He made a lot of mistakes based on arrogance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy,” shows that Shaun believes Chris had no common sense in his doing for leaving society for the wild. I agree with Callarman’s position of thinking “ he had no common sense” and that he was “bright and Ignorant” because Chris thinks he did not have much to offer in his society, ditched all his possessions to take a trip into the Alaskan Wilderness and did not have much common sense or survival skills. Chris McCandless was very courageous for ditching all his possessions to take a trip in the wilderness.
P.198 His sister carine points out “Chris would never, ever, intentionally burn down a forest, not even to save his life.” When Chris got lost he could have set the forest on fire so he could be found, but as his sister said he would have never have hurt the forest. Chris made a huge impact on the lives of others, he made friends with people on his way to Alaska. He made a huge impact on Ron Franz, Ron had a son who died, and he viewed Chris like a son and asked to adopt Chris.
In the movie Into the Wild it shows that Chris ended up alone and dead in the woods after finishing his project. McCandless ended up leaving a big empty hole in his family that could not be filled. McCandless didn’t impact many with his death because he didn’t really prove anything to anyone but himself; he just ended up hurting his family and all those people he met throughout his journey. Krakauer states, “Starvation was suggested as the most probable cause of death”(3). Adam, on the other hand, ended up fulfilling all of the goals he had set and made it out of poverty sooner than he had originally thought it would take.
Even though Chris McCandless intentionally isolated himself from society, he still could have benefitted from support from others. “I am alone, this is no joke. In the name of God, please remain to save me” (Krakauer 12). Chris went into the wild with the mindset that being alone would help him reach his full potential, but in the end it was what killed him. Once he arrived in Alaska, he claimed to be dependent of others and only reached out for help when it was unfortunately too late.
The fact that Chris averaged such good grades and majored in difficult studies shows how capable chris was at handling himself. Although Chris’s choices about about acquiring the right equipment needed for survival in the Alaskan wilderness were poorly chosen, this only proves that he was foolhardy and believed highly in himself. Chris may have been book smart but lacked common
For Chris throwing himself into the wild was his place of nothing literally. “He had been smitten by the vastness of the land…” (Krakauer 122). It was his opportunity to do “What he wanted to do. I understood that it was important for him to see how independent he could be.
The author uses this to support the idea that Chris didn’t want to die as he was mentally prepared to survive on his own and he had the mental capacity to handle it. This is enforced by Chris’s action to buy a book about edible plants and study it vigorously before trekking into the wilderness. Furthermore reinforcing the argument that Chris was fully capable of what he was going to face and did not want to die as he prepared greatly. In addition, Krakauer uses another man by the name of Everett Ruess to show someone who was most similar to Chris and his motives. Ruess was an educated young man fascinated by the wild much like Chris.
Chris sees the possibilities of what the Alaskan bush can offer him. What finding himself in the wild could do if he made it out alive. Chris went to the wilds to find himself just as Henry Thoreau did and writes about in Walden “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (Thoreau). McCandless quickly learned of course, that the wilderness was much more intense then he had inherently anticipated. Intuitive people are typically open to new experiences.
Chris McCandless was in his early 20’s, he was the kind of that guy that wanted to learn and experience life without all of the material things. He wanted to be independent from his parents and friends so Chris did something that would be insane for most of us humans but to him, it wasn’t. He went into the wild of Alaska for months, in fact, McCandless even thought he could make it out alive at the end of his journey. As a matter of fact, he was known as being a risk taker and enjoyed being out and about in the nature side of the world. Many would believe that Chris McCandless went into the wild to purposely kill himself; however, I myself believe that McCandless did not do it purposely.
Chris was inspired by authors of the transcendentalist type, and writers depicting life in the wild. Krakauer addresses a key point in saying that “he [Chris] seemed to forget they were words of fiction…” (page 36) when referring to fictional books such as Call of the Wild. His obsession with the idealized works of fiction represents Chris’s distracting fantasies that are a defined part of cognitive avoidance. Combining protective avoidance with cognitive avoidance, Chris stays firm in his belief that he is well-prepared enough and knowledgeable enough to survive in Alaska. This belief persists despite multiple warnings made by more experienced individuals, regarding the Alaskan bush.
In the book Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver, Torak is the main character, he undergoes through growth of his character throughout the book. The quote that is being used is from Torak’s father when he is dying, he says “No one can kill the demon bear” this had an effect on Torak because in the moment a rush of fear went through Torak’s body knowing that he had a threat in the woods. This had an effect on Torak in the long run because after his father’s death and this threat in the woods that could kill at any time with ease, this gave motivation to Torak to get the world spirit and kill the demon bear. A phrase would be when said to his father that he didn’t want to leave him when he was about to die but then Torak said once his father had convinced
Chris McCandless abandoned the modern world and chose the wild because he believed that he could improve himself through living in the wild, and found the true happiness of the life. McCandless abandoned his wealthy family because of his complicated relationship with his father, and he was ashamed with his father’s adultery. Therefore, McCandless believed that human relationship was not the only thing that forms happiness, instead a man’s connection with the nature brings joy as well. He also believed the habitual lifestyle was not what people were meant to do, and people shouldn't have more possessions than what they need. For this reason, McCandless traveled with little effects.
“Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer is the story of Chris McCandless’s life and journey. In 1992, this young man, Chris, from an average family in the East Coast decided to cut off contact with his family and give up all his possessions so that he could hitchhike into the Alaskan bush. A main reason many believe Chris went into the wilderness was because he was in search of his identity. From reading this book I have come up with my own opinion of what type of person he was. The conclusion I have reached about Chris is that he was a distant and ill-prepared person who had a very strong will.
This is why I consider McCandless was driven to the last frontier of Alaska and many of us sense that we must voyage to Yellow Stone or the Grand Canyon to have a true nature experience. Approaching his death, Chris realizes that he truly cannot live without society and people. This exhibits the boundaries of the frontier ideology and rather than establishing a connection between nature and humanity it makes it impossible to have one. In showing us this extrication, we can see the problems that the frontier ideology creates and generates constraints to the environment we protect and
A Position of Provision EXODUS 17:1- THERE WAS NO WATER FOR THE PEOPLE TO DRINK These people accuse Moses of bringing them out of Egypt to kill them. Perhaps they doubt his motives as well as his leadership. Moses, acting as Yahweh’s agent, has brought them salvation time after time. However, when they are hurting, they lose faith that he can do great works.
