Examples Of Chris Mccandless Rebellion

“To symbolize the complete severance from his previous life, he even adopted a new name. … He was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny” (Krakauer). As early as the first few chapters of Into the Wild, the reader can already see the distinguishable features of a rebel. Not only does Chris McCandless possess rebellious qualities, but he admired writers like Jack London, Leo Tolstoy, and Henry David Thoreau, all of whom possessed the same rebellious attitude. Chris McCandless rejected the rules (written and unwritten), which made him a rebel. An anomalous person is one that rejects social standards. In present society, every person typically drives a car or pays for public transportation. The upper class, the rich, and the well educated would be examples

Rebelling against the government can come in many different forms. Whether it is war or protesting, any method of rejecting the government is a characteristic of a rebel. McCandless easily brushed aside the law, as if it were nonexistent. In Alaska, hunters are required to have a hunting license. However, when Jim Gallien, the last person to see McCandless alive, asked if he had a hunting license, McCandless scoffed and retorted with “how I feed myself is none of the government’s business” (Krakauer). This parallels a writer McCandless admired. Henry David Thoreau had similar feelings toward the government. Thoreau lived by the motto “government is best which governs least” (Thoreau). This states that government should not interfere; it is best to let society run on its own. Thoreau did something that would later inspire McCandless. He refused to pay a government issued poll-tax for the Mexican-American war because it did not sync up with his beliefs (Thoreau). McCandless did not think that the government had any right to interfere with his personal needs. This further exemplifies McCandless’s ideal life of rebelling rather than