Chris Mccandless American Dream

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The American Dream of Chris McCandless The film Into the Wild is an adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s 1996 non-fiction novel, based on the real-life travels of a young man named Christopher McCandless. McCandless grew up in a wealthy Virginia suburb of Washington D.C. and was a gifted athlete and scholar. He was raised to live a life of wealth and success like his parents, but had different aspirations. By his senior year at Emory University, McCandless has estranged from most of his friends and his parents. He lets his parents believe he was interested in attending law school at Harvard, but instead donated his 25,000 savings to charity, drove away without telling anyone where he was going, and never contacted his parents or sister again. McCandless abandoned the use of his real name and began to call himself Alexander Supertramp, a key step he takes in …show more content…

He was a 19th century American author who was a critic of society due to its pressures for everyone to be the same. Emerson rejected capitalist society and its tendency for people to have jobs that would take over their lives and become their sole purpose. In his novel Walden, Thoreau details his two-year escape from society, where he lived by Walden Pond, near Concord Massachusetts, living a simple life with no one supporting him. Chris’s adventure is similar to Thoreau, they both desired to escape society and its pressures. After leaving college, he only worked when he had to earn money for the next stage of his adventure. He moved around as he pleased, without any responsibilities. Even though he had the means and the education to start a life where he could have a successful career, he chose the extreme and decided to live a life in the wild. While Thoreau’s escape was successful and after two years he resumed his life in society, Chris’s was not. He died in the wild after accidentally consuming poisonous

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    Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong somewhere and just wanted to get away? Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is about a guy named Christopher who called himself Alex, and he just wanted to get away from his life and live how he wanted. Christopher McCandless stands out because he shows his emotions thoroughly and goes through with what he thinks. McCandless can be described as a thrill seeker, arrogant, and courageous.

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  • Chris Tolstoy Quotes

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    In one the passage was highlighted in the book “Family Happiness” that Chris brought with, the author Leo Tolstoy talked about how a person's life should be. “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. … which found no outlet in our quiet life.” (p.15) Tolstoy explained how a life should be excited and interesting not just living day by day without any enjoyment. Chris followed his beliefs. He believes that he should live a life that he would not regret later on. That could be one of his reason he was going into the wild to make an excited life. Another passage was also found with McCandless’s belongings is from Henry David Thoreau’ “Walden”. “All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. … a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.” (p.47) This passage explains the fact that happiness can found in nature. McCandless wanted to found his purpose of his life and Thoreau stated about the importance of the nature. And McCandless believed Thoreau. If Chris McCandless had believed some authors, he would follows that in his whole

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  • Into The Wild Rhetorical Analysis

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    In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer wrote about Christopher McCandless, a nature lover in search for independence, in a mysterious and hopeful experience. Even though Krakauer tells us McCandless was going to die from the beginning, he still gave him a chance for survival. As a reader I wanted McCandless to survive. In Into the Wild, Krakauer gave McCandless a unique perspective. He was a smart and unique person that wanted to be completely free from society. Krakauer included comments from people that said McCandless was crazy, and his death was his own mistake. However, Krakauer is able to make him seem like a brave person. The connections between other hikers and himself helped in the explanation of McCandless’s rational actions. Krakauer is able to make McCandless look like a normal person, but unique from this generation. In order for Krakauer to make Christopher McCandless not look like a crazy person, but a special person, I will analyze the persuading style that Krakauer used in Into the Wild that made us believe McCandless was a regular young adult.

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  • Into the Wild, by John Karkauer and Jack London's To Build a Fire

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