Anthony Quinones Period. 3 12/21/2016 Into The Wild Why did McCandless leave such a strong and deep impression on Jan Burres, Ronald Franz and Wayne Westerberg? Chris McCandless Never stayed in one place for long, but he would keep in contact with certain people. These few people Chris McCandless met during his travels were left with a deep impression of Chris. Chris met many people but only stayed in contact with a few. Chris McCandless stayed in contact with these few people because of a few reason’s he knew his importance to them as they had on him. Chris met three important people during his adventure these people were Jan Burres, Ronald Franz, and Wayne Westerberg. Out of everyone who he had met it was only these three important people who he decided to stay in contact with, why? McCandless had a great childhood from the looks of it, all the photos of his childhood were him hiking or out on vacation or a happy family portrait, but those were just pictures. Chris’s father was a smart man he got paid a good salary, owned a nice home, had a wife and children of his own, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. He was abusive to his wife and made his children watch, this hurt Chris deeply. Chris’s mom would often tell them she is sorry, that she got pregnant with Chris and can't leave. It hurt Chris so much he decided to leave, …show more content…
Wayne was a jack of all trades he was a smart man who also gave Chris a job. Wayne gave many jobs to hitchhikers before, but none of them were like Chris. “I’ve given lots of jobs to hitchhikers over the years, most of them weren't much good, didn’t really want to work. It was a different story with Alex(Chris McCandless changed his name to Alex Supertramp to hide his identity). He was the hardest worker, I’ve ever seen.” said Wayne. This is why he left such a deep impression on Wayne, he stood out of every one of his workers and met him while
He wasn't antisocial—he always had friends, and everybody liked him—but he could go off and entertain himself for hours” (Krakauer 107). Carine described her brother in a way that made him seem like he was good company to others, but he also had a side to him where he had no problem being alone and doing his own thing. This aspect of his personality was always apparent as a child, as Carine described. “Chris was [also] a high achiever in almost everything that caught his fancy” (Krakauer 109). Walt, his father, also knew that Chris did whatever he pleased, no matter the consequences.
The McCandless family all loved and cared about Chris deeply. The McCandless family was constantly distressed over Chris and the choices he made I life, as they knew they could not change his mind on any decision no matter how much they resented said decision. As shown in the book, “And then he left on his trip. . . We had our hearts in our mouths the whole time he was gone, but there was no way to stop him.” Page 118 Chapter 12. These quotes showed the constant worry they had over Chris fully knowing they could not change him. Chris’s feeling about his family weren’t as strong in return. Chris was more distant from his parents, Chris eventually grew a distaste for his parents when he discovered that his father never told him about his previous marriage. “He seemed mad at us more often, but he wouldn’t tell us what was on his mind and spent more time by himself.” Page 121 Chapter 12. Thoreau’s quote is similar to Chris’s viewpoint as Thoreau’s quote talks about lack of truth, which is why Chris is upset with Walt, lack of truth from his previous
Charlie, a man who McCandless has briefly acquainted himself with during his journey, reports that McCandless is not much of a people person. “Didn’t like to be around too many people, though. Temperamental. He’d get moody, wouldn’t like to be bothered”(Into The Wild).
Although Chris McCandless' life at home growing up was hounded by his so called "ignorant" father or his "bigot" parents, made the best out of his life whenever he could. He was on the cross country team when he was younger, and they all ran out into the wild almost, purposely getting lost. Being on that team and experiencing that made him happier and started his interest and passion for embracing nature. Chris even found solace and was content with providing food, such as hamburgers, stated by his cross country teammate Eric Hathway, providing company to people less fortunate than him. Taking hikes with his grandfather and doing things as mentioned previously (cross country), eventually influenced him to make his greatest adventure and unbeknownst
In John Krakauer’s novel Into The Wild, the reader follows the life of a young man who, upon learning of his father’s infidelity and bigamy, seems to go off the deep end, isolating himself by traveling into the wild country of Alaska, unprepared for survival, where he died of starvation at 67 pounds.
Chris McCandless is foolish when he drops everything, his riches, schooling, and more, just to go on an impossible trip through the backcountry of Alaska. “...he donated the $20,000 in his bank account to Oxfam, loaded up his car, and disappeared. From then on he scrupulously avoided contacting either his parents or Carine, the sister for whom he purportedly cared immensely.” (Krakauer 134). Why would he want to leave everything, his future, just to die out in the middle of nowhere
Chris McCandless was a man who paved his own path in society. He didn't wait for
At first glance Chris McCandless appears to possess charismatic and endearing traits of one socially connected with society. As Chris traveled around the country, everyone that met him instantly fell in love with his kind heart and charming personality. He made “an indelible impression on a number of people during the course of his hegira” while only being in thei...
Pg 71 "why would anyone intending to 'live off the land for a few months, ' forget Boy Scout rule number one, be prepared. Why would any son cause his parents and family such permanent and perplexing pain?" There were many more people that thought Chris was a reckless idiot, but there were also many people that didn 't think Chris was a reckless idiot, and instead thought that Chris was very smart and brave for what Chris did. There were many people that Chris met during his travels and was able to truly touch their hearts and change their lives forever. Jim Gallien, Wayne Westerberg, Jon Krakauer, Walt McCandless, Billie McCandless, Carine McCandless, Charlie, Ronald Franz, and Jan Burres were some of them. Chris knew these people in life or met them during Chris travels. Chris definitely made an impact in all these people 's lives and these people probably wouldn 't call Chris a reckless idiot, but instead would call Chris intelligent and courageous. One of the people that Chris met during the travels that really stuck out was Ronald Franz. Franz was an eighty year old veteran who lived in Salton City,
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
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
On Chris’s journey to Alaska, he met a gentleman by the name of Ronald Franz, and is able to leave a lasting impression on him that Ron is not able to reciprocate to Chris. In the book, author Jon Krakauer states “McCandless made an indelible impression on a number of people during the course of his hegira, most of whom spent only a few days in his company, a weeks or two at most. Nobody, however, was affected more powerfully by his or her brief contact with the boy than Ronald Franz” (Krakauer 48). This quotes shows that although there time together is brief, Chris is able to leave an indelible impact on Ron. Nobody understands the life and journey to Alaska that Chris took more than Krakauer, and through his words, he acknowledges that Chris made the biggest impact on Ron. Ron viewed Chris almost like a son. Franz admitted that “even when he was sleeping, I was happy just knowing he was there…At one point Franz dared to make a special request of McCandless…Now that my own boy’s dead, I’m the end of the line. When I’m gone, my family will be finished, gone forever. So I asked Alex if I could adopt him, if he would be my grandson” (Krakauer 55). This quote shows how to Ron, at the time, Chris meant the world to him. It is very touching because Ron admits that he is getting older, and when he dies there will be nobody to carry on his...
Chris McCandless was still just a young man when he decided to drastically alter his life through the form of a child’s foolishness. However, Chris had not known at the time just how powerful his testimony against his father’s authority, society, or maybe even his own lifestyle was going to be revolutionary throughout not only Alaska,not even the lower 48, but the world. The story of Chris McCandless is a much talked about debate on topics of safety and preparedness in the wild, these things forever associated with the boy who was a little too eager for a death wish. Today, Chris is remember as a fool or a hero. The fool, a boy who allowed himself to be drowned in a fictional world inspired by his readings,dying because he ignored he was just a normal human being or the hero who set out to become something more.
The settings in the story have impacts on the theme of young manhood. Chris leaves his family and decides to go on a journey to find a new life. Christopher felt affected in his family presence so he sends his final school report to his family: “McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well-relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it”(Krakauer,55). He believes that this is a way to find his true identity and peace of mind, which he thought could be achieved by fleeing into the wild. Chris seemed to have a bad relationship with his parents, especially with his father because Chris found out that he had a child with his first wife when Chris was born. This fact is revealed by his dad’s old neighbour, “Walt’s split from his first wife, Marcia, was not a clean or amicable parting. Long after falling in love with Billie, long after she gave birth to Chris, Walt continued his relationship with Marcia in secret” (Krakauer121). Chris knew about his father’s affair with another woman and this made it easier for Chris to not care about what his family has to say ...
To him, all those people, like Franz, Westerberg, and even Jim Gallien, all seemed like his family. Some of them gave him a place to crash for the night, gave him a job, and even assisted him on his journey, like giving him a ride. McCandless being nice and appreciative to all those people who have helped him throughout his journey shows how “saintly” he can be. Works Cited Into the Wild. Dir.