connections he had. He severs all ties from his family, including his sister which whom he was previously very close to. He burns his social security card, changes his name, and decides to travel across the country. Throughout his journey, Christopher often accounts for his parent’s wrongdoings for the reasons why he wanted to run away to Alaska. He subsists with a minimalist lifestyle and is disappointed in his parents’ behaviors and their materialism.

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959 Words | 4 Pages

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a biography that follows Chris McCandless and his journey through the wilderness while finding himself along the way. Chris McCandless died in the August of 1992 after a four month journey through places like Mexico and Alaska. Krakauer investigates his actions and analyzes his identity after his death, trying to find meaning within his seemingly unnecessary expedition. Chris McCandless constructs his personal identity as a man who wanted to be challenged and inspired by his actions and interests with people he met on the road, and his beliefs and values as a stubborn person. Chris McCandless’s actions are unusual in many ways; for one, he graduates college with honors, but instead of pursuing a career,

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440 Words | 2 Pages

christopher mccandless can be described as a thrill seeking,courageous, and a risk taker. Christopher mccandless can be described as thrill seeking for many reasons. For example he had abandoned his life, money, and family so he could start over with a new life. On page 22-23, its states that he was “ driving west out of atlanta, he intended to invent an utterly new life for himself.” Him wanting to go out in the wild

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He had the courage to give up every bit of money he had by getting “A pathetic little stack of ones and fives and twenties- and put a match on it”( Krakauer 29). No normal person would undergo this process but McCandless did which shows the courage he has in trusting the wilderness. Not only did he give up his possessions but he did infact have the courage to take on a new name he had given himself. “No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny”( Krakauer 23).

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I agree with Shaun Callarmans ' argument, I too think that McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time(Callarmans, 2016). However I do admire McCandless ' courage and noble ideas he was crazy, silly and arrogant, but he truly believed he was going to find happiness. McCandless was looking at being ignorant, arrogant and silly. I agree he was arrogant and ignorant at the end that was what killed him. It is very clear to see that he was arrogant throughout the whole story he is put in different situations where he really doesn 't know what he doing foolish or courageous it was arrogant for him to think he can kayak down the Colorado river, it was arrogant of him to think he would be able to walk across country with no money he was arrogant.

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McCandless thought that his parents were controlling and became scornful towards their expectations for him. Instead of trying to be authoritative, his dad should have been more genuine, but he lacked that ability to try to sympathize with his son which resulted in McCandless’s decision to go into

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783 Words | 4 Pages

“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” ―Maya Angelou. Jon Krakauer’s true story titled Into the Wild is about a man who decides to throw away his old life and escape the rules of conventional society. Twenty-two-year-old Chris McCandless came from a well-to-do family in Virginia and, without warning, abandons everything. He changes his name, loses contact with his family, gives away his car and all his money, and begins a two-year long journey hitchhiking to Alaska where he eventually dies of starvation.

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What really drove Chris McCandless into the wild? I believe the top three of the countless reasons that drove McCandless into the wild was the emotional damage from his parents, rebellion of the youth & risk taking tendencies, and his hubris and detestation against authority and/or someone telling him what to do. Some may believe that Chris McCandless went into the wild because of his literary heroes Leo Tolstoy, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau , and Jack London but the real reason he left everything was because of those reasons. In this essay I will elaborate on why I believe those are the reasons that drove McCandless into the wild.

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882 Words | 4 Pages

Based on a real story, Into the Wild can make us think from different perspectives about what the main character Christopher McCandless did. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a dramatic but also remarkable story from a young, newly graduated, college student that escaped for a long wild journey but never came back. As time passes throughout the book, the reader may notice how the main character interacts with society and nature, finally McCandless dies in the wild but even though he was struggling for survival he died happy. Some people never get out of their comfort zone, others are tired of it and retire from their comfort zone to have different experiences in life, some are good enough or some are terrible.

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