Book Analysis: Chris Mccandless

1372 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Opinions on transcendentalism

Chris McCandless
"I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness. He made a lot of mistakes based on ignorance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy”- Shaun Callarman. Feeling invincible is new for young adults, but Chris McCandless convinced himself that he knew he was immortal rather than just believing it. His adventure into the wild was mostly due to his rebellious spirit. Some would argue that his vacation wasn 't inspired by his irrational aspirations, but instead by his family. Some say that he skipped town to get away from the strict prison that he called
McCandless follows this to heart for he does not accept any kind of luxury item. When his car becomes stuck in the aftermath of a flash flood, instead of feeling devastated, he is excited: “He saw the flash flood as an opportunity to shed unnecessary baggage....he arranged all his paper currency in a pile on the sand...and put a match to it. One hundred twenty-three dollars in legal tender was promptly reduced to ash and smoke” (Into The Wild). McCandless 's loss of his once beloved car is tossed away in a second because he has the fortunate accident that allows him to get rid of a materialistic object that makes his journey easier. Money is also considered as access to acquiring luxury items, which is why McCandless does not waste any time getting rid of it. Any opportunity to stray away from a minimalist lifestyle must be quickly avoided in order to follow the ideas of Transcendentalism. McCandless practices the idea of minimalism again when Jan Burres, a friend McCandless met during his trip, urges him to take some long underwear and other warm clothing when he is getting ready to leave: “ 'He eventually took it to shut me up...but the day after he left, I found most of it in the van. He 's pulled it out of his pack when we weren 't looking and hid it up under the seat '” (Into The Wild) McCandless proves that even good friends cannot sway him away from his
For example, he strays away from Robert Franz 's offer of adopting Alex to become his grandson, after the two of them form a close relationship: “ 'So I [Franz] asked Alex if I could adopt him, if he would be my grandson. ' McCandless, uncomfortable with the request, dodged the question: 'We 'll talk about it when I get back from Alaska, Ron '” (Into The Wild) McCandless shields himself from any sign of attachment to other people he encounters in order to follow Transcendentalist ideals. He treats human bonding as a distraction from his real goal, which is to achieve total independence and a spiritual connection with nature. Charlie, a man who McCandless has briefly acquainted himself with during his journey, reports his observations that McCandless is not much of a people person: “ 'Didn 't like to be around too many people, though. Temperamental...He 'd get moody, wouldn 't like to be bothered '”(Into The Wild). Being normally antisocial becomes a trait for McCandless because he values and follows the Transcendentalist ideal of minimizing human contact. McCandless mirrors the typical Transcendentalist because he prefers solitude over socializing, believing that being alone is a much more meaningful and spiritual

Show More
Related

  • Chris Mccandless Book Analysis

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    McCandless was different to other people, Westerburg saw this, explaining how McCandless ”tried too hard to make sense of the world. To figure out why people were bad to each other so often”(18). When McCandless originally left, he had felt betrayed by his parents and in college he slowly started pushing his friends away. He was disgusted by all the lies and began to shut down and came the plan to leave in his Datsun. Anybody else in his place would have decided to take charge and take a decisive turn turn in their life, hoping it would be for the better. Many don 't realize that although the beginning he was escaping, he later preferred living in nature and didn 't want to stop. He said it himself in a letter “ The freedom and simple beauty of it is just too good to pass up”(33). Also, in McCandless story you’re able to see the evolution of McCandless mentality. At first, he is alone trying to cope with the setbacks he encounters, in which he almost dies from. Then, needing to recharge, he makes friends like Franz and the Westerburg that allow him to see the positives of having someone there for you. However, he still was not convinced that human relationships were necessary, he keeps a safe distance sending them postcards when he can. It is not until at Alaska that McCandless discovers what happiness consists of, he writes in bold letters, “Happiness only

    Read More

  • Henry Thoreau vs. Chris McCandless

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both Thoreau and McCandless were against materialism. Thoreau feels that “Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind” (Thoreau, Walden 28). He thinks that dependance of worldly possessions hidera ones chance of finding their true self. McCandless had a similar mentality, and acted upon that belief. An example of this is when “…he saw the flash flood as an opportunity to shed unnecessary baggage. He concealed the car as best he could beneath a brown tarp, stripped it of its Virginia plates, and hid them” (Krakauer 29). McCandless was not tied to his own possessions, he was happy to leave them in the middle of no where. Through reduction of worldly possessions and materials, the message that both McCandless and Thoreau throw at the readers is to have a simplistic life without the concerns coming from worldly possessions. These possessions deter one from the true meaning of life.

    Read More

  • Mccandless Essay: Chris Mccandless

    1094 Words  | 3 Pages

    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."

    Read More

  • Christopher Mccandless Analysis

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chris’s mindset of living a very simplistic life is shown during his limited time with Jim Gallien. Jim notes that “Alex admitted that the only food in his pack was a ten-pound bag of rice” and “Alex’s cheap leather hiking boots were neither waterproof nor well insulated” (Krakauer, 5). Nevertheless, Chris lets his hubris get the best of him by failing to realize that he would need waterproof boots if he wanted to go into a snow environment. Chris was about to enter into the Alaskan frontier with an extremely lousy set of equipment. Chris lets his arrogance and the anticipation of the wild get the best of him, causing him to have poor judgment in his decisions on what to bring with him into the wild. His egotistic personality ultimately led to his death in the cold and unrelenting frontier. Nevertheless, this was not Chris’s first failed attempt to live a transcendentalist lifestyle. “Will you come pick me up?” McCandless asked (Krakauer, 54). Chris was unsuccessful in his endeavor to become a hobo and travel all the way to Seattle and live a life there. Not even a full two months passed before Chris realized that living a life in Seattle that was of transcendent origin, was not just hard, but impossible. This display of him being overly confident in his abilities to live on his own was a build up to him believing he was well

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

    387 Words  | 1 Pages

    Everyone has a dream, some act on theirs, but the majority do not. What makes Christopher McCandless so unique is that he followed his dream, regardless of how unusual many people thought it was. Many believed that Chris McCandless was crazy, but through the use of pathos, vivid imagery, and personal anecdotes, Jon Krakauer shows his audience that McCandless was never crazy at all.

    Read More

  • Into the Wild: Chris McCandless is a Tragic Hero

    1654 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...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.

    Read More

  • Personal Analysis: Chris Mccandless

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    He was clearly trying to find something. And those who got to know him a little better, quickly noticed that something bothered him, and that something was wrong with him and his parents. He was intrigued, and at the same time kind of disgusted, by our society, why people did the things they did, and specially why his parents did and acted how they did. He wanted to find the meaning of everything, and such things like happiness that seem so simple to some and so hard to find to others. His adventure started with that, seeking for the answers to those questions. He was determined, but also stubborn and obstinate. Chris probably got these traits from his childhood, specially, from his father. Krakauer wrote this after investigating Chris’ past: “Both father and son were stubborn and high-strung. Given Walt’s need to exert control and Chris’s extravagantly independent nature, polarization was inevitable.” But an obvious example of his stubbornness is his implacable determination to go on his Alaskan adventure. McCandless was warned by many people not to go on this adventure. Jan Burred tried to stop him, Ronald Franz, Wayne Westerberg; everyone seemed to see that was not a good idea, everyone except Chris. And everyone tried to help him, give him things for his trip, but he rarely would accept anyone’s help when it came to this, he was going to do it his way. And being unprepared definitely didn’t help Chris McCandless

    Read More

  • Chris McCandless

    803 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... had a room “furnished with milk crates”. Outside of his “house” a professor specifically gave Chris a key for “after-hours access to the library.” (124) This life, this desire, this simplicity is exactly what Chris had an eagerness for. Being simple, cutting ties from those who cared, but moreover from society as a whole ends up being his downfall. Chris passed in a way no one should want to. The call when you need someone, when you are “NEAR DEATH, AND TOO WEAK”(12) and need that person who can support you, that person you can go to help for but because of this simplicity you have bestowed upon yourself, no one comes is truly heartbreaking. And in the end, the pressure to stay alive on this journey overshadowed the thoughts, of actually cherishing the real meaning of life. McCandless adhered to the transcendentalist ideas so much so that it ended taking his life.

    Read More

  • Christopher McCandless: An Admirable Man

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...elligence to help him last an extended period of time in the Alaskan wilderness. In truth, McCandless was someone who wanted to find himself. He wanted to get away from a life in which he could not find fulfilment, which is something many others would be able to relate to. Although most people would not go to such extremes to find fulfilment, everyone has a different way of finding happiness and going after what their heart truly desires. For McCandless, his desire was to live out in the wild. Unfortunately, this man of great character did not succeed in getting out alive. However, that does not change the fact that he tried. McCandless knew what he wanted for himself and he persisted, regardless of the obstacles he faced. He put an incredible amount of effort into accomplishing his goals and never gave up, and that is why Christopher McCandless is someone to admire.

    Read More

  • Chris McCandless: A True Hero

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chris McCandless was still just a young man when he decided to drastically alter his life through the form of a child’s foolishness. However, Chris had not known at the time just how powerful his testimony against his father’s authority, society, or maybe even his own lifestyle was going to be revolutionary throughout not only Alaska,not even the lower 48, but the world. The story of Chris McCandless is a much talked about debate on topics of safety and preparedness in the wild, these things forever associated with the boy who was a little too eager for a death wish. Today, Chris is remember as a fool or a hero. The fool, a boy who allowed himself to be drowned in a fictional world inspired by his readings,dying because he ignored he was just a normal human being or the hero who set out to become something more.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Life On The Road

    1561 Words  | 4 Pages

    He wasn’t too fond of truly becoming close to others. 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. For a majority of my life, up until I was around 13, I did almost exactly as he, when it came to being around others; I enjoyed their company, but I pushed everyone away and only felt relief from doing so. I was more than happy with how it was back then, but now I’m not much different; I’ve learned to accept a few people into my

    Read More

  • Chris McCandless: Hero or Dumb Jerk?

    631 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chris McCandless seemed like a tremendous person with good grades and many amazing opportunities when he had the idea of going on a long road trip without telling anyone in his family on where he was going and getting away from everything and everyone he seemed to be what people called idiotic. In the Author's Note in the third paragraph Krakauer shows some of the opinions that people would have suggested McCandless was an idiot “He changed his name, gave the entire balance of twenty-four-thousand-dollars saving account to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet.” Many people would think abandoning your car and burning legal tender is an illegal act and no one in the right mind would do something like that. Additionally is that if he was willing to give up twenty four thousand dollars to charity, why would he not give whatever money was left in his wallet and give it to someone that might need instead of burning all of it.

    Read More

  • Our Relationship With Nature Explored in Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...can be a life-changing experience. McCandless entered the wild as an overly confident hitchhiker and left as a self-accepting and humble man. He thought that human relationships were futile, he was impervious to materialism, and that he could understand nature on a scientific level. However, McCandless left the wild with a newfound appreciation for humanity, some clarity on his purpose in life, and the ability to create his own legacy. Many people finish reading Into the Wild and form negative opinions about McCandless’ reckless behavior. However, it is important to focus on how being in the wild brought McCandless closer to understanding himself. Into the Wild should motivate humans to participate in explore the wilderness to discover the true meaning of life.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, is about a man named Chris McCandless who died of starvation in the Alaskan wild. Chris wanted to get away from society especially his parents, who were keeping a big secret from him. He absconded to Alaska to try to live off the land, and survive the wild. It is sad to say that he did not survive, and the Krakauer decided to write about Chris’s life to try to understand why he died the way he died. After reading the author’s article about Chris, many people thought that Chris was crazy. One of those readers was Shaun Callarman and stated “ He made a lot of mistakes based on arrogance.” Chris McCandless is a crazy person where he let his pride and emotions overrule all the decisions he made.

    Read More

  • Personal Reflection on Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    McCandless was a fearless human being. I think that most of the people’s ideologies and personalities have to do with how they were raised by the parents and everything that was taught to them. When a lack of love exists from a parent towards his child, a hate can be created without knowing it. McCandless could have gone away from society to escape reality or, for being in a place where he could find himself at peace. Either one, we can assume that he obviously had different ideas about civilization; the idea of having a life full of danger and adventure inspired and excited him.

    Read More

More about Book Analysis: Chris Mccandless

Open Document