Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

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At the end of “Into the Wild” by John Krakauer epilogue, my view towards McCandless’s journey and death is emotionally similar to McCandless’s parents as they accept Chris’s death. Chris’s parents weren’t really involved in his life so they never really knew why he cut everyone off. My initial guess is that Chris got tired of his parents controlling his life and just wanted to get away. Throughout “Into The Wild” Chris’s parents seemed like they didn’t support or care about Chris, or they didn’t know how to show it, however my opinion about Chris’s parents did change because the author shined light on his parents and how they came to senses with their son’s death and that they actually really did care about their son Chris McCandless. As I began to get deeper into the story and they began to introduce Chris’s parents, Billie and Walt into the story they seemed very uptight and didn’t support Chris’s opinion on life. They wanted to control Chris’s life and hold on to their little boy. “Walt tried to control Chris who is freely independent” While Walt tried to control Chris that only caused Chris to distance himself even more. I got the impression that since Chris and his parents didn’t see eye to eye they hit heads. “In fact both Walt and Chris are stubborn which leads to a great clash between them” which really portrays their relationship with each other. I believe the situation with his parents only pushed him more towards leaving his ordinary life and going off the grid. His parents trying to keep a grip on Chris’s life only pushed him away even more. Chris’s parents had only good intentions for him as every parent would for their child which is why they entered him into a gifted school. However all this opportunity never seemed... ... middle of paper ... ...eauty of Mother Nature all around him and cutting all ties from society. 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.

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