Chris Mccandless Flaws In Into The Wild

Luke Fletcher Mrs. Flores English 12 6 March 2024 The Fatal Flaws of Chris McCandless Abandoning your entire family to pursue solitude in the wilderness requires a great degree of boldness and delusion. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a biography about a young man named Chris McCandless, who deserted his ordinary life to embark on a mission of living frugally and immersing himself in nature. His brave efforts and unique ideals may have inspired some; however, Chris was ultimately a reckless narcissist who embodied acute stubbornness, a lack of sympathy, and an irrational hatred for society. Foremost, Chris’ stubborn mentality created critical gaps in his logic that eventually led to his death. He refused to accept advice or help from anybody, even his closest friends.

In many cases Alaskans took offense to McCandless underestimating the skillfulness needed to survive off the land. Many of them thought he was crazy and got lucky for lasting as long as he did. All the responses John Krakauer recorded that were written by Alaskans were replies to an article on McCandless in Outside magazine. This response is an example of how some Alaskans felt, “Personally I see nothing positive at all about Chris McCandless lifestyle or wilderness

And McCandless almost pulled it off’” (Krakauer 185). McCandless’s action of living in the Alaskan interior took guts, and most people don’t have the courage to do what he did. People may say that his courage and determination was inspiring, but in the end, his decision was made with little thought, which resulted in the mistakes that led to his death. Chris McCandless was a smart man that made poor decisions.

It has been said that some find life after death. This stands true for Christopher McCandless, the main protagonist in Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Into the Wild is journalist Jon Krakauer’s narration of McCandless ditching his life of privilege and hitch hiking around America, until he would eventually trek into the Alaskan Wilderness and lose his life due to starvation. After McCandless is found dead, news of his death sweeps across the nation as his untimely departure faces criticism for being deserved, as McCandless went into the wilderness extremely underprepared. Through this novel, Krakauer brings McCandless’s spirit back to life again as he uses anecdotes, ethos, and aphorisms to convince readers that McCandless’s expedition was not an act of craziness, but an act of a free spirit that many can relate to.

Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, describes the adventure of Christopher McCandless, a young man that ventured into the wilderness of Alaska hoping to find himself and the meaning of life. He undergoes his dangerous journey because he was persuade by of writers like Henry D. Thoreau, who believe it is was best to get farther away from the mainstreams of life. McCandless’ wild adventure was supposed to lead him towards personal growth but instead resulted in his death caused by his unpreparedness towards the atrocity nature.

Many people have formed strong opinions about the young Chris McCandless, from the story Into the Wild, who ventured into the Alaskan wilderness where he eventually starved to death there. These opinions vary in ideas, but one Shaun Callarman has claimed Chris to be “just plain crazy.” Despite what Shaun Callarman says, Chris was not crazy, but he was smart and intelligent or else he would not have lasted 113 days in the wild of Alaska. Mr. Callarman does have some arguments which are able to support his claim, but in the end I would definitely disagree with his analysis.

Chris McCandless, also known as Alex Supertramp, was an ignorant and blatantly stupid child trapped in his own reality, and he used his traumatic childhood to try and justify the poor decisions that would eventually lead to his untimely demise. Chris McCandless was just an ordinary guttersnipe that John Krakauer wrongfully glorified in his obsession called Into The Wild. In April 1992, Chris ran from all of his problems and heads into the brutal Alaskan wilderness unequipped and alone. Before he wandered into Alaska, he donated twenty four thousand dollars to charity and left everything else behind. Four months later, the inevitable happened and he died. He starved to death after he thought it was a good idea to bring only a ten pound bag of rice to nourish him for one hundred days. Chris had a book on what plants to eat and not to eat, yet he still ate one of the plants with poisonous seeds that would prevent digestion. Chris’s lack of intelligence, selfishness, and cowardice is what makes him thickheaded.

Chris McCandless, the main character in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, had troubles with his dad and wanted to leave society, so he donated most of his money and left his home to experience the wild. In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer characterizes Christopher McCandless as self-reliant and unmaterialistic. Chris McCandless is self-reliant because he thought his instincts and intuition would guide him on his journey. Chris began his adventure after telling his parents he would “‘live off the and for a few months’” (Krakauer, 4).

Jon Krakauer's novel, Into the Wild, relates a true story of a young man named Christopher McCandless and his remarkable but fatal journey to discover contentment in the Alaskan wilderness. Krakauer wrote a magazine article about McCandless in 1993 and became obsessed with discovering more about the young boy and his death. With his novel, he shares the story of McCandless and hopes to ignite the same interest in his readers as he developed when he first heard of the boy’s enthralling story. He hopes to enlighten his readers’ views on how happiness can be achieved and spread McCandless’s insatiable desire for adventure to young people today who are seeking the meaning of life and the joy that comes along with it. Krakauer’s eloquent writing and candid tone make Into the Wild an authentic, effective tribute to the life of Christopher McCandless.

First, Chris McCandless came from a family who looked for the best for him and his future, although McCandless did not view the intentions of his parents that way. McCandless built despite towards his parents, because of a discovery he made during the summer. Krakauer states, "Chris's smoldering anger, it turns out, was fueled by... his father's previous marriage and subsequent divorce" (Krakauer 121). After that discovery McCandless was determined to take his odyssey all the way to Alaska and managed to continue his contumacious thoughts throughout the journey and not write or speak to his parents.

Chris McCandless was different from other people. His ideas were perceived as strange from the outside eye. Was McCandless crazy or was he simply misunderstood? Everyone has their own opinion on this question including Shaun Callarman. He believes Chris is “ just plain crazy,” however there is no hard evidence that proves this statement or completely backs it up. Callarman says "I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness. He made a lot of mistakes based on ignorance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy." This statement says that he is ignorant and yes

There is no question that Chris McCandless had reason for the courageous, difficult, or some may even call suicidal stunt he pulled. Throwing away your education, giving up your most precious possessions, and burning all the money in your wallet must have a purpose behind it. McCandless was the type of person who would rather give than receive and did not like having things done for him and demonstrated strong characteristics of being independent. Although, out of the thousands of reasons that could have drawn him to make this drastic decision I believe it was literary influences and his philosophical beliefs that impacted his choice the most.

Jon Krakauer, fascinated by a young man in April 1992 who hitchhiked to Alaska and lived alone in the wild for four months before his decomposed body was discovered, writes the story of Christopher McCandless, in his national bestseller: Into the Wild. McCandless was always a unique and intelligent boy who saw the world differently. Into the Wild explores all aspects of McCandless’s life in order to better understand the reason why a smart, social boy, from an upper class family would put himself in extraordinary peril by living off the land in the Alaskan Bush. McCandless represents the true tragic hero that Aristotle defined. Krakauer depicts McCandless as a tragic hero by detailing his unique and perhaps flawed views on society,

     One of the chief reasons why Chris McCandles had died of starvation in Alaska was because he was reckless. He was reckless because he was so ill prepared for his journey, and arrogant because he refused to listen to the advice of natives, such as Alex. Chris was intelligent and he knew the conditions of Alaska, but he did not prepare for it. Even after Chris was warned he was determined in carrying out his plans. He was also reckless in thinking that he would be able to come out of Alaska alive. Krakuer writes that Gallien said, ‘I said hunting wasn’t easy that where he was going he could go days without killing any game’ (Krakuer 6). He adds that ‘Alex didn’t seem too worried and he wouldn’t give an inch. He had an answer for everything I threw at him’ (Krakuer 6). If Chris was properly prepared he may have made it out of Alaska alive, rather than dying of starvation. However, he traveled with cheap leather hiking boots, a .22 caliber that was

Chris McCandless was just a victim of his own obsession. The novel "Into The Wild" written by John Krakauer revealed the life of a young bright man named Chris McCandless who turned up dead in Alaska in summer 1992. In the novel, John Krakauer approached carefully McCandless's life without putting too much authorial judgment to the readers. Although Chris McCandless remained an elusive figure throughout the novel, I can see Chris McCandless as a dreamy young idealist who tries to follow his dream but failed because of his innocent mistake which prove to be fatal and irreversible. Still, Chris McCandless's courage and passion was something that we should all be proud of.