Summary Of Mcgoldrick's Stages Of The Family Life Cycle

No individual had the same family background and early experiences in their lives. Each individual also had their own personalities. Chris McCandless was a young and successful college graduate with a job and had money. Oddly, he decided to disappear in response to his father’s misjudgment, giving away his money and overall, became homeless. McCandless could no longer

The second epigraph included in this chapter was from” Solitude: A Return to the Self” by Anthony Storr. In the paragraph, it explains how people choose live different lives and the various reasons why people might want to live an isolated life, “It is true that many creative people fail to make mature personal relationships, and some are extremely isolated”. McCandless had a rocky relationship with his parents and felt as if his parents never understood what he wanted and judged his choices, “Shortly before he disappeared, Chris complained to Carine that their parents’ behavior was so irrational, so oppressive, disrespectful and insulting that I finally passed my breaking point”. Due to this, he felt that leaving his family and being isolated behind was the only solution to his troubles at home. This led to him to be separated from others and be more dependent on himself. This epigraph connects with

[5] McCandless viewed society as a crucial part of life, however did not wish to be a part of it. His attitude towards society was the grassroots to why he ventured out on his own in the first place. He was ready to move on to bigger and better things, therefore was willing to take the risks to see what was in store for him. With only the minimum amount of necessities to survive on, he lived on the belief that he was the “master of his own destiny” (23) and could find happiness outside of society. Chris McCandless died a happy man. Even though, tragically cut short, he died fulfilling what made him the happiness. The open road was his sanctuary, and true home. It was the place that his heart felt most at peace and that is a feeling all humans deserve to

Developed by Carter and McGoldrick (1988), the family life cycle views dysfunction in relation to normal functioning, It frames problems within the course of the family as a system moving through time. The individual life cycle takes place within the family life cycle (Carter & McGoldrick, 1988, p. 4). The foundation of the theory assumes that all families go through predictable change precipitated by life events and sometimes-unpredictable events (Azar, 2017b, 6). As these changes are occurring, the family must be able to adapt accordingly in order to avoid dysfunction. This may involve tasks that must be negotiated as they become more complex, and new roles and operations.

Not only did Chris McCandless sacrifice so much for the future that he wanted, but he remained focus on his goal and he never ever regretted a minute of it. Even close to his death he was always smiling in the pictures he took and he never looked for a way out. He came into the wild and learned to be one with it. He respected it and learned from it all while staying at his peak of happiness. Chris McCandless’ did not necessarily have a bad life, but it was clear that he was not always happy. When he was truly happiest, he was alone. His disapproval of modern day society is evident throughout the book; “I told him ‘Man, you gotta have money to get along in this world’ but he wouldn’t take it” (46). He realized he needed to be separated from these people and live on his own. He decided to change his course for the future into an isolated lifestyle all without notice to the people that loved him. He was set up for a great life, but he ended it all to follow his dreams and fulfill his purpose. Not

Starting off with the idea and question of ‘’Do we owe our families anything?’’ In some cases yes. When you grow up with the same or at least similar mind set as your parents, it is not difficult to stick around and respect them after they raise you. However ,in McCandless’s case, we see that he is nothing similar to his parents. They are materialistic which is a direct offence to what McCandless believes. His mother Billie McCandless say, “Chris was very much of the school that you should own nothing except what you could carry on your back at a dead run.” This clearly illustrates what his opinions were on materialism.

McCandless does not care about his family because he left them without a word. “In the summer of 1990, McCandless dropped out of sight” (3). Chris McCandless left Atlanta City without telling anyone; he just packed up his stuff and left. He did not tell his family nor his friends or even the people who were concerned for him. “Chris had instructed the post office to hold them [his letters] until August 1, apparently so we wouldn’t know anything was up, ” says Billie. “It made us very, very worried” (18). Every letter that his parents took the time write was wasted because of Chris’s search for ultimate freedom. His parents took care of him for 22 years by giving him a home, food and clothes. However he just left them. He did not say goodbye nor thank you. He just treated them as if they were strangers. Chris evidently did not care about his family nor how they felt. He only cared about ultimate

I’m going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live. I’ll be through with them once and for all, forever (Krakauer 64).” Family played a big part part in Chris McCandless’s life and also a big part to what led him to the wild. Throughout most of McCandless’s life he was close to his parents, that is however until he found out a secret his parents were holding back from himself and his siblings leading McCandless’s relationship with his parents to go downhill. McCandless’s smoldering anger was a result of the secret he found out about when he visited his El Segundo neighborhood where he’d lived the first six years of his life. McCandless did some digging and found that his father was living a double life with his previous wife Marcia long after he’d married Billie, Chris’s mom, and long after Chris was born. McCandless couldn’t deal with it, he felt as if he was being lied to his whole life and felt as if he couldn’t trust his parents, which angered him and emotionally distressed him. Therefore, the only way he felt he could have dealt with this problem was to just walk out of his parents life and head into the

Chris McCandless got away from his materialistic parents. He went north to pursue a life of adventure and wanted to get disconnected with civilization. McCandless’s motivation for leaving was that he wanted to get away from the people, including his parents and pursue a life of adventure and not poisoned by civilization. So he

Although McCandless’s family loves him, Krakauer shows family disputes to create the enigma for novel and a suggested reason for McCandless to leave. Soon “after Chris unearthed the particulars of Walt’s divorce, two years passed before his anger began to leak to the surface…” and McCandless’ community became a disarray causing a personality change and lost in trust (122). Krakauer shows McCandless as extremely emotional towards his family after this revelation, being a contributing factor to the rebellious side of McCandless to be expressed. McCandless ended most communications with his family after school, by sending a note, with no means of telling them what he was going to be doing this summer. The end of the note read “…Not much else happening,.. Say Hi to everyone from me… It was the last anyone in McCandless’s family would ever hear from him” (22). Throughout the note it seemed as if McCandless was being supportive and missed them. However, because McCandless knew the truth, it seemed as if this letter was a way of keeping his family away from Atlanta, and not ask questions on what he was doing that summer. Before he left on his second trip to Alaska, at school “[McCandless] seldom contacted his parents that year…” which caused his parents to worry, but McCandless did not have much care for these types of

McCandless’ relationship with his parents is a clear indicator of his selfishness. His parents were hard working individuals who worked tirelessly so he could get a good college education. Chris, however, did not respond with the same affection. He clearly was not a fan of his parents being authority figures. As a result, he disobeyed them many times and caused them to worry a lot. A clear example would be his summer road trips. Krakauer states, “ Nobody anticipated… this initial journey would ultimately turn him inward and away, drawing those who loved him into a morass of anger, misunderstanding, and sorrow” (116). Chris’ journeys kept him out of touch with his family and drew them farther apart. He went without notice and rarely contacted them. This is a clear example of his selfishness because he neglected those who loved him for his own personal

One reason I believe Chris’s adventure was ludicrous is because he left originally in part to get away from his family due to ongoing conflicts. Conflicts between family members is a natural process within a family and certainly is resolvable with attention and problem-solving the issue. In McCandless’s situation specifically, he developed anger most directly related to his father’s adultery from his past. As Krakauer writes, “Long after falling in love with Billie, long after she gave birth to Chris, Walt continued his

McCandless can be described as a Caterpillar breaking through the unbreakable cocoon and spreading his wings to fly. He loved the life he lived and for him it went from all negative to positive by leaving home. The reasons why McCandless left home were exceptionally justified. McCandless became tired of being around self centered rich people whom only cared about their possessions in life. He grew tired of being around people who were not connected to nature and the real world. This is evident when Billie says, “Chris started

3. Become aware of the “alive versus the inanimate” and “familiar versus unfamiliar” and develop rudimentary social interaction.

Kierkegaard suggests three stages of life that an individual experiences on his or her way to existence. For Kierkegaard, existence is not simply a condition of being alive; it is an active pursuit toward the type of person one “ought” to be (Stumpf, 2015, p. 374). ‘Existence’ is a qualitative statement that indicates a conscious and active will to make reflective choices (373). According to him, there is a graduated system; ‘three stages of life,’ that one navigates with a series of choices in order to fully exist.