Into The Wild Chris Mccandless Selfish

Into the Wild, a best-selling book from 1996 telling the story of Chris McCandless and his journey along the West US. People see him as arrogant and selfish, but I see him as a determined and brave young man trying to seek out what life is. Though during his trips he did make mistakes. Some of those mistakes might have cost him his life and others have cost him his family.

In the book, people see Chris as a selfish, privileged kid. I see him as a brave kid, seeking out what life is. The article states “DAY 100! MADE IT!”. This shows how long he stayed out in the Alaskan wilderness and how he was brave enough to stay out there. “He bagged the prize of all: Moose”. This shows that Chris was not scared when he was facing one of the biggest animals

“The water, opaque with glacial sediment and only a few degrees warmer than the ice it had so recently been, was the color of wet concrete. Too deep to wade, it rumbled like a freight train. The powerful current would quickly knock him off his feet and carry him away”. This shows that he didn’t even know in the springtime that the river would go up and speed up so he could escape. “When McCandless tried to walk out of the bush one year ago the previous week, the basket was in the same place it is now, on his side of the canyon. If he'd known about it, crossing the Teklanika to safety would have been a trivial matter.” If Chris had done some research on the land and area he was in he would have known about the basket and wouldn’t have died. Finally “Below the Morelos Dam, the river turns into a maze of irrigation canals, marshland, and dead-end channels, among which McCandless repeatedly lost his way”. This finally shows that Chris didn’t take his time to learn the environment and the landmarks around him to help him

The book states that “when Alex left for Alaska… I prayed. I asked God to keep his finger on the shoulder of that one; I told him that boy was special. But he let Alex die. So on December 26, when I learned what happened, I renounced the lord. I withdrew my church membership and became an atheist. I decided I couldn’t believe in a God who would let something that terrible happen to a boy like Alex.” (pg.60). This does show that he left for himself and never wondered what it did to the people around him. And if they got hurt because of it. But the book also says “He was polite, friendly, well-groomed… he seemed extremely intelligent, I thought he was too nice a kid to be living by that hot spring with those nudists and drunks and dope smokers.” (pg.51). This states that Chris was a super kind and loving boy. He loved everyone around him and everyone loved him as