When Chris McCandless tragically died in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992, his unexpected disappearance provoked a torrent of questions about his motivations and why he left his family to journey into the wild without any trace. His story told in the book, “Into the Wild,” sparked the interest of people around the nation and warned them of the risks of adventure. In this essay, I will explore whether Chris was justified in leaving his family and going into the wild without a trace. Many can argue that Christopher J. McCandless was right to depart with his family. Once we delve into the book, it comes to light that the reasoning for Chris’ abrupt adventure was in search of self-discovery. This is proved by Chris’ mother, Carine McCandless. “Chris knew …show more content…
While the young explorer’s family was disheartened of his separation, Chris was in fact justified in his absence. Being a grown adult who graduated college, managed job’s and gave up his allowance to charity, he had every right to leave his home. Many young adults such as McCandless search for independence to escape the clutches of a toxic household. It’s said that Chris and his father, Walter “Walt” McCandless, have their ups and downs as well. “Given Walt’s need to exert control and Chris’s extravagantly independent nature, polarization was inevitable.” We know that Chris left home for many reasons. His father, his identity, but why didn’t the traveler simply go buy a home for himself, live with a community that respects his boundaries, settle in within society? Well, it seems that society too, was insignificant to Chris’s goal. He states his disproval with, “in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.” We can clearly see Chris’s trancendentalist mentality from this quote. Chris left his family of his own accord and had his own reason for doing