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What are the conflicting things that chris mccandless does in into the wild
What are the conflicting things that chris mccandless does in into the wild
What are the conflicting things that chris mccandless does in into the wild
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This book starts with the founding of Christopher McCandless’s body by a bunch of Alaskan hunters in a bus. The law enforcement then comes to remove his body. Jon Krakauer writes about this while writing for “Outside Magazine” and become very curious about this story. To find out more Krakauer pays a visit to a man named Wayne Westerberg, who says that he knew Christopher McCandless as “Alex McCandless” and he then gives a sketch of the young man’s character while in Carthage Wisconsin. He states that he used McCandless from time to time on his grain elevator and from his memories views him as participating, smart, and determined.
Chapters 10 and 11 of Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, show many examples of things Chris did when he was younger foreshadowing his behavior and actions as an adult. One thing that may have hinted to what Chris would do with his adult life was his love for the outdoors. “On weekends and when school was out, the family took to the road. ”(107) “Chris loved those trips, the longer the better.
Into the Wild. Jon Krakauer. New York. Villard, January 13, 1996. 224 pages.
Some would argue that Chris McCandless was a reckless young man who made irrational decisions in life, however Jon Krakauer justifies his craziness by showing how Chris made an effort to be self reliant through his journey. By relying on his own powers and abilities to survive, Chris wanted to be independent and live completely on his own rather than being dependent on his family or the people he met along the way. Krakauer added a part of Chris’s journal in the book to support his way of thinking, “‘Mr. Franz I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don’t want one’” (Krakauer).
At the beginning of the chapter, we learn that many people who read the January 1993 edition of Outside felt that McCandless was mentally disturbed. The story generated a large volume of mail on what many thought was the glorification of a foolish death. Most of the negativity came from Alaskan citizens. Everyone commented on how there was nothing positive about Chris or the journey that he was taking. Nick Jans, a schoolteacher, wrote the most critical note to Krakauer.
Joy: A Closer Examination by Chris McCandless Chris McCandless was a college graduate, middle class, young man who attempted to find the true joy and enlightenment described in works by Jack London and Leo Tolstoy. He attempted seeking this true joy by abandoning his old life and living in the isolation of the Alaskan wilderness. Chris’ desire to experience true joy stems from the ideology of the authors he admired. Chris McCandless treasured the ideas of Leo Tolstoy. In the book based on Chris’ journey, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the author comments on Chris’ obsession with Tolstoy: “McCandless particularly admired how the great novelist had forsaken a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute.
Each man had his own goals and purpose for taking upon himself that certain project to accomplish. The purpose of McCandless's journey was he wanted to make it to Alaska without taking anything from anyone. Chris wanted to live off the land and not take short cuts by flying places or in his words anything that was considered “cheating.” Krakauer stated, “Chris McCandless intended to invent a new life for himself, one which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience. ”(4)
Chris moved out of his apartment in Atlanta, Georgia and hit the road, leaving his life behind to start a more ominous and adventurous one. The author wrote, “Five weeks earlier he’d loaded all his belongings into his little car and headed west without an itinerary,” (Krakauer 22). This shows that Chris went with the flow when he left. He traveled to different locations based on instinct and intuition. Chris took a huge risk by packing his stuff and traveling west because, if anything, he knew that danger was the one thing on his itinerary and could not be avoided.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” is an excerpt from “Walden,” one of the many texts that had influence on McCandless(Thoreau). Through his various annotations and markings on texts such as “Walden,” readers are able to identify McCandless’ overall purpose for shunning society, as clearly indicated in this excerpt, which was to reach some sort of epiphany or realization about his identity and life in general. Towards the end of Chris’ time spent in Alaska, he actually does reach an epiphany, that “…happiness [is] only real when shared…” (qtd. in Krakauer 189). This statement, written by McCandless, indicates that perhaps he had become more forgiving, tender-hearted, and finally appreciated the value of relationships.
Chris went off after he graduated college and “lived off the land”. Chris would travel to the coast of Mexico, the plains of Kansas, and the dunes of Nevada. Chris went on a final expedition to Alaska that cost him everything. In the following paragraphs I will fully detail how Chris was reckless, selfish, and naive. I will also explore how Chris tied his life to the beliefs of transcendentalism.
McCandless set off into the Alaskan depths to test himself, to find himself, and to free himself from society’s values. Because of Chris’s radical ideas and his purpose in life to push him into the unexplored, he believed that life is not about the materialistic
In addition, McCandless thought he could found the solution to his frustration with the adultery of his father, and found the true happiness for his life through escaping into the wild. Chris McCandless endangered his life many times in this adventure, and perhaps he was trying to find the happiness of the life through risking his life. He highlighted passages that he felt a strong connection to. McCandless highlighted one of the passage in the book “Family Happiness” by Leo Tolstoy. The passage was “I wanted movement and not a clam course of
Chris McCandless resents the world of materialism from which he was born into and in an effort to separate himself from this life he walks away from it. He wasn’t involved much with society and had problems with his family which made him to start his journey to Alaska. In most other cases people stay and deal with their problems. McCandless on the other hand ran away in the most dangerous of possible ways, by totally abandoning his sheltered existence into one that had no safety nets. "Two years he walks the earth.
Christopher also knew that his journey could be dangerous and that he could be stepping on the edge of death. Christopher writes this letter to Wayne Westerberg the grain elevator operator who becomes McCandless friend, “If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again, I want you to know you’re a great man. I now walk into the wild” (Krakauer 69). After reading or listening to the story, many
If someone has not suffered a similar inner turmoil, it would be easy for them to misunderstand his actions and assume that he was just an uneducated, crazy man. Chris McCandless despised the phoniness of the world around him and wanted to escape it by engaging in a, “climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual revolution” (pg. 112). These thoughts are similar to those experienced by people who struggle with depression. Chris McCandless felt that he was living in a world full of superficial beings whose only concern was what other people thought of them. His solution was to journey into the wild where he would, “no longer answer to Chris McCandless he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny” (pg. 18).
