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The journey theme in literature
Different types of journeys in literature
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The books Thousand Pieces of Gold, Novice to Master, Into the Wild, and the movie Touching the Void all have to deal with taking a journey. To journey is the act of traveling from one place to another and to undergo a personal change. In Thousand Pieces of Gold, Lalu traveled from China to the United States, because she was constantly being sold. In Novice to Master, Soko Morinaga shares his journey of finding a zen temple in Kyoto where he became a zen master and teaches his readers about zen. In Into the Wild, Chris McCandless leaves his family after finding out his parents have been lying to him and takes a journey to Alaska. In Touching the Void, Simon Yates and Joe Simpson go on a journey to climb the west face of the Siula Grande in …show more content…
After finding out, that his father had a second family that he secretly hid, McCandless decided to take off on a journey. He left his family without saying a word including his sister, who he was closest to. Throughout his journey, he is known as Alex and whoever he comes to know well enough, he avoids their true affection. After two years of wandering he finally decides to push his limits and go live in Alaska. He spends his time getting ready, even though people tell him he needs to plan more or wait until spring. He is stubborn and believes he is ready despite the fact that even a trucker, Jim Gallien, who he got a ride with by hitchhiking, says that he’s not. Jim Gallien still drops him off near Mt. Mckinley in Alaska and McCandless hikes into the wilderness. He survives quite some time, until he eats a type of mold that contains poison and starts to starve to death. McCandless’ journey might have been everything he hoped for, but if he had not been so stubborn he might still be alive right now. His journey is certainly inspiring though. He donated his money, took the minimal things he could bring and tried to live on his own in the wilderness. Unfortunately, this journey did not end well, while in Touching the Void it
He also did not have a typical childhood, he witness his parent’s fighting and he also developed a poor relationship with his father. Krakauer was able to find important connections that helped him find the roots of McCandless’ rational actions. “The boy could not pardon the mistakes his father had made as a young man, and he was even less willing to pardon the attempt at concealment… But he did not confront his parents with what he knew, then or ever. He chose instead to make a secret of his dark knowledge and express his rage obliquely, in silence and sullen withdrawal” (Krakauer 122). McCandless did not have a good relationship with his parents, which might have been the reason he decided to go into the wild. Krakauer was able to find clues that caused McCandless to make dangerous
Christopher “Alexander Supertramp” McCandless was a dreamer. However, unlike most of us nowadays, Christopher turned his desire for adventure into reality. Similar to Buddha, he gave up his wealth, family, home, and most possessions except the ones he carried before embarking on his journey. He traveled by various methods, mostly on foot, to eventually reach his desired goal in the Alaskan wilderness. Unfortunately, due to various mistakes, Christopher ultimately passed and his body was found in a neglected Fairbank City Transit Bus. His motivation to achieve his goal was based on the many aspects of his life. Chris’s dysfunctional family weighed heavily on him, one prime reason for driving him onto the road of freedom.
Was he a reckless idiot? That is the big question. This is what people always seem to talk about when they talk about Chris McCandless. There are many people who think that Chris McCandless was a reckless idiot who was mentally ill, or something else was wrong with Chris. It seems that almost everybody that met Chris thought maybe Chris was crazy or had problems. Here are just a few things that people said about Chris and his state of mind. Pg 40 Zarza admits saying, "he was always going on about trees and nature and weird stuff like that. We all thought he was missing a few screws. Pg 42 Charlie said, "seemed like a kid who was looking for something." Pg 45 Burres said "I thought Alex had lost his mind when he told us about his 'great Alaskan odyssey, ' as he called it."
The author wrote this story in response to a magazine company, and eventually published it into a book. He used many styles and techniques to describe the life and death of McCandless. The mood throughout the novel constantly varies with the excitement of McCandless’s adventures and the emotions caused by his disappearance. Krakauer’s ability to engage multiple senses of a reader truly makes his novel special.
Have you ever thought about what is life like as an astronaut? Well luckily I will take you on a journey of Chris Hadfield’s life. The journey begins in Sarina August 29th 1959, when Chris Hadfield was born. He was raised in Milton Ontario. Let's skip forward to 1995 where Chris Hadfield got older and intelligent. He served as a Mission Specialist 1 on STS-74 NASA’S second space shuttle mission to rendezvous and dock the Russian Space Station. As a matter of fact, he was the first Canadian to board MIR (Russian Space Station) and operate the Canadarm in Orbit on the mission. Then in April 2001 Hadfield worked as a Mission Specialist on STS-100 ISS assembly of Flight 6-A. The crew of Space Shuttle Endeavour delivered and installed Canadarm2
...fe for oneself. McCandless primary tragic flaw being his unwillingness to form long-term relations brought him both to the happiest moment of his life, but also to his demise. McCandless never had a problem with people, but rather with the status quo of society, the idea that a man or a woman has to live inside of a coordinate plane. McCandless left home and went on his adventure simply for his own well being, he achieved both what he wanted to accomplish while learning a valuable lesson along the way. He learned that happiness must be shared, and while everyone has his or her flaws, it is important to let these go. Christopher McCandless should teach people the importance of following your dreams, and the importance of enjoying the natural serenity of life.
Sometimes a character may be pushed over the edge by our materialistic society to discover his/her true roots, which can only be found by going back to nature where monetary status was not important. Chris McCandless leaves all his possessions and begins a trek across the Western United States, which eventually brings him to the place of his demise-Alaska. Jon Krakauer makes you feel like you are with Chris on his journey and uses exerts from various authors such as Thoreau, London, and Tolstoy, as well as flashbacks and narrative pace and even is able to parallel the adventures of Chris to his own life as a young man in his novel Into the Wild. Krakauer educates himself of McCandless’ story by talking to the people that knew Chris the best. These people were not only his family but the people he met on the roads of his travels- they are the ones who became his road family.
McCandless is a very independent person, a person with high hopes, that has a lot of courage, and is a very brave man for going out by himself in the wild of Alaska of the Stampede Trail. Chris McCandless had a lot of courage on going to Alaska by himself at a young age. While Chris was at any city or anybody’s house, he was ready to go to Alaska. But while he was there, close to the end of his life, he left a note on the back of the bus saying, “S.O.S I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here i am all alone, this is no joke. In the name of god, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall return by evening. Thank you, Chris McCandless. August?” Chris McCandless was by himself at the time. He shows his courage because while by himself, he went back out even though he was near death. He went out for food. Food for his health. That shows how much courage he had for his trip. Chris McCandless encouraged many young men to ...
Who influenced the other party more? Chris or the people he met along his journey? Without any money, or material objects Chris was able to leave a lasting impact on the people he met on his journey to Alaska. In Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless is able to leave a greater influence on the people he met along his journey to Alaska rather than the impact they made on him.
As stated previously, McCandless had a deep bravery that protected him from the darkness of fear or negative thought. Never once in this story does he seem frightened in that he might lose his life, grow ill or become hurt, and in one way he proves this by his insatiable habit of hitchhiking, I mean, with all do respect he could have been picked up by a serial killer and that probably would have cut his adventure a little short. In addition, he does not cower to much of anything, his bravery led him to some pretty interesting place such as digging dead rats from farm equipment, diving waist deep in grime, muck, and not to mention stench, that is if you would consider all of that to be brave.
McCandless set out for this adventure because of his anger, therefore he did not actually sit and rationalize his plan. He did not have food, water, hunting supplies, clothing to keep him warm. His death was an accident of not being prepared for nature’s harshness. Krakauer also explains that McCandless’s death was an unplanned accident. Krakauer compared his young adulthood story to McCandless stating what his suspicions were of his death, his theory is based off of the letters McCandless left behind. Their adventure stories are very similar, they both were caught in a life or death situation, the tragedy is that McCandless’s did not have as happy of an ending as Jon Krakauer. Krakauer explains that it was a matter of chance that McCandless did not survive. He also explains that they were similarly affected by their relationships with their fathers. Their stories are also very similar with their father, they were both
Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, describes the adventure of Christopher McCandless, a young man that ventured into the wilderness of Alaska hoping to find himself and the meaning of life. He undergoes his dangerous journey because he was persuade by of writers like Henry D. Thoreau, who believe it is was best to get farther away from the mainstreams of life. McCandless’ wild adventure was supposed to lead him towards personal growth but instead resulted in his death caused by his unpreparedness towards the atrocity nature.
Historically journeys were seen as the physical movement of a group of people migrating from one place to another. Additionally, journeys were usually only found throughout the history of civilization and religion. Despite this, journeys come in all aspects and are found in a variety of mediums. Specifically, two journeys that are found in the literary works of The Epic of Gilgamesh and Monkey: A Journey to the West are physical and intellectual. These two stories exemplify what a journey consists of by construction the plots around each protagonist participating in both journeys.
Krakauer states, “McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well-relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it” (55). This had also occurred a few months prior in Niland Slabs, where he met Burres and Tracy. He had made friends there, and Tracy had developed feelings for him, but he rebuffed any of her advancements; he didn’t want to get involved with others, not after having left home for his journey. To him, having had friends and family that he left behind, he loved people, but he didn’t want to be close to them in any way other than purely being around them. Growing up with a difficult family relationship, such as McCandles’s, which caused him to push people away; it’s easy to relate to him in that aspect.
The end for McCandless was a well lived, experienced soul that had seen a lot in the years that he had lived for. He had done great things, and because of that, he will be remembered for a long time. His life was about finding what he wanted most, and doing great things along the way. He had found enlightenment, and discovered tons of things that many people do not know that exist.