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Essay about chris mccandless
Conclusion on chris mccandless
The journey of chris mccandless
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Chris McCandless took a gamble with his life and as a result, he lost it. McCandless was a very adventurous, free spirited, young man that chose to do anything and everything he set his mind to. He was born into a family that he did not quite fit in with, it was a family of money with no emotions for love other than that for money of course. Due to his personal issues and the rebellion of his youth McCandless decided to go on an adventure traveling to Alaska and ultimately sacrificing his life from his risk taking tendencies. Although it may be true that McCandless could potentially suffer from a type of mental illness, people should consider that he is completely sane because he ultimately just wanted to travel and find himself while doing …show more content…
Thoreau states, “I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary.” I truly believe that McCandless took this adventure in order to be able to live his own life the way he wanted to with no problems and without the cost of letting others make his decisions for him; hence never accepting help from others. McCandless understood what he was getting himself into, he understood that it would be difficult, he understood it would take a toll on his body and he understood that he could possibly die. With the knowledge of this it was his own decision, his own ideas and thirst for adventure that lead him into the …show more content…
Numberless of people believe that he was schizophrenic or suffered from a type of mental illness during his life and that is why he chose to go on this adventure, yet many others believe that he went into the wild in order to commit suicide. Despite the fact that McCandless abruptly left his home and family in a quickly manner, I believe that he did not suffer from any of those previously mentioned. Schizophrenia is when the individual cannot tell what is real and what is imagined, they lose touch with reality; this is not the case for McCandless. McCandless was not imagining anything and if he did ‘lose touch with reality’ then how would one explain his relationship with the many people he encountered on his way. A mental illness is a condition that impacts a person’s thinking, feelings or moods that may affect his or her ability to relate to others and function on a daily basis. Although McCandless could possibly fall under certain types of mental illness from him choosing to go into the wild, the author of this book, Jon Krakauer, is able to relate to McCandless as well. Krakauer writes, “As a youth … I was … intermittently reckless… Like McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in me a confusing medley of corked fury … captured my undisciplined imagination … I pursued it with .. mountain climbing.” (page 134). From this,
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
Was Chris McCandless deranged? Was he delusional? Or was he a hero? Since Chris’ body was found in bus 142 in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, he has been called many things. Those who knew him believed that he wasn’t crazy; that his impulsive actions and aspirations to explore the world, were no more than the natural inclinations of a young and idealistic spirit. However, his desire to venture into the unknown with no source of human contact and nothing but a ten-pound bag of rice, is not considered normal behavior. Jon Kraukauer’s, Into The Wild, manifests how Chris McCandless’ antisocial demeanor, lack of remorse, and impulsive actions are directly relatable to behaviors associated with a sociopath.
Both Thoreau and McCandless had a deep appreciation for solitude in nature. In Walden, Thoreau explains how he’d “... love to see Nature that is so rife with life that myriads can be afforded to be sacrificed and suffered to prey on one another; that tender organizations can be so serenely squashed out of existence..” (Thoreau, Walden 238). While being on his “adventure”, Thoreau was able to observe all of the little things in nature, and appreciate all of the little things. While in civilization, one would not be able to notice such things because there are much too many people around to notice. While on his journey, McCandless “No longer.
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."
To begin with, McCandless’s decision to walk into the wild was acceptable because he wanted to become an inspiration and an individual. Emerson states, “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance: that imitation is suicide” (Emerson). Chris McCandless left to shun the conformist society that he could feel changing him. Chris wanted the chains that bound him to be broken. Society takes the individual and locks it up and destroys it. According to Emerson, “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion: it is easy to in solitude to live after our own: but the great man is he who in the midst of the crow keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” (Emerson). McCandless left his materialistic family to be his own person ad to be unique. The world’s opinion does not make the man wh...
His exclamations against those who don't change their live to find all the “marrow,” hidden in society, shows his passion for “sucking,” the positive features which enable him to ensure he has spent his time effectively. Lastly, this related to “living deliberately(…),” expressed by Thoreau. This philosophical idea distinguished the difference between simply who simply are alive in comparison to one who lives a life that they know that they “truly live(…),” instead of later realising they haven’t done what they as individuals wanted to do. This contrast is symbolised by the comparison of McCandless and the social norm. The fact that McCandless felt implied to not take short cuts through modern day advancements suggested by the “plane,” and instead wanted to complete his trip in the way he desired leads to him exemplifying the meaning of living deliberately by Thoreau. Nonetheless whilst they are both different individuals, McCandless lifestyle and actions portray the life based on the philosophical ideas of
Some of the views on the death of Chris McCandless are harsh and some people call him insane or psychotic, while others think the exact opposite and think that Chris just might be a legend. “When you consider McCandless from my perspective, you quickly see that what he did wasn’t even particularly daring, just stupid, tragic and inconsiderate” (Christian). Considering that Chris was ill prepared, Peter Christian thinks that what Chris did wasn’t the smartest thing to do and this is why he thinks Chris’s choice to venture into the Alaskan wilderness was dumb. In addition, Craig Medred also happens to think Chris might have been insane. “Almost every p...
Inspired by Thoreau, McCandless strongly believed that it was essential for man to abandon a world of abstraction and materialism in exchange to experience life in its rawest form. It is only apparent that McCandless chose to thrive in a secluded area in the wild, a place where it is logical to find oneself. Only in the breadth of the Alaskan bush was he able to be and do anything without the burden of judgement from any individual. Throughout his journey, McCandless affirms that “his spirit is soaring” (Krakauer 37), as he embraced the situations when he did not have a bed to sleep, money to spend, and adequate food for nourishment. The thrill he feels for merely surviving portrays his fascination of living life deliberately, shedding the unnecessary things that prohibits one to really live. Although his parents and the people he met along the way empathized with McCandless’ struggles, the undeniable truth is that he reveled in being nomadic, as evidenced by the notes he had written and the quotes he had underlined in his books. Furthermore, McCandless constantly craved for adventure and uncertainty. With the immensity of his country accompanied by strong desires, he found that his purpose in life was to have “an endlessly changing horizon” (Krakauer 57). McCandless strongly believed that the joys in life radiate from
“McCandless was something else – although precisely what is hard to say.” (pg. 85). Chris was a very different person, but not crazy. He was emotionally motivated at the time and had his mind set on Alaska. In the end, Chris was nowhere near prepared for this journey, but was too caught up in what he was trying to do to realize this. I agree with Krakauer that Chris wasn’t crazy or insane, but in his attempts to survive in Alaska he made several mistakes and ultimately, led an ill-prepared journey to Alaska that killed him.
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 ...
Chris McCandless was a young man who did everything in his power to try and represent that freedom he was searching for. McCandless had everything before we went out but he decided to go out and travel by choice. He was considered a selfish man because when someone offered him to help him he rejects it in a nice way since we wants to do things himself. In the book Into the wild he states that,"You don't need to worry about me. I have a college education. I'm not destitute. I'm living like this by choice."
McCandless was not the 'sit down and take it in stride' kind of person. If he saw something wrong, something he did not agree with, he would try to fix it, or help in any way that he could. He was inherently compassionate, a man of his principles; owned by the rules that he governed himself with. It is apparent that he had always been an idealistic dreamer, and had always believed himself capable of much, because as his friend shared: “He'd say 'Come on,...
Chris McCandless is regarded as being something as a spiritual figure almost as a cult hero, some call him a disillusioned fool, some call him a great adventurer, and the debate still continues. As Matthew Power calls in his article, an article where he tells the story of McCandless,“The debate falls into two camps: Krakauer's visionary seeker, the tragic hero who dared to live the unmediated life he had dreamed of and died trying; or, as many Alaskans see it, the unprepared fool, a greenhorn who had fundamentally misjudged the wilderness he'd wanted so desperately to commune with.” Like so many stories covering Christopher McCandless’ death, both ends of the argument are discussed in an unfavored manner in the hopes to help develop an opinion on the McCandless story. This open ended question can only be answered open-endedly based on what the readers base for themselves as covered stories intend. Like Power has done, ...
He enjoys the idea of the freshness of not becoming materialistic and more pure by creating his own journey to finding himself by hitch hiking all the way to Alaska where he decides to make a living off of killing animals to eat and enjoying the environment and air around him. McCandless, living in this lifestyle, eventually ate the wrong seeds of a plant that turned him too weak to go hike or hunt, leading to his eventual death due to starvation. McCandless seemed to have been either extremely unprepared for what was to come and unnecessarily enthusiastic about this lifestyle, or just about digging his own
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.