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Chris mccandless personal philosophy essay
Chris mccandless conclusion of his traits
Chris mccandless conclusion of his traits
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Christopher McCandless was only 24 when he died. He came from a wealthy family and was very successful in college. It seemed like he was on the right path with a lot of fortune in his near future. So what caused him to drop everything he had, and run away to Alaska where his dead body was found? It is easy for one to assume he was mentally ill to do something as ridiculous as so, however it turns out his life wasn’t so perfect after all. Chris had his own family problems and emotional damage, which could also be a reason why he had such strong philosophical beliefs. These two factors of his personality are what sent him into the wild. On the outside, the McCandless family was picture perfect. A wealthy mom and dad with two children, one boy …show more content…
When Chris started his following journey after college he again kept in touch with letters to his sister and parents. It is made clear through the letters how different his relationship with his sister and with his parents were. In his letters to his sister, Chris was very open and wrote a lot more, he even complained about their parents in them. For example, in one letter he wrote to his sister, “I’m going to have to be real careful not to accept any gifts from them in the future because they will think they have bought my respect,” referring to Mr. and Mrs. McCandless. (21). On the contrary, the letters to his parents were withdrawn, robotic and short. I think it is clear that his family problems took a toll on Chris and left emotional damage. It’s somewhat typical to resent one’s parents as a teenager, but Chris’s situation was very different. He had a lot of built up anger and hatred towards his mom and dad. It would make sense that he left to Alaska because it was an alternate option to him rather than taking out his anger on his parent’s …show more content…
He was very stern on his philosophical beliefs and did not care at all for materialism. In fact, before he left on his last journey he burned all of the cash in his wallet, gave away $25,000 to charity, and abandoned his car. Chris also had an affinity for nature. His idea of getting as far away from materialism was anywhere in nature. I believe he had the same idea as Henry Thoreau in his poem “Walden.” Thoreau writes, “I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not when I came to die, that I had not lived.” Basically what this quote means is that the author doesn’t want to settle for anything less than his potential. He wants to continue to grow. The woods was his place in which he feels most “awake” or “alive.” Chris matches Thoreau’s personality in a way because his fix or go to is nature as well. Alaska, more specifically. He romanticized the state very much which could have led to his downfall, however that’s another subject. Chris, according to Mrs. Westerburg, one of the many friends he made on his adventure, was “hungry to learn about things. Unlike most of us, he was the sort of person who insisted on living out his beliefs.” (67). Again making that connection to Thoreau on the subject of always wanting to “grow” when Mrs. Westerburg used the word “hungry.” Because
Chris refused to confront his mother and father and instead repressed his emotions. Krakauer shows his influence with this comment, “Children can be harsh judges when it comes to their parents, disinclined to grant clemency, and this was especially true in Chris’s case” (Krakauer 122). He makes it very clear that Chris is really just a kid, and therefore, liable to make decisions that are rash or immature. Krakauer makes it clear that he thinks Chris’ opinions on his parents might have changed over time, had he lived. Chris was simply a kid who had been wronged by those who were supposed to protect him. All of Chris’ repressed emotions eventually came to the surface, “Chris kept careful score. And over time he worked himself into a choler of self-righteous indignation that was impossible to keep bottles up” (Krakauer 122). Chris eventually lashed out in the way that lots of children do, he ran away. His options were limited, he could either talk to his parents or a therapist about it or flee. His choice of fleeing shows that he really was working through something. By running away Chris broadcasts his youth and also makes the reader curious as to if he might have come back and worked out his issues eventually. The contradictions in Chris’ severe opinions of those around him show his youth, and inspire’s readers to be more
"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
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
In Into the Wild, Chris McCandless was a young man from Virginia who loved living his life on his own. On an adventure to Alaska, Chris ran into the some trouble and perished. While Chris’s death is a horrible event that will burn in the memory of his family and friends, it could have been easily prevented. If Chris was smarter he would have thought about his preparation, his motivation, and the possibility that he was mentally ill. He could have been able to live out in the Alaskan Wilderness and survive his adventure and return home safely.
He went through many obstacles that could have proved fatal. From canoeing in the Colorado River to picking the right berries, he was testing his intelligence. Chris had a true confidence in the land and in himself to set out on a mission so dangerous. “Wilderness appealed to those bored or disgusted with man and his works. It not only offered an escape from society but also was an ideal stage for the Romantic individual to exercise the cult that he frequently made of his own soul. The solitude and total freedom of the wilderness created a perfect setting for either melancholy or exaltation” (Nash; Krakauer 157). Chris longed to escape from society and rely on only mother nature. An innumerable amount of people desire to withdraw from society as Chris did; but they are so comfortable and secure with a normal life they do not dare take such a gutsy
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...
A young man, in his twenties, sets off into the wild completely disregarding his family and his past life and takes on a whole new personality. This perfectly explains Chris McCandless and the journey he initially set out on. He was a young man seeking self-acceptance and peace, and he looked for it in all of the different places that he visited. Visiting these places made Chris more and more hungry for a challenge. He planned on leaving the comfort of a home and setting out into the Alaskan wilderness, where he would eventually die.
When Chris left for his journey he wasn’t crazy or stupid as many would say. “McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large, but rather to explore the inner country of his own soul” pg. 183. The fact that Chris never bother to discuss his Alaskan walk about with his anyone especially his parents wasn’t intentional. However throughout the whole book it was made very clear that he was at odds with his parents in some way to go off on his journey but he didn’t want to hurt them, which I think Walt and Billie finally realized visiting the bus where Chris had passed. I think Chris just wanted to get away from his everyday life, clear his mind, a mind that didn’t involve the worries of expectations and the thoughts of his parents hanging on his shoulders.
He took everything in his life to the extreme. As stated earlier, “It is hardly unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders; engaging in risky behavior is a rite of passage in our culture no less than in most others. Danger has always held a certain allure….”(Krakauer 182). People want to live while their young, therefore they take risks. However, what McCandless did was more than just risk taking. He contained something along the lines of an excessive hubris. ‘“He didn’t think the odds applied to him. We were always trying to pull him back from the edge,” vocalizes Walt McCandless (Krakauer 109). Trudging into the vast Alaskan wilderness without proper provisions is taking the extreme too far. As Krakauer states, “...[Chris] was fully aware when he entered the brush that he he had given himself a perilously slim margin for error” (182). Only someone with an extensive hubris would commit an act so dangerous and be confident in their survival. Although he lent himself to a handful of stupid mistakes, McCandless was far from an idiot. Even though the extreme he took his Alaska adventure to was ill-advised, there is something about Chris that is almost admirable. Many people have dreams and passions that get shoved into an old chest and are never to be visited again. In today’s society it seems as though everyone is
“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.
Before going to Alaska, Chris McCandless had failed to communicate with his family while on his journey; I believe this was Chris’s biggest mistake. Chris spent time with people in different parts of the nation while hitchhiking, most of them whom figured out that McCandless kept a part of him “hidden”. In chapter three, it was stated that Chris stayed with a man named Wayne Westerberg in South Dakota. Although Westerberg was not seen too often throughout the story, nevertheless he was an important character. Introducing himself as Alex, McCandless was in Westerberg’s company for quite some time: sometimes for a few days, other times for several weeks. Westerberg first realized the truth about Chris when he discovered his tax papers, which stated that “McCandless’s real name was Chris, not Alex.” Wayne further on claims that it was obvious that “something wasn’t right between him and his family” (Krakauer 18). Further in the book, Westerberg concluded with the fact that Chris had not spoken to his family “for all that time, treating them like dirt” (Krakauer 64). Westerberg concluded with the fact that during the time he spent with Chris, McCandless neither mentioned his
Living in the wilderness is difficult, but understanding the meaning of such lifestyle is even more difficult. One of the Christopher’s admirable qualities was that he was well aware of what he was doing. He knew about the difficulties and dangers that he would face into the wilderness, and was mentally prepared for that. Author Jon Krakauer says that “McCandless was green, and he overestimated his resilience, but he was sufficiently skilled to last for sixteen weeks on little more than his wits and ten pounds of rice. And he was fully aware when he entered the bush that he had given himself a perilously slim margin for error. He knew precisely what was at stake” (182). McCandless was an educated youth, who loved nature and dreamed of living in the Alaskan wilderness. Although he ignored to take many necessary things with him on this
He chose to live deliberately to find real happiness. While living in college, Chris lived off campus in a spartan like apartment, with a couple of crates, electricity and water. After graduating college, he left behind a middle class life full of education and materialistic items to set out on a adventure that would allow him to go into the wild to find his true self. What most people in society would call crazy. A quote from Henry David Thoreau says, “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” (Walden) Thoreau is saying that people should live a simple life, with out the material possessions controlling their happiness. Chris understood that materialism doesn’t create real happiness and satisfaction. He gave up the comfort of his home to go out to the wild. He gives away his possessions, something society values too much . He gives his money to charity and burns the money he has left in his wallet. He began a simply life hitchhiking, finding food and shelter in the wild and being adventurous with the land and sights around him. In this way making a statement that he rejects the social views and values of property in the search of a higher purpose within
... every aspect of his life whether it be his education, physical endurance, or making it through the Alaskan wilderness with nothing more than a rifle, a backpack, and a road map. Chris was aware of his differences and that he did not fit into society. He fully embraced that and and chose to lead his own path. Chris led a happy life according to one of his last journal entries he wrote, “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!” (Krakauer 199). Chris was willing to risk everything to gain that happiness. His ambition to enter the wilderness, in the end, took his life but that did not stop him. He would have rather died a happy man than lived a miserable one. Chris ventured out into the wilderness and found himself; a tragic story for a tragic hero.
All in all, it is interesting how the trials of life can lead a person into an awakening that inspires millions. Many people believe that walking “into the wild” to live off the land and find himself alone in nature was arrogant, foolish and irresponsible. Chris lacks of knowledge about the wild was a major factor in his death. Chris did not plan how he will survive in the wilderness without proper equipments. He misunderstood that he would have no problem in setting in the wild. Chris immature manner and decisions lead him to starvation and ultimately death. If he planned it out in the beginning he would have saved his life.