Chris McCandless is a man that went to the wild to live for one hundred and thirteen days until he finally died. Many people speculate on why McCandless went to the wild, but no one knows for sure. I am going to take a crack at why Chris Might have done this. McCandless wanted to live his life to the fullest, most possible way and live relaxed. He wanted to go to the wild for a getaway, like a vacation. Chris McCandless went to the wild to live life to the fullest; complete, unearthed, and relaxed. Chris McCandless went to the wild to live a complete life. Chris read something by Thoreau; about life and how people do not live “awake” or to the fullest of life. McCandless wanted to live life the way he wanted to. He could live life his way, only if he could do so away from society and laws. Chris’s idea was to live life laid back, how he wants, which was to feel awake as influenced by Thoreau. …show more content…
He wanted to discover the world that he did not know. McCandless had a passion for getting lost because it was like a challenge to find his way out and explore. This whole passion started off with his time in cross country. Chris wanted adventure, so that is why he headed west. Chris’s strong hunger to explore, along with his passion for adventure, influenced Chris to want to live his life unearthed. Chris McCandless went to the wild to live life relaxed. Chris wanted to live relaxed, in peace, and not have bosses, superiors or society breathing down his neck all the time. He did not even want to live the lifestyle of his parents and he rejected them. An example of Chris’s desire to live away from society is when he discovers a friendly, but quiet town after the truck driver offers him a job (Krakauer pg.62). Chris McCandless’s unmoved reaction to society caused him to go to the wild to feel
Many individuals decide to live their life in solitary; though, only a few choose to live in the wild. The book, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer vividly paints the adventurous trek Chris McCandless went on. From the friends he made, to the hardships he went through, McCandless is portrayed as a friendly, sociable person despite the fact that he was a vagabond. Other than McCandless, there are even more individuals that have taken the risks to live in the wilderness such as, Jon Krakauer and Everett Ruess. All three of them had both similarities and differences between their own qualities as a person and their journey.
Throughout Into the Wild, Krakauer portrays Christopher McCandless as an infallibly eager young man hoping to distance himself from the society he so obviously loathes, to "live off the land," entirely independent of a world which has "conditioned [itself] to a life of security." Chris, contrarily to this depiction, is disparagingly viewed by some as a "reckless idiot" who lacked the sense he needed to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. This derogatory assessment of Chris's mindset is representative of the society he hopes to escape and contains all the ignorance that causes him to feel this way. Nevertheless, he is misjudged by these critics, allowing Krakauer to hold the more accurate interpretation of Chris's character, his goals, and his accomplishments.
Have you ever wanted to explore the world, or even “start a new life” in the country? In the novel, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, the author emphasizes about a historical young man, Chris McCandless, who is trying to begin a new life in a series based on factual evidence. Throughout the novel, Krakauer guides us to have many questions and concerns about Chris McCandless, his past life and what he had set out to do. Although McCandless was a man that many readers misunderstood, readers were still able to figure his personality out by continuously scrutinizing and taking notes. Jon Krakauer allows us to examine Chris McCandless by providing actual text and dialogue from his family and peers that he had known and ran into while living in the wild.
Many question that Chris McCandless isn’t the only one who made a pilgrimage into the wild, there was a woman who had the same experience named Cherly Strayed. Chris and Cherly risked their lifes just to escape from the hectic world around them; even though Chris seemed crazy, his plans were all somehow inspiring to those in his life. Chris was raised in a very wealthy environment, which would be great for most people, but Chris did not have the best relationship with his father because when Chris was younger his dad cheated on his mother and had another family with the other woman. This made Chris not want to have anything to do with his family, including getting the money and gifts, such as cars and tuition for college. Chris was a daring individual who wanted to see the world through his own eyes and not through what others told him.
The novel, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer introduces a young adult by the name of Chris McCandless who is on a quest for his self-identity. Chris doesn’t necessarily have an itinerary planned for this adventure of his. He just goes with the flow and doesn’t worry about the next event in his life. He abandoned his family, his friends and his life, for what reason? That is the essential question. One might question the normality of this kid but I for one feel that he was completely normal but confused. He is all over the place. His adventure stretches from Carthage, SD to the Stampede Trail in Alaska where his journey sadly ends. Why is Krakauer writing this story of this lost boy who has no plan in life? I’ve constantly been asking myself the
As portrayed in the film, Into the Wild, Chris McCandless hates society. In one particular scene, Chris starts yelling about “society” and how it is bad when he is telling Wayne about his trip to Alaska. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem, Self-Reliance, it says “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, b...
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
...elligence to help him last an extended period of time in the Alaskan wilderness. In truth, McCandless was someone who wanted to find himself. He wanted to get away from a life in which he could not find fulfilment, which is something many others would be able to relate to. Although most people would not go to such extremes to find fulfilment, everyone has a different way of finding happiness and going after what their heart truly desires. For McCandless, his desire was to live out in the wild. Unfortunately, this man of great character did not succeed in getting out alive. However, that does not change the fact that he tried. McCandless knew what he wanted for himself and he persisted, regardless of the obstacles he faced. He put an incredible amount of effort into accomplishing his goals and never gave up, and that is why Christopher McCandless is someone to admire.
The second of the two forces that drove Chris McCandless into the wild is his rebellious youth and risk taking tendencies. After McCandless imagined himself out in the wild, he believed he was “invincible” and could
...emselves. They endure mosquitoes and rain and tough walking and bad river crossings and the possibility of bears. The burden the pilgrims carry to the bus is so heavy, laden with their frailties and hopes and desires, with their lives that don’t quite satisfy. Well, so many of them are young, and they’re lost, somehow, just as he was.” What makes Chris McCandless such a hero to young men is that he is easily relatable to those young men. As Neal Karlinsky writes of Chris McCandless,“McCandless tramped his way across North America determined to live completely free of the trappings of modern society. He was intoxicated by nature and the idea of a great Alaskan adventure — to survive in the bush totally on his own. In his last postcard to a friend, he wrote: "I now walk into the wild."
Into the Wild, written by John Krakauer tells of a young man named Chris McCandless who 1deserted his college degree and all his worldly possessions in favor of a primitive transient life in the wilderness. Krakauer first told the story of Chris in an article in Outside Magazine, but went on to write a thorough book, which encompasses his life in the hopes to explain what caused him to venture off alone into the wild. McCandless’ story soon became a national phenomenon, and had many people questioning why a “young man from a well-to-do East Coast family [would] hitchhike to Alaska” (Krakauer i). Chris comes from an affluent household and has parents that strived to create a desirable life for him and his sister. As Chris grows up, he becomes more and more disturbed by society’s ideals and the control they have on everyday life. He made a point of spiting his parents and the lifestyle they lived. This sense of unhappiness continues to build until after Chris has graduated college and decided to leave everything behind for the Alaskan wilderness. Knowing very little about how to survive in the wild, Chris ventures off on his adventure in a state of naïveté. It is obvious that he possessed monumental potential that was wasted on romanticized ideals and a lack of wisdom. Christopher McCandless is a unique and talented young man, but his selfish and ultimately complacent attitude towards life and his successes led to his demise.
“Into The Wild” by John Krakauer is a non-fiction biographical novel which is based on the life of a young man, Christopher McCandless. Many readers view Christopher’s journey as an escape from his family and his old life. The setting of a book often has a significant impact on the story itself. The various settings in the book contribute to the main characters’ actions and to the theme as a whole. This can be proven by examining the impact the setting has on the theme of young manhood, the theme of survival and the theme of independent happiness.
In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer explores the human fascination with the purpose of life and nature. Krakauer documents the life and death of Chris McCandless, a young man that embarked on an Odyssey in the Alaskan wilderness. Like many people, McCandless believed that he could give his life meaning by pursuing a relationship with nature. He also believed that rejecting human relationships, abandoning his materialistic ways, and purchasing a book about wildlife would strengthen his relationship with nature. However, after spending several months enduring the extreme conditions of the Alaskan wilderness, McCandless’ beliefs begin to work against him. He then accepts that he needs humans, cannot escape materialism, and can never fully understand how nature functions. Most importantly, he realizes that human relationships are more valuable than infinite solitude. McCandless’ gradual change of heart demonstrates that exploring the wilderness is a transformative experience. Krakauer uses the life and death of Chris McCandless to convey that humans need to explore nature in order to discover the meaning of life.
I believe that Chris McCandless did live out Thoreau’s words due to the fact that McCandless lived a life in search of himself as well as to find the true meaning of life. Growing up McCandless was a protector and a brother to Carine McCandless. McCandless would protect Carine, from their parents, whenever tension rose in the house. McCandless and Carine had a very close bond, due to the physical and verbal abuse presented in the house between their parents (Return to the Wild). McCandless never felt like home was a place to be. Being raised in a household of pain and abuse is hard for any child to endure, as it was for McCandless and Carine. Due to all the violence presented in the house, McCandless began to deceive his father for his existence