Who Is Chris Mccandless An Inspiration For Into The Wild

Said Webster

09 November 2014

2p/Doris

ExRWC

Supplied with almost no survival equipment, Christopher McCandless undergoes many discomforts, risks, and sacrifices as he tramps around the continent. Although the protagonist enthusiastically justifies the vagabond lifestyle that ultimately kills him, his remarkable escapade, as told by Jon Krakauer’s book Into the Wild, is both cautionary and inspirational. Chris McCandless graduated from Emory university in Atlanta in 1990 and then vanished. His family heard nothing of where he went or what he was doing, despite a desperate search, until his body was discovered two years later in Alaska, along the Sushana River. It later arose that he had donated all his affluence to charity, loaded up

Chris McCandless’s tale can serve as a conveyance of inspiration to its readers. From the testimonies of those who knew Chris and from the evidence of his grades, he was an intelligent and intrusive young man. He often attempted to enlighten others of his seemingly heroic ideals as can be viewed from a statement by Eric Hathaway, Chris’s friend from high school, when he says “He’d tell us to think about all the evil in the world, all the hatred, and imagine ourselves running against the forces of darkness, the evil wall that was trying to keep us from running our best.”(Page 112) Chris McCandless was a person of generous spirit, apparent in the donation of all his savings to charity, and an adherent to the opposition to the institutional degradation of human life and values, illustrated by his commitment to anti materialism and the abandonment of society. McCandless turns away from these aspects of the American lifestyle

McCandless proves to be not only ill prepared, but also lacking in mental humility as can be seen when Krakauer stated, “Many aspects of Chris’ personality baffled his parents. He could be generous and caring to a fault, but he had a darker side as well, characterized by monomania, impatience, and unwavering self-absorption”(Page 120) This resonates with the depiction of Chris as an arrogant,underprepared and naive young man that had some sort of death wish. McCandless simply ignores copious amounts of advice and help offered by others, some of which had valuable experience with the Alaskan wilderness that very well might have redeemed Chris from his almost certain death. With respect to his reckless style of travel McCandless is not one to be emulated and suffices as a warning of caution to anyone seeking a similar