Chris Mccaandless Analysis

1377 Words3 Pages

Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild, once claimed that “nothing is more damaging to an adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future” (Krakauer). Christopher Johnson McCandless epitomises the adventurous spirit and escaped from his secure future to live in the wild Alaskan terrain to escape from reality. In the year 1990, Chris burned all of his money, abandoned his car and changed his name to Alexander Supertramp to go on an Great Alaskan Adventure where he could escape from his responsibilities and all that awaited him back home. Likewise, George, from Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Montag, from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and Finny from A Separate Peace by John Knowles, all wanted to escape from the world that they were …show more content…

A multitude of people believe that most young adults go through a phase where they take “risk taking to its logical extreme” and push themselves to prove that they are fearless enough to do anything (Krakauer 182). Montag and Chris feel as though they have to to free themselves from society's needs and wants through their actions throughout Fahrenheit 451 and Into the Wild. Both are trying, as Krakauer claims, to try and escape from the life that they have been destined to live, doing the same thing every single day. Montag and Chris feel as though they need to leave their facades behind and the “old burnt-in smile” that they wear on their face every single day (Bradbury 274). By believing that an escape from reality’s expectations, Chris and Montag feels as though they can run towards the sense of adventure. Krakauer believes that young adults have a certain point in their life where they need to breakaway from the social normalities that tether them to the ground. People need to escape from the everyday life because they have been so used to the same actions happening that others do not know any other way to live. Montag and Chris are examples of people who are want to escape from the normal and …show more content…

Chris and Finny have the same drive to try something that they had never done before and breakaway, much like other young adults and that is “why [it] has always been so easy for nations to recruit young men to go to war” (Krakauer 182). Finny, an adventurous, daring boy at Devon wants to be a participant in the World War, like the other boys his age, but is not able to due to his leg injury. In most countries, the average age of people in the army is 18-20, usually young adults. It has always been easy to have people involved in the wars because many young adults want to prove that they are old enough to be independent and free from their parents and society’s expectations. Finny wrote to the army and the navy to try to be a part of the war, because he will “hate it everywhere if [he is] not in this war” as a result of the daring and confident side that he and many other boys of that time had (Knowles 103). Finny and Chris McCandless wanted to leave the simple life that they were leading and live a life of adventure. Many adventurers would agree that living a life full of unknown and adventure is the most exciting life that anybody could live, and that is what Chris and Finny wanted to achieve. Finny and Chris want to escape the horrid life that they lead and

Open Document