Compare And Contrast Doba And Mccandless

Most people search for a thrill in life. People long for joy and excitement merely because they are existing, and only few ever achieve that sense of happiness. Why? Because they are the ones that actually go out and find it while others just hope that one day they will wake up and start feeling that thrill. Christopher McCandless and Aleksander Doba were part of their relative few that were willing to wonder outside the box and defy the norms to find excitement in their lives. They both believed that complete wilderness would give them authentic life experiences and did not care for the dangers that came with. The wild wasn’t a terrible place in the eyes of both McCandless and Doba. For McCandless, the wilderness gave him an escape

McCandless didn’t want to deal with people since he graduated from college. It was imperative for him to get as far away from his family and friends as possible because no one really understood him. It was inevitable that help would be offered to him if he made friends or got close to people in his journey and he tried so hard to avoid that. McCandless needed to do this alone and help from anyone would only ruin his experiences. When Westerberg offered a plane to Alaska, McCandless refused. He said very clearly, “No. I want to hitch north. Flying would be cheating. It would wreck the whole trip.”(Krakauer 67) To McCandless, any sort of help offered would take the important part out of his journey, and that’s the pure experiences with nature. Doba was also very similar to McCandless in this aspect. Doba would travel across the ocean and sail by huge ships that would offer him a ride back to shore and he would not even think about it. It was not even a thought in his mind that he would quit on his trip and get helped off the ocean. In this one instance, a Greek ship approaches Doba and offers him help despite numerous rejections from Doba. Doba just wanted his phone fixed and nothing else. And according to the article, “During the third rescue attempt he yelled a Polish vulgarity. The Greeks got the message and left.”(Weil) Even though Doba ended up accepting help in the article at some point, it is very clear to see that he will not take help from anyone unless absolutely necessary. He will not tarnish the experiences out in the water for comfort and luxury. Help offered exactly that; a safe, comfortable and conventional way home away from most the dangers that Doba could’ve faced alone. And he chose to face it all alone until it became a time where he wouldn’t make it without help. It says a lot about the