Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild, By Sean Penn

For him, spending a year or two in the Alaskan wilderness was his way of doing that. In my opinion, Chris had every right to go into the Alaskan wilderness and Shaun Callarman had no business questioning Chris’ right to do so. Shaun Callarman talks about romantic silliness. “...going into Alaska with his romantic silliness” (Krakauer, 1997) At what point was Chris trying to be romantic? He was just trying to find himself and escape the life that brought him so much pain. He wasn’t on some grand quest for some romantic journey.

Another one of the reasons Chris left was to pursue a life of adventure. Chris liked the wilderness he probably thought that it was peaceful and a spiritual enlightenment just a quiet place to reflect on life and think or not think at all. Life of adventure was where he can live life differently and explore the wilderness. This adventure made McCandless think about life in a different perspective and when he was in the woods he lived more traditionally, with no gadgets, no making his life simpler. “McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as

First, Chris McCandless wasn’t crazy. He was a normal guy who was open minded and wanted to be adventurous. He also didn’t like his parents which is a reason why he left towards Alaska. Chris most certainly had the right to travel and explore. He was free and independent. “I’ll be fine with what I’ve got” (Krakaeur 6). McCandless said this because he wants to be on his own and be one with nature. Chris was seeking to be close to nature which is why he wanted to go

Chris McCandless was a man who decided he wanted to do something on his own that required a huge amount of skills that would really put him to the test when it came to survival. He didn’t tell his family what his plans were for his journey, he got rid of the rest of the money that he owned, his his belongings, and he disappeared from the face of the Earth on foot to Alaska. His family searched for him and they didn’t find him til months later after being told that he was found dead in an old bus by hunters. Chris wanted to see if he would be able to live in the wilderness on his own for a while and return in one piece. It was very understandable to him that it was a possibility he might not make an outcome and to me I find him admirable for

Loosing those opportunities doesn’t make him a nutcase or a sociopath because he knew what he was getting into. He made a plan for everything that he was going to do and where he was going. McCandless had a great strategy for getting to Alaska, which was that he explored first before heading to Alaska to be used to the place where he was headed. He wanted to experience true freedom to explore, meet new people and live off the land, which he accomplished. He made some acquaintances that left a trail of where he had been. Others do believe that he was a total nutcase for running away from a ‘great’ and ‘loving’ family that everyone thought he had and also for running away having a successful career ahead of him. But of course, there is always a second side of the story, which Carine McCandless gave later on after the book was published. She made everyone see that Chris McCandless was just trying to escape the life that he was

In 1992, when Chris McCandless abandoned modern society and fled to Alaska to find himself and, in the long run, lose his life, Americans from all over saw his death as a tragic downfall, and his story as a relatable and moving tale of a young man simply trying to make a difference. On the other hand, others looked at his journey to be an inevitable suicide-trip, considering his lack of supplies and overall experience. However, despite the fact that he was unprepared, McCandless, because of his ideas and motivation for a better world, was justified in shunning society in order to pursue his dream life on the Alaskan frontier.

In the book Into the Wild, the main character, Chris McCandless, abandoned his family and friends to start a journey on his own. He traveled across the U.S. and met new people before reaching his ultimate goal: going to Alaska to live in the wild. His story is very controversial because many debate whether he was justified in leaving his family without a trace. I believe Chris was justified in going on his journey because his dad had continued a relationship with his first wife while he had started another family, he didn’t want to live in this materialistic world, and he wanted to find out who he was. First, throughout the book, Chris’s childhood and family relationship is mentioned.

In the article the background information of who he was and his family was given. In the movie Into the Wild it goes through all of his journey, the people he met and “Alex Supertramp” who was McCandless. McCandless did not have a reason to prove anything like Shepard McCandless only wanted to be happy. “If you want something in this life, reach out and grab it” (Intothewild). Chris wanted to be in Alaska so he did, everything he did was to reach Alaska despite everyone he meet and those who cared about him but left them, everyone he met knew his goal was to get to

Chris McCandless died doing what he loved, but was it worth all of the pain and uncertainty he caused his family? Chris embarked on a journey through the Alaskan wilderness, which resulted in his demise. He cut ties with his family due to personal differences in opinion and travelled all around the country living off of the land for the most part. People have formed many different opinions of Chris McCandless, but its up to you to decide whether his actions were selfish or purposeful. In this Journal, I will be questioning the motives of McCandless, connecting with him, as well as evaluating the author.

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.

Callarman tends to believe that Chris is crazy, although I know he’s not. Rachel states “McCandless travels throughout North America, following three main Transcendentalist ideals: a minimalist lifestyle, the disconnection of society, and a reverence for both God and nature.” (Lin, R. n.d.) , by that statement, it shows that from that point in his life he’s going to be disconnected from society. I believe that when he was making his choice to go to Alaska he wanted to be with nature and try for himself with god too. Rachel comments on the part where Chris lights his money on fire by saying,

This is one reason why he decided to leave home; he wanted to experience the life of not having anything to his name, this is also shown through out the book during his journeys, however this not the only reason why he left home. The ultimate reason why he left home was because of what his father had done. A cab driver name Stuckey whom helped McCandless reach Alaska elaborated that McCandless said that he found out that his father was living a bigamist life and that it went against Chris’s beliefs (159). This was ultimately one of the reasons why Chris left home and had no feelings towards his parents. This exhibits the hatred and no remorseful attitude McCandless had through out the book towards his parents, especially his father. However, this attitude towards his father and civilization is justified completely when he decided to leave home and take on the wilderness.

Chris McCandless was a very unique individual. In Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, he tries his best to make sense of McCandless’ journey to the Alaskan wilderness. However, he never really figured out what McCandless’ purpose of the trip was. Looking at McCandless’ life throughout the book, I believe that Chris McCandless went on his journey to find happiness within his own life and did achieve it in the end.

I think he just wanted to pursue life in a different way. Chris was not seeing life the way anyone else was so he decided to brush off into the wild and be free on his own. Though he did not survive he was still a very bright, arrogant human being. Shaun Callarman states, “He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness.” Chris knew going into the wild that he did not have much survival skills but that did not stop him from doing what he wanted to do because he did not care about society and was just completely over everything which was why he made the move to the wilderness. This clearly shows us that Chris did not have much common sense. If he had better survival skills and common sense he probably would have known not to eat that poisonous berry. It was his dream to be in the wild and he decided to pursue it. I respect his decisions and i personally believe it was a good decision other than the fact of him dying. He made the infinitive decision to do all of this so why stop

The story of Chris McCandless has become a pop culture phenomenon. Many are fascinated by his desire to abandon his family and society and “walk into the wild” (Krakauer 69). Newscasts, magazine articles, movies, and books have tried to define what motivated him to give up everything for his Alaskan odyssey; however, the answers died with McCandless. People make assumptions about him without knowing his entire story. McCandless chose to do the unconventional, making people think he was either foolish or brave and determined, but ultimately he was selfish for doing what he did.