The phrase “American Dream” was invented during the Great Depression. It comes from a popular 1931 book by the historian James Truslow Adams, who defined it as “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone.” But it’s different for Chris McCandless. When Chris found out that his parents had been lying to him the way that they met, he decided to depart from the society and find something that won’t be a lie in it like nature. Nobody knew his plans, because he hadn’t spoken to his family in nearly three years. On the other hand, Adam Shepard wants to prove America that anyone can become wealthy if he has the right attitude. His plan is to start with $25 and a clothes on his back for a year. At the end …show more content…
Both of them also were a good students and have graduated from college. In Chris’ case, he comes from a wealthy family. His father, Walt McCandless, is an antenna specialist who works for NASA, while his mother is a highly successful consultant in the town. Both of his parents are known as the successful partner as well as the ideal figure in his social environment. But for Chris himself, his parents are just a figure of middle class people who hypocritical and full of hypocrisy.Because in fact, Walt (Chris’ father) often commit violence against his mother. Chris then graduated from Emory University in 1990. Shortly after graduation , he donated his remaining tuition money to Oxfam. The total was about $24,000 and then he went quietly to start a new adventures to Alaska . He changed his name to “Alexander Supertramp”. He also had no map or agenda and he even lied when he got asked about his parents. All he had is a will to travel and reach his one and only goal which is to have the Alaskan adventure. Before he started his journey, he went to many different states across the United States and met a lot of new people. To the people that he met, they tried to convinced him to stay but he rejected all of their …show more content…
After he fresh out of college, he decided to start a project to prove that American dream is still alive. He set a few rules to himself like he can’t use his previous contacts, college education , and credit history. For the sake of the project, he said that he only have a high school diploma and he just recently moved to his new town. One of his motivation to do this project is because Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch, the books that speak on the death of American dream, Adam resent that theory because he believed that hard work and discipline provide any payoff that can lead him to be on top. He then start with Charleston the city that he picked randomly out of a hat. Adam takes a train to Charleston , South Carolina. No one greets him when he got there and then he start to walk to the homeless shelter about 8 miles long and almost got beat up on the way. His first impression of Crisis Ministries wasn’t too good especially the bathroom area. It smells awful and looks like the bathroom has never been cleaned before. But he tried endure it for the next couple weeks until he has enough money to move
Chris McCandless is foolish when he drops everything, his riches, schooling, and more, just to go on an impossible trip through the backcountry of Alaska. “...he donated the $20,000 in his bank account to Oxfam, loaded up his car, and disappeared. From then on he scrupulously avoided contacting either his parents or Carine, the sister for whom he purportedly cared immensely.” (Krakauer 134). Why would he want to leave everything, his future, just to die out in the middle of nowhere
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 American Dream is starting with nothing and through hard work and determination one can achieve millions of dollars and all the happiness one can handle. This may not be true, if that person tries to buy the past to regain the happiness he will never succeed and mostly likely end up very unhappy. A good example of this in fiction is F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald criticizes the American dream in his novel, The Great Gatsby, by showing Jay Gatsby's tragic flaw, his belief that money can buy happiness and his love for Daisy.
He wanted to get away from all the materialistic world and find himself. Chris never felt that he fit in at Emory. He was not one to brag about his family’s wealth nor did he care for it, “Chris started complaining about all the rich kids at Emory”(page 123). Even before his big Alaska trip, McCandless had taken small trips here and there, he did not know what was going to happen, but he was an advertorials guy and he just wanted to have fun while he can. He wanted to make up for the time that was lost during his teenage years because he blames his dad infidelity for making his childhood so terrible, “He later declares to Carine and others that the deception committed by Walt and Billie made his ‘entire childhood seem like a fiction’”(page 123). Chris just wanted to be happy, he wanted to find his life whether it was going into the wild or not, surviving or not, he just wanted to find himself. According to Maia Szalavitz Why the Teen Brain IS drawn to Risk, she states, “ … teens tend to wildly overestimate certain risks …”(page 1) and that is what Chris did, he had too overconfident in himself and did not think this trip thoroughly because he did not pack all the necessities not did he accept gear or tools that people would offer him along the way He knew the consequences that he would eventually face and instead of preparing for them he decided to ignore them. Maybe if he had a map,
The American Dream still lives today in society in which people strive to the top and accomplish their goals in life. James Truslow Adams coined the term in 1931 in his book called “American Dream”. He stated in the book "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement". The importance of this quote in Adams’ novel is that the American Dream can be achieved by anyone (Warshauer 3). There are no limits and bounds to these emotions and people from any social class can seek their dreams and desires in life. Over the years the definition of the American Dream has changed, but the underlying fundamental meaning had stayed the same. The American mentality is basically participation in the economy and society in order to gain a better social standard and be prosperous. The United States Declaration of Independence also had some influence in the definition of the American Dream. In the Declaration of Independence it states all men are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" includi...
Years ago, the United States of America was the prime example of prosperity and opportunity. In recent years, in the worst recession since the Great Depression, unemployment and interest rates have skyrocketed. The “American Dream” is an idea that was once a commonly accepted ideology in this country. It has since become only a fallacy. The “American Dream” is no longer an attainable idea, only a fantasy. The “American Dream” is not a true dream that will ever be equally attainable by everyone.
Burres said "I thought Alex had lost his mind when he told us about his 'great Alaskan odyssey, ' as he called it” (Krakauer 45). "Alex is a nut in my book, wrote a resident of Healy” (Krakauer 71). "why would anyone intending to 'live off the land for a few months, ' forget Boy Scout rule number one, be prepared. Why would any son cause his parents and family, such permanent and perplexing pain?" (Krakauer 71). There were many more people that thought Chris was a reckless idiot, but there were also many people that didn 't think Chris was a reckless idiot, and instead thought that Chris was Intelligent and brave. There were many people that Chris met during his travels, and was able to truly touch their hearts and change their lives forever. Jim Gallien, Wayne Westerberg, Jon Krakauer, Walt McCandless, Billie McCandless, Carine McCandless, Charlie, Ronald Franz, and Jan Burres were some of them. Chris knew these people in life or met them before the great Alaskan odyssey. Chris definitely made an impact in all these people 's lives and these people probably wouldn 't call Chris a reckless idiot, but instead would call Chris intelligent and courageous. One of the people that Chris met Before the Alaskan trip that really stuck out was Ronald
He left and “walked into the wild”, as he said, to escape his problems (Krakauer, 69). He never confronted his dad about his feelings. Carine McCandless talks about this personality trait in Chris saying, “Chris was the sort of person who brooded on things. If something bothered him; he wouldn’t come right out and say it” (Krakauer, 122). He changed his name, He wasn’t trying to take pride in his “adventure”. It was an extra and unnecessary precaution to ensure that his problems would not affect his escape. Chris McCandless changed his name and then continued his life ignoring all of the problems he had ever
The American Dream all started when Columbus came to the “New World”.He described the new world as full and rich resource land compared to Europe. The American Dream is a dream the American had for land of riches. And by pushing our limits by clearing land and using resource, that help them make more money. People used the resource because it said so in the bible: “You shall have dominion over the fish in the sea over the birds of the heavens, over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Go forth children and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it”(2). And they did so by slash and burning agriculture. Slash and burning agriculture is cutting down the trees and burning the stump. America really didn’t care how much
When the term ‘American Dream’ was first mentioned in 1931 by James Truslow Adams, he described it as “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” (Clark). When Adams mentioned the term, it had much more of an idealistic meaning, rather than the materialistic meaning it has in modern society. At the time of it’s mention, the dream meant that prosperity was available to everyone. In the beginning, the American Dream simply promised a country in which people had the chance to work their way up through their own labor and hard work (Kiger). Throughout history, the basis of the dream has always been the same for each individual person. It
Although Chris McCandless experienced many different things and entertaining things on his journey, the thrilling adventure led to his own demise. It was Chris McCandless/Alex Supertramp’s fault that he died because it was his actions that led to the consequences he had. “No longer would he be called Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny.”(23) This shows that by changing his name and heading out on his adventure that he knew what he was getting himself into. It also shows that he wanted to be the master of his future and that he thought he was prepared for what would happen.
Americans have the opportunity to pursue what they love and achieve their goals in life (Rank np). Many people in America have different ideas and pictures in their heads of what the American Dream means. From the idea that it's about making a lot of money and owning a big house, to creating a good life for your children in a good environment there is a wide range of meanings of the dream. Others believe that America is this great melting pot full of people with all sorts of different ethnic backgrounds (Michels np). The American Dream was first introduced during America’s great depression by a man named James Truslow Adams. He first came up with the phrase “The American Dream” in his book, The Epic of America. In his book he taught Americans what they had to do in order to live the dream (Wills np). Explaining the Dream, Adams told America, that “the American Dream is the belief of the American society that each individual can, through hard working and strength of mind, achieve anything.” (Michels np) People still use the ideas from his book and use them in everyday
The American Dream is to get something for nothing. Started by a small colony of Puritans seeking religious freedom in 1620, the United States has become the flagship of opportunity, where trash turns to treasure, and anyone can become anything. However, I digress. I would assert rather that the American Dream is to nurture and earn something from nothing. Through personal trials, and the wisdom of history, America speaks for itself when it shows that effort and action are rewarded far more than hopes, wishes, and stagnant torpor.
The American Dream’s most basic definition is that anyone from any beginning could achieve wealth and status. Gangsters rose to power, taking advantage of Prohibition and turning to bootlegging turning a pretty profit. Immigrants from all over Europe used this as motivation to find a better life in America. This idea of “rags to riches” is portrayed in The Great Gatsby and is the primary ideology of The Roaring 20s.
Although the American Dream is an important part of American culture, it has been becoming more difficult to obtain each year economically for many Americans. The American Dream is defined as the ideal that every U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. This dream was used in the book The Epic of America by James Truslow Adams, a popular historian. The book was on the history of America, and popularized the term American Dream, but the idea has been around for centuries. When settlers first came to populate Jamestown, many sought religious freedom. Others looked for economic opportunity and gold, an idea which is still around today (Meacham 1). This dream