Chris Mccandless Relationship In The Wild

by Krakauer 65). Purposefully going into the adventure unprepared like he did shows he was oblivious to the true cost of what was to happen, how it was essentially set up as a suicide mission rather than a connection with nature, an odyssey. Chris bit off more than he could chew, leading with a strong head and stubborn nature. In the chapters where he gained further help, staying out with some folks in the desert, Burres, an “aquaintance” of Chris, talks about how he left supplies, including clothes, food, etc. in the van they used, “The day after he left, I had found most of it in the van.

It has been very perplexing reading this novel and trying to truly understand the motives one would have to have to make the decisions McCandless made. I am questioning Chris’ motives for cutting ties with his family and travelling all around the country. I think that he truly had a deep love and spiritual connection with nature. It began as a young child when Walt McCandless (Chris’ father) took Chris on many excursions in the outdoors, such as hiking in the mountains. Chris immediately fell in love with nature and all of the pleasures it had to offer. Also, Chris was motivated by his withering relationship with his family. Early in his life his parents worked tirelessly and it was difficult for Chris to spend time and build a solid relationship with them. Throughout his young life he had disagreed with his parents about many aspects of life. It was said that he

He gave up his family and everything that was materialistic in order to be free from anything that might hold him back. McCandless gave up everything for a chance to view the world on his own. John Krauker recorded Chris’ letter stating, “Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon.and it would be a shame if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience” (57). McCandless believed that there was something greater than himself out in the world and wanted to know what it was.

Chris McCandless came from a very different lifestyle compared to that of Perry Smith and the Clutters. He was obedient and listened to his parents for the most part. However, Krakauer viewed McCandless’s parents as too demanding and ultimately implies that part of his death was brought on by his parents. Chris’s relationship with his father was stressed at best and Krakauer equally “believe[s] we were similarly affected by the skewed relationships we had with our fathers. And I suspect we had similar intensity, a similar heedlessness, a similar agitation of the soul" (159). Chris was a highly opinionated and willful young man with little room for negotiation with his father sharing those same qualities. His criticism towards his parents eventually turned to outright anger, and after his father’s secret double life is revealed Chris begins viewing his father as a

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.

Chris faced difficult and emotionally damaging challenges with his family dynamic growing up and wrote that he felt the most comfortable when his family took camping trips in nature. Chris’s father, Walt, was angry very often and used to make Chris and his sister, Carine, watch him beat their mom, Billy. Chris’s relationship with his sister was the only valuable and authentic relationship he had in his life. The epigraph in chapter seven of “Into The Wild” is the most important epigraph in the book because it provides a brief, yet accurate representation of Chris McCandless’s drive behind leaving his old life in society and pursuing a new life in the wild.

Another burden Christopher’s family laid on him was a massive amount of guilt. As mentioned above, Chris felt responsible for the ‘abandonment’ of Walt’s ex-wife and her children. Carine writes, “From the time we were small children, still unaware of how children come to be, I remember Chris being consistently told through our mother’s tears that the family struggles began with his birth, when she became ‘stuck’ with our dad. Chris carried this unfounded guilt with him until the wisdom that comes with age resulted in feelings of betrayal and eventually anger. This mislaid blame was never rescinded, only ignored.”3 Carine, Chris’s youngest and only natal sister, believed that the painful and unbearable family life that they endured provided Chris with a just reason to abandon his life. She respected this part of his motivation for leaving,

In the brighter spectrum of Mr. Chris McCandless, is his deep and intellectual personality, shining through on most every occasion with cynical value or an interesting opinion every now and then. In Chris’s deep scholarly thought he decides to give up many things for his own self righteousness in attemp to make himself free of any evil or distraction as well as anything that may hold him down. As a younger boy in high school he proved his good Samaritan self by spending weekends taking to the the streets, spending nights with prostitutes, the homeless, and the addicts, feeding them and experiencing a little of what they felt. As I mentioned before he gave up what he thought would ruin his dreams and soil his life, he rid his life of luxury and wealth along with long-term relationships with people. As one of the things that he had apparently given up was the desire of sex and all of it’s evils, and proclaimed that his need was much to great for something so petty. Truly I believe traveling as a child with his family engineered a mind set within Chris that made him feel as if familiarity was just a weight holding him down from the flight toward his dreams. He also thought that being lost in such a superficial and trivial society could help no one

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 possessed by a nomadic existence and was trying to share his principle of life to his friend by telling that the truth about life was to explore the nature. Chris McCandless's last letter to Wayne revealed his true passion of nature. "This is the last you shall hear from me...I now walk into the wild"(pg 69). Some people concluded that it was Chris McCandless's suicide letter. However, in my opinion, Chris McCandless was just a victim of his own ego, pride and confidence that made him to neglect basic precautions that keep one person alive. He was controlled by his own delusions and that made him eager to test himself into strenuousness which proved fatal to him.

     During Chris’s journey he never really opens up to anyone about his family. He doesn’t really show any affection towards them and if any it would be toward his sister Carnie. He writes in a letter to her stating that he is going to divorce his parents. The last time his parents saw him was after his graduation. Chris told his parents “ I think I’m going to disappear for a while” and that is the last they ever heard of him again.

Chris felt deceived and let down because of his father’s infidelity to both of his wives. Carine says in her interview with Krakauer, “When Walt’s double life came to light, the revelations inflicted deep wounds. All parties suffered terribly” (121). This is a perfect example of how the affair affected the McCandless family, thus giving him a major motivation to leave his parents. Another perspective of the father and son conflict in Into the Wild was between Chris and an elderly man that he met on the road named Ronald Franz. Ron Franz, whom was a father figure of sorts to Chris, felt a sense of treachery from his heavenly father, and this was all due to Chris’ elusion of close relationships. “I decided I couldn’t believe in a God who would let something that terrible happen to a boy like Alex” (60). That was a father son conflict on more of a spiritual level in the book, and it is clear that Chris had such a large impact on Franz. His impact on Ronald Franz was so compelling, that he even offered to adopt Chris, only to be rejected, which was also an underhanded sort of betrayal on Chris’ part. Krakauer added this element to the book because once there is betrayal, the casualty is

Throughout his adolescent to young adult years it was very clear that Chris had an attachment to the wild. In chapter 11, as Walt reminisces about Chris and their family camp trips he reflects, “‘Chris loved those trips, the longer the better . . .’”(108). Even at a very young age, Chris had a fascination about living within

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

When Ron had found out, he had “renounced the Lord…and became an atheist” as well as started drinking again, for he “couldn’t believe in a God” who would let something like that happen (Krakauer 60). Despite their relatively short time together, the old man had grown a strong attachment to Chris. Accordingly, Ron felt devastated at the loss of the young Mccandless, for it was enough to push him to abandon his religion and break his resolve to never drink again. Another person who was saddened by Chris’s passing would be Mary Westerberg, Wayne’s mom. She had met him once and had only talked with him for a few hours, yet that short amount of time with him was enough for her to gain a liking for him. When asked about her thoughts about his death, she admitted that “it [amazed her] how much [she