Chris McCandless' Search For Truth in Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild

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Human nature tells us to want what we can't or don't have. Everything from people to a toy to a kind of hairstyle – we just always want what isn't ours. Chris McCandless from Jon Krakauer's Into The Wild is no exception. He lives his life as part of an upper-middle class family, is smart, and goes to and does well in college, but he still feels like something is missing from his life. He want something completely opposite of the life he's used to. Chris McCandless spent a lot of time looking for something entirely different from what he already had and while he found true happiness it eventually lead to his demise.

Life is not something that can be defined by any single person. Everyone sees life as having a different purpose. It seems as though the McCandless family's purpose of life was family. To have a close family and live in a nice house and get their kids onto bigger and better things. Chris McCandless lived a pretty wonderful life. He was raised in that nice house and he seemed to be headed in the right direction. With a college education, $25,000 in savings, and a car that he loved he seemed ready for whatever life threw at him. His parents thought that would be law school – Chris had plans of his own. Chris's plan for his life was not a nice house and pretty, perfect life in the suburbs. Chris was inspired by many authors, but primarily by Jack London:

“A vast silence reigned over the land. The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness. There was a hint in it of laughter, but of a laughter more terrible than any sadness -- a laughter that was mirthless as the smile of the Sphinx, a laughter cold as the frost and partaki...

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...n the picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God.” (199)

Even though Chris was so young and such a vibrant young man, he seemed as though he was ready to let himself go. He had accomplished his dream, and even if it wasn't always everything he'd cracked it up to be, he was ready. Ready to be somewhere else where he could be proud of his accomplishments no matter how meager they may have seemed to others.

Chris McCandless spent a lot of time looking for something entirely different from what he already had and while he found true happiness it eventually lead to his demise. He realized who he really was and what life was really all about, and in the end he seemed to become someone that he himself respected.

Work Cited

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor Books, 1997. Print.

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