Christopher McCandless is a very well rounded intelligent young man that sets his sights on hitchhiking to Alaska and living in the wilderness when doing so. Many believe that his actions were foolish and selfish, however I believe that Chris was determined in what he did. From a very young age Chris was always the adventurous outgoing boy who was fearless and thought that “... the odds didn’t apply to him.” (109). This just goes to show that during his journey he never once thought that he should just give up and go back to his lifestyle because that type of thoughts were never put into his head. Furthermore, Chris had always been a hard worker in anything that he encountered, whether it be selling vegetables at the age of eight, to graduating
The book about Chris McCandless’s journey into the Alaskan bush, Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, received a lot of criticism about Chris being foolish for being unprepared. From the articles that I have read, most of the sources do believe that he was poorly prepared for his journey. But there are a few people who believe he was prepared mentally, and an even smaller amount believe he was fully prepared. I believe that Chris only knew what he was doing mentally. He did not have the correct tools or the developed skills to survive, for an extended period of time in the wild. But, he did know what he was about to get himself into. He planned out the trip and knew exactly what his risk factors were. Chris McCandless was either prepared
Along with making the mistake of neglecting his family, Chris was very overconfident as well. Without doing his research about Alaska and its environment, he was convinced he would be able to survive in the wild. According to Jim Gallien, the man who transported Chris from Fairbanks to the Stampede Trail, McCandless’s equipment “seemed exceedingly minimal for the harsh conditions of the interior, which in April lay buried under the winter snowpack” (Krakauer 5). A ten-pound bag of rice, poor leather hiking boots, a .22 caliber rifle, and a shabby state map were Chris’s only possessions. Gallien did his best to convince Chris to not go into the wild, especially during that time, but nothing changed Chris’s mind. Keeping this in mind, Krakauer
Chris McCandless had admirable plans. Chris McCandless wanted to prove that he can survive on his own and have his own independence. Chris was a hardworking and was considered one of the best at his job. McCandless was considered an overall great person Westerberg stated, “ He was the hardest worker I’ve ever seen. And totally honest--what you’d call extremely ethical.”(3). Chris McCandless prove to be hardworking in order to get all the way to Alaska, even though he didn't get to accomplish his goal.
In April 1992 after almost two years tramping around the Western part of the United States, Chris Johnson McCandless hitchhiked into into the Alaskan wilderness without proper equipment and never came back out alive. Jon Krakauer author of Into the Wild the biography of Chris McCandless’s stated, that Chris’s personality caused him a lot of conflict during his short life. Chris hated being told what to do, yet loved to succeed and create his own path in life. Though some would argue that McCandless’s was childish and ignorant for committing foolhardy actions, he had rather reasonable motives.
Chris was very intelligent receiving a degree from Emory University, graduating with a double major in history and anthropology. Chris had high honors and was on course to get into Harvard. After graduating he decided to move travel across the country and up into Alaska. Many people are stuck thinking he was not prepared for this journey but it is widely believed that “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 do previously slim margin for error. He knew precisely what was at stake.” (182) Chris lasted a very long time with very little. He did what many people couldn't and that is to survive in
Usually when people are angry at their parents or have bad experiences they lock themselves in a room or simply take a walk, no one usually travels all the way to Alaska. Many people throughout the world have gone through a lot of bad experiences, terrible childhood, horrible environment, and many more. Nobody usually hitch hikes all the way to get to Alaska, there has to be a good explanation or a reason for someone to have the courage to do that. In the book “Into the Wild”, by Jon Krakauer has told a wonderful story about Christopher McCandless and all about his journey. Many people should applaud him for his courageousness from all what he has done. McCandless has had a rough childhood in which caused him to take a lot of the decisions
After reading the book "Into the wild" it was pretty amazing and the way Mcacandless got to live with life the way you wanted and got to explore different things was amazing to read. McCandless is a very outgoing, smart, funny kid who loves to explore and travel on his own and didn't depend on anyone. He lived who's life with freedom.
Since the story of Chris McCandless was originally published in January of 1996, there have been many arguments as to why Chris went on his voyage into the wild. Some think that he was extremely ignorant venturing into the wild with the little amount of supplies that he had; on the other hand, some believed he was a true transcendentalist living aromantic life as it was meant to be lived. Although there are plenty of people are on both sides of the argument, after reading and analyzing Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, it is easy to see that Chris was a foolish idiot who paid the ultimate price because of his foolishness because he did not have adequate gear needed for his trek in the alaska wilderness and he did not take time to learn about the
The tale of McCandless is read over high schools everywhere. Classes discuss who he really was. Most critics state that he was ignorant, by not being properly equipped with knowledge and tools. However, this shouldn’t make him innocent. Personally, I believe McCandless was arrogant, but not selfish.
What if you went on a journey and you had to start all over with just $20 and the clothes on your back. Would you be able to do it? Adam Shepard left his old life and started a new one with only $25 and his clothes on his back. He left so he can search and achieve the American dream. Chris McCandless also left his old life and went on a journey to Alaska. They were both young, educated men who wanted to travel and leave everything behind them in the past and not to look or go back until they did what they needed to do. Adam Shepard was achieving a lot of his accomplishments so he can prove that you can have the American dream.
Life is about considering others and their feelings, but there are people who only think about themselves, sometimes on purpose sometimes inherently. In the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer the main protagonist Chris McCandless was inherently selfish in his journey into Alaska.
He successfully made it to Alaska, got away from society, lived in the wilderness, and found the happiness he was looking for, even if he did end up dying. Some may argue that Chris McCandless was not successful, and that he died trying to live in the wilderness alone, away from society. When Chris was near death, he knew it was upon him long before he was “stuck in the wilderness.” Toward the end of Chris’s life, Jon Krakauer noted that he was becoming too weak to efficiently live in the wilderness for much longer. “He was now too weak to hunt efficiently and thus grew weaker still, sliding closer and closer towards starvation.
Christopher McCandless was an adventurer no doubt. He spent the last few years of his life living purely off the land and exploring, doing what he felt called to do. However, to venture off on such an intense, dangerous, and wild journey, a person most likely has some deeply thought out reason as to why he or she is embarking on the mission. Chris himself seems to have had some reasons, besides his curiosity, as to why he explored. However, he made a decision to leave without truly thinking about just how dangerous his journey was going to be. Due to his rash actions, Chris eventually died in an abandoned bus out in the wild. Now, some folks today think that Chris was a hero for doing what interested him and for doing his own thing without worrying about the trivial things in life. However, I have reason to believe that Chris was indeed not a hero. Instead, I believe that Chris McCandless’s journey into the wild was rash, ludicrous and foolish.
As we read through the book “Into The Wild” we Journeyed alongside Chris McCandless As he made his way across the Country on Alaskan Odyssey. As he journeyed he met many people and made many “friends” along the way, however eventually he turned up dead in Alaska. As his story spread throughout the world he many people believed he was courageous and noble, however some believed that he was being a reckless idiot. Now this bears the question, what are my views on Chris’s journey to alaska? Do I believe that he was courageous and noble or a reckless idiot? I actually Side with the fact that he was a reckless idiot, I do not believe he was courageous and noble at all, even though many may disagree
“Even staid, prissy Thoreau, who famously declared that it was enough to have “traveled a good deal in concord” felt compelled to visit the more fearsome wilds of nineteenth- century Maine and climb Mt. Katahdin. His ascent of the peak’s “savage and awful, though beautiful” ramparts shocked and frightened him, but it also induced a giddy sort of awe. The disquietude he felt on Katahdin’s granite heights inspired some of his most powerful writing and profoundly colored the way he thought thereafter about the earth in its coarse, undomesticated state. Unlike Muir and Thoreau, 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. He soon discovered, however,