Free Will In Jon Krakauer's 'Into The Wild'

Synthesis Essay In life, human beings are given the gift and curse of free will. We use this free will for trivial everyday choices such as what cereal to eat in the morning or what clothes to wear. Conversely, from time to time every human being comes across crucial life decisions that must be made and ultimately, the decisions we make are completely in our hands, but we should bear in mind the viewpoints of others. Taking into consideration the opinions of others could only benefit us. Most of the time, humans do not see eye to eye with everything, and often times our points of view are stubbornly one-sided. In Into The Wild, Chris McCandless decides to turn his life around completely to go into nature, ridding himself of all of his money, car and almost all materials in his possession. When asked if anyone personal is aware of his endeavors, “Alex [Chris] answered calmly that no, nobody knew of his plans, that in fact he hadn’t spoken to his family in nearly two years” (Krakauer). This impulsive

As documented in Grizzly Man, Timothy Treadwell believes himself to be the “guardian of the bears” and goes on an expedition to live like one of them, in hopes to become one of them. In reality, his ways are very radical and unorthodox, such as coming into close contact with bears or touching their feces. A local Native American was interviewed on his opinion of Treadwell’s efforts with the bears and said, “To me, it was the ultimate of disrespecting the bears and what the bear represents…I think he did more damage to the bears… If I look at it from my culture, Timothy Treadwell crossed a boundary.” (Herzog). Treadwell’s crossing of boundaries and quixotic beliefs of being a bear guardian only led to the harm of himself. He disregarded the opinions, warnings and dangers from others, which in the end led to his tragic death of being mauled by a