Struggles - They Come and They Go
The impact both reading and writing have had on me throughout my school years has always been changing. While I have always struggled with reading comprehension, and anxiety in putting my thoughts into words when writing, I have found some relief when I am able to connect to a character in a book, or given freedom to find a topic I am interested in; which makes me excited and passionate about sharing my thoughts through writing.
For some, reading and writing may come easy, but in my case I have always had difficulties. From my earliest years, the ability to read was never a struggle but having the ability to comprehend what I had read when I was finished has always been a weakness of mine. This made it extremely
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Torbett’s class, the book I most remember reading and having a significant interest in was Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I believe that this novel caught my attention because the main character, Chris McCandless, was a transcendentalist and I had always been interested in the inner goodness of people, and nature like he was. Sherman Alexie once said, “life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community,” which reminds me of McCandless, in the sense that he was a free-spirited man who did not want to be like the “corrupt” society. Through this character and his journey throughout the book, I was able to really connect to reading in a more personal way, which allowed reading to begin impacting me in a much greater way than before. Another example of finding a more comfortable place in reading through a connection with characters was freshman year when I read the book Hold Still by Nina LaCour. LaCour’s novel was a story about suicide and depression, something my peers and I were experiencing at the time, which made it interesting to read and easier to stay engaged. Therefore, I felt like the author approached suicide and depression with respect and honesty, and that gave me a new insight into mental illness. That new insight had a critical impact on me during the time one of my own family members struggled with mental illness and tragically ended her life. Finding these connections when reading is very important for me and my reading and learning experience. It has helped immensely to find out what it is that makes it easier to not only stay engaged while reading, but to be able to go back and comprehend and discuss what the book was about. During my short high school years, I have found that it is the connection to the character or story that allows reading to impact me in the best way
doesn't like living with them and wants to live alone and one of the reasons is because of his parents and family. This made him seek into adventuring into the wild.
The year was 1992 where Alaskan Police Troopers discovered the body of Chris McCandless inside an abandoned bus weighing only 67 pounds. Strangely, there was no sign of an illness found during the autopsy, but later the doctor positively confirm the cause of death of the victim was starvation. How did this incident came to a tragic ending like this? It all started when Chris McCandless decided to left his family and home behind and decided to live off into the Alaskan Wilderness. Due to his infamous stubborn streak in his ideals, Chris McCandless was an ambitious young man who would stop at nothing in order to attain personal freedom away from society behavior expectations.
“In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do East Coast family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later his decomposed body was found by a party of moose hunters.” (Author’s Note) The hitchhiker found was Christopher Johnson McCandless, although no one knew who it was for a while until they investigated the case and found out it was Christopher McCandless. He grew up in Washington D.C., where he was a great athlete and excelled academically. After graduating from Emory University with honors, McCandless wanted to start a new life. He changed his name, gave all his money to a charity, abandoned his family and his car, and burned all the cash he had carried in his wallet and went off into the wild. His family had no clue to where he could have possibly gone until what was left of him turned up in Alaska.
The Noble and Extraordinary Legacy of Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless, the enigmatic protagonist of Jon Krakauer's "Into the Wild," has sparked a polarizing debate about his character and actions. Some view him as a reckless narcissist, while others see him as a noble and determined individual. This essay will argue that Chris McCandless should be remembered as a noble, determined, brave, and extraordinary individual, despite the criticisms against him. Chris McCandless's decision to leave behind his comfortable life and embark on a journey of self-discovery in the Alaskan wilderness was driven by noble intentions.
The novel Into The Wild is a beautifully written novel by jon krakauer about the adventure of a young man named chris mccandless. The title is from the final letter that he wrote to wayne westerberg before he left from society to be free. As a whole the book is a beautiful story about his emotions and adventures across the country. It is an example of a man achieving true freedom through hard emotional turmoil. The fact that it actually happened also adds a sense of sympathy with the man chris mccandless. In the novel Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer demonstrates Chris Mccandless achieving his freedom.
In 1996 Jon Krakauer wrote a book called Into the Wild about a young man who embarked on a great journey across the United States and the Alaskan wilderness. In this book Krakauer gives an account of Chris McCandless’s short life and he searches for clues that could lead to the cause of McCandless’s of death. As the story develops and McCandless goes further into his journey, his ideas about many things, such as money, change.
Chris McCandless, college graduate at 1990, went on a journey to find out the meaning of happiness. Adam Shepard also a college graduate,went out to prove the American
In particular McCandless began the glorious adventure in the state of Georgia. Starting his dreams, becoming an independant man no longer in college and off to discover himself. McCandless was a free man leaving his belongings with the U.S. postal service which were later turn over to his parents. As a result the reader views first hand the goals of Chris McCandless. In effect McCandless showed determination turning down a career his parents would offer as well as a brand new car. As can be seen the goals he set out for were self reliance and live by the code of nature turning down a guaranteed career showed an example of his goals, turning down his parents support and making a man for himself.
Writing has never come easy to me. It may be due to my short attention span or the fact I am not much of a reader. When I was younger
Finding the true identity and relation with society can be accomplished in many ways. Transcendentalism is a philosophy which says that logic and metaphysical things are more real than typical human experience and material things. In Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book Into the Wild, he argues that Chris McCandless devotes his life to Transcendentalism because he rejects society and materialism to live individually in the Alaskan Wilderness. Although, McCandless makes mistakes, he shares happiness with the people he meets and impacts their lives.
Growing up in Virginia with a large family can be tough. But imagine growing up with domestic violence, yelling, and screaming. Growing up in that environment can be very stressful, which was the case for Chris McCandless. To add to the tragic situation, he found out during high school that his mother and father were not married when he was born. His life had become unfamiliar to him and he yearned to escape his parents. Influences from Emerson, Thoreau and other naturalists inspired him to walk into the wild to evade the confines of his situation. The author of Into the Wild used Chris’s connections to Thoreau to help tell McCandless’s story. The book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, has small connections to my own life, remarkable similarities
b) In the beginning of his journey, Chris McCandless is very adventurous and has a positive outlook throughout his journey. “I’ll be fine with what I’ve got.” (Krakauer, 6) This shows he is happy, as he wanted to ‘live off the land’ and is eager to get there. By the end of his journey Chris is in need of help as he is starving in his base camp in Alaska. Although his poor health, and awareness that his death would come soon, he is overall content with his journey and had accepted his death writing in a death note, “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may god bless all.” (Krakauer, 199) This shows he was in a happy state when he died that day. Chris’ character had not changed much throughout his journey because of who he
Writing has always been my most difficult part of English. Reading, on the other hand, is something I could do all day; however, with writing, I grimace just thinking about it. It was not that I did not have anything to say, because I actually have quite a bit to say. I just could never figure out how to phrase what I had to say in just right way on the page. My mom taught me to read and write at a young age. After that, I would devour any book that I could get my hands on. However, I have had trouble with writing since it became more than just my alphabet and numbers.
Writing has always played a huge role in my life. I’ve been reading writing for as long as I can remember as I have an immense love of reading. This love would grow into a love for writing as well; I still stumble upon journals and writings from my five-year-old self about the happenings in my kindergarten class. As time would go on I would discover academic writing, and how to convey my thoughts on what was the topic of student that particular year or semester in my schooling. Later, writing would become a constant for me, and a comfort; I was known to my friends as always having a journal, and a pen on my person. I learned to write down my feelings and my thoughts, song lyrics that were in my head, reflections for the day. I learned how
Writing has always been something I dread. It’s weird because I love talking and telling stories, but the moment I have to write it all down on paper, I become frantic. It’s almost as if a horse race just begun in my mind, with hundreds of horses, or words, running through my mind, unable to place them in chronological order. Because I struggle to form satisfying sentence structure, it takes me hours, sometimes even days, to write one paper. It’s not that I think I’m a “bad writer,” I just get discouraged easily. Needless to say, I don’t think highly of my writing skills. When I was little I loved to both read and write. I read just about any book I could get my hands on, and my journal was my go to for my daily adventures. Although it’s