Sometimes I wonder if people fully realize how good they have it. In Into the Wild, Christopher McCandless did not. Sure, McCandless had major issues at home. This doesn’t change the fact that he had a stable life, loving sister, and college education which went to waste. Due to youthful recklessness, McCandless ended up getting himself killed. A young kid going off to find himself in nature by traveling alone across the nation? What could possibly go wrong? McCandless was foolish to leave when he had potential for a good life, when he didn’t tell even his dearest sister his location, and when he chose to risk everything on a whole new level by living off the Alaskan wilderness.
First of all, McCandless had a very promising life ahead of him.
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He wanted to leave his old life behind and forget his society-forced expectations. The scene in which McCandless sees a version of himself inside of a bar is what initially sets him off into a spree for the pursuit of transcendentalism. He believes that this will end up being him, and he doesn’t want to see the positives of this. The problem with leaving after seeing this situation is that he didn’t think to inform his only sister. This sister is highlighted as being protected by McCandless in a time of family hardship during a flashback of recollection in his childhood. Disregarding his immature action of leaving his parents out of spite, why does McCandless not tell the one person he loves about his plans? When he is given the opportunity to call somebody on a payphone, McCandless is shown wanting to and about to talk to call her and speak with her for the first time in a year. Quite unfortunately, he does not get the chance to do this and wastes this opportunity. He let his foolish and rash idea of wanting to be his own independant person overcome his …show more content…
In the movie, he makes countless mistakes and acts upon instinct instead of thinking things through. Although McCandless has a life set up on success, he decides to disregard family to pursue his life dream which involved danger. McCandless leaves home, leaves his sister clueless and emotionally confused, illegally rides trains, illegally paddles down rivers, almost dies in white water rapids, lies to border patrol, befriends complete strangers, and finally decides to live his life in Alaska which ultimately kills him. What started out as a promising life ended in turmoil. Is McCandless a hero? No. Is McCandless regarded as foolish? Yes. He did not make good decisions and only thought about himself throughout the journey in nature and away from the society which he could have utilized to his
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.
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 also did not have a typical childhood, he witness his parent’s fighting and he also developed a poor relationship with his father. Krakauer was able to find important connections that helped him find the roots of McCandless’ rational actions. “The boy could not pardon the mistakes his father had made as a young man, and he was even less willing to pardon the attempt at concealment… But he did not confront his parents with what he knew, then or ever. He chose instead to make a secret of his dark knowledge and express his rage obliquely, in silence and sullen withdrawal” (Krakauer 122). McCandless did not have a good relationship with his parents, which might have been the reason he decided to go into the wild. Krakauer was able to find clues that caused McCandless to make dangerous
Many people have different views on the death of Chris McCandless and the actions he did that lead to his death. Some say McCandless is a legend as a result of people are still talking about him today. Others look at the whole McCandless story and just think, wow this kid must have been stupid. There are many people who countless views about McCandless, going out into the Alaskan Frontier ill prepared wouldn’t be my idea of a good time.
...fe for oneself. McCandless primary tragic flaw being his unwillingness to form long-term relations brought him both to the happiest moment of his life, but also to his demise. McCandless never had a problem with people, but rather with the status quo of society, the idea that a man or a woman has to live inside of a coordinate plane. McCandless left home and went on his adventure simply for his own well being, he achieved both what he wanted to accomplish while learning a valuable lesson along the way. He learned that happiness must be shared, and while everyone has his or her flaws, it is important to let these go. Christopher McCandless should teach people the importance of following your dreams, and the importance of enjoying the natural serenity of life.
In Jon Krakauer’s book Into the Wild, he documents the events that led up to the death of Chris McCandless. McCandless was a teenage boy who dealt with tremendous amounts of pressure from his parents to do well in school and keep family secrets — they apologized for it through buying him things that they thought he needed. However, Chris hated this and just wanted peace, and honesty at home. There was one place in which Chris could get this, and it is in nature — there was no chaos or dishonesty amongst his family. Before he would go to college, he would drive to unknown places on his own — cherishing the peace that he gets. And when he decides to go to Alaska, his journey leads him to
Chris McCandless was a young man who did everything in his power to try and represent that freedom he was searching for. McCandless had everything before we went out but he decided to go out and travel by choice. He was considered a selfish man because when someone offered him to help him he rejects it in a nice way since we wants to do things himself. In the book Into the wild he states that,"You don't need to worry about me. I have a college education. I'm not destitute. I'm living like this by choice."
Life is a form of progress- from one stage to another, from one responsibility to another. Studying, getting good grades, and starting the family are common expectations of human life. In the novel Into the Wild, author Jon Krakauer introduced the tragic story of Christopher Johnson McCandless. After graduating from Emory University, McCandless sold of his possessions and ultimately became a wanderer. He hitchhiked to Alaska and walked into the wilderness for nearly 4 months. This journey to the 49th state proved fatal for him, and he lost his life while fulfilling his dream. After reading this novel, some readers admired the boy for his courage and noble ideas, while others fulminated that he was an idiot who perished out of arrogance and
Nick Jans suggests that McCandless was either mentally ill or suicidal, however, this does not seem to be the case. Jans observations gives very good points, but they are not in the correct perspective. McCandless did not die because he disrespected the very land he purported to love.
We discuss why I agree with him when he says he is ignorant now let's cover why I agree with him when he says he is bright. McCandless was an intelligent young man, a college graduate, extremely articulate and an avid reader. McCandless’ story starts out with him graduating in the movie, it's actually the first scene showing that he made it through college and was a smart individual. Even more so this whole journey was influenced by Henry David Thoreau in the essay The American Wilderness it shows he was a very active reader "Not only did McCandless carry a heavily annotated copy of the text with him throughout his travels, like Thoreau, who lived in a secluded cabin to simplify his life, McCandless made camp in an abandoned bus in the middle of Denali National Forest in order to find himself.” Not only was he bright in that aspect, but he was also very personable he was a kind young man he made you smile. Throughout the whole story McCandless meets people that absolutely love and adore him, they want to mother him father him love him
...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.
He wasn’t too fond of truly becoming close to others. Krakauer states, “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” (55). This had also occurred a few months prior in Niland Slabs, where he met Burres and Tracy. He had made friends there, and Tracy had developed feelings for him, but he rebuffed any of her advancements; he didn’t want to get involved with others, not after having left home for his journey. To him, having had friends and family that he left behind, he loved people, but he didn’t want to be close to them in any way other than purely being around them. Growing up with a difficult family relationship, such as McCandles’s, which caused him to push people away; it’s easy to relate to him in that aspect. For a majority of my life, up until I was around 13, I did almost exactly as he, when it came to being around others; I enjoyed their company, but I pushed everyone away and only felt relief from doing so. I was more than happy with how it was back then, but now I’m not much different; I’ve learned to accept a few people into my
Chris McCandless was a graduate from college whose dream was to go into the Alaskan wilderness and live there to get an overall experience of living off the land. McCandless wanted to experience how to hunt and gather everything that he needed to live in the Alaskan Wilderness. However was it a good idea when Mccandless went into the wild. Many people on his adventure tried to help him by giving him some equipment or buy him some because he wasn't prepared for his adventure. After McCandless’s death to this date people would say that McCandless is an idiot or stupid for not being prepared for the Alaskan wilderness.
The end for McCandless was a well lived, experienced soul that had seen a lot in the years that he had lived for. He had done great things, and because of that, he will be remembered for a long time. His life was about finding what he wanted most, and doing great things along the way. He had found enlightenment, and discovered tons of things that many people do not know that exist.
McCandless was a fearless human being. I think that most of the people’s ideologies and personalities have to do with how they were raised by the parents and everything that was taught to them. When a lack of love exists from a parent towards his child, a hate can be created without knowing it. McCandless could have gone away from society to escape reality or, for being in a place where he could find himself at peace. Either one, we can assume that he obviously had different ideas about civilization; the idea of having a life full of danger and adventure inspired and excited him.