Into The Wild Persuasive Essay

Many individuals decide to live their life in solitary; though, only a few choose to live in the wild. The book, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer vividly paints the adventurous trek Chris McCandless went on. From the friends he made, to the hardships he went through, McCandless is portrayed as a friendly, sociable person despite the fact that he was a vagabond. Other than McCandless, there are even more individuals that have taken the risks to live in the wilderness such as, Jon Krakauer and Everett Ruess. All three of them had both similarities and differences between their own qualities as a person and their journey.

At the end of the chapter, McCandless tells the man to try living his life as simple as possible in order to find happiness. Hinting that McCandless could have felt a need to live a plain life in order to be content.

The first reason why McCandless left into the woods was because of the family issues with his parents. In the book McCandless states “I'm going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live¨(Krakauer 64). He wanted to do this because he parents were trying to control him and his decision to stay or go. But McCandless had enough of them and was tired of them trying to control his whole life. I understand where McCandless was coming from because I feel the same way he did right before he left.

Have you ever wondered what it's like to live in complete isolation? What it would be like if you were all alone? Some want that life more than anything. Others would abhor that. It is very debatable where Christopher McCandless is in those two groups. People speculate that even though he made a life-changing choice to leave everything he ever knew and be in complete isolation, that he never really wanted to. I think McCandless wanted to live in complete isolation because of his parents, his love of isolation, and his desire to do something he couldn't do.

Along with the claim that McCandless had issues with his family, there’s also evidence that points out that he was also influenced by his philosophical beliefs. This is shown throughout the novel that McCandless was described as an individual who was motivated to do things that he, himself, brought himself to do. His belief, which I the reader believe to be, has to do with self-reliance and liberty from society and its oppressing views. Within the story written by Krakauer, McCandless had shown signs that he clearly disliked the opinions of others as well as their their views which he, more than likely, found oppressive. And due to that, he decided to go into the wild to be free from such views since he intended to, as written in the novel, “...invent an utterly new life for himself, one in which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience,” (23).

First things first, Chris Mccandless followed his dream to escape society and live in nature. Once he got out of society and was on the road he delighted, "McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well—relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy” (Krakauer, 55). Chris had the capability of escaping the society where he could go off on a journey to find himself. Chris is one of the few people out there that has the mindset of doing whatever it is to achieve his dream. Not many people in this world are able to do that especially if it is going out into the wild to fulfill your dream, maybe they will swim 50 miles in an ocean

McCandless once again misunderstood what Thoreau said in “Walden” about leaving society. As stated in Into The Wild, “Near the end of his trip, it turned out, Chris had gotten lost in the Mojave Desert and had nearly succumbed to dehydration” (Krakauer 118). Chris had been too stubborn to believe he could not achieve something since he had proven to be good at everything he tried. Chris’ hubris would have to be his arrogance in believing he could do anything he wanted to. By McCandless going into the Mojave Desert was absurd because it was too far from society. Being too far from society can have consequences especially if you need help. Chris’ mind was too clouded to see or think that throughout his entire life. Chris McCandless misinterpreted Thoreau’s writing and he was crazy to shun society, which also help build on the idea that McCandless misunderstood “Self Reliance” and he made actions that ended up being hypocritical later on in his life.

McCandless does not value any of the materialistic ways of society or the way his actions affect other people. Many people rely on their loved ones for emotional support but McCandless was different in that he was perfectly comfortable with leaving society behind: "McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well—relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it. He had fled the claustrophobic confines of

Into the Wild is a novel about Chris McCandless who left everything, and everyone he knew after college and essentially disappeared into the wild. A commonly asked question at the end of Into The wild is why did Chris McCandless do this, why did he abandon his college education and everyone he knew. Many have tried to figure out just this question but with the help of the memoir Walden, a book that heavily inspired McCandless, it is easy to see why McCandless left his conventional life. These reasons are that He wanted to be more like nature, to go with the flow and not let every little thing throw him off, Chris took this to the extreme and literally joined nature to get a better understand of it. He also wanted to live a simpler life, Chris again took this to the extreme by leaving everything that was extra or unneeded in his life. The final reason is that he wanted to see what reality and real life must offer, he didn’t want to see and live with the reality that other people imposed on things.

Thoreau wished to live with only what was essential. He felt that how people in society were living was not how a man should truly live. At one point Thoreau described how most people go through the day as people who are sleeping.The text reads”The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred millions to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive”(14).The people who are sleeping just go about their day not really living, but just getting by. In order to keep himself awake, Thoreau distanced himself from society and decided to “drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”(16) McCandless held a similar view. He wanted to get out of the simple suburban life he had been raised in and live on his own away from others. In a letter to Ronald Franz, one of the many people touched by McCandless’ company, the young man encourages the older man to drop everything and do the things he may never have thought of doing before. he continues in saying,”So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure

Throughout the novel, Christopher McCandless’s character changed over time. Up to McCandless’s death, he wanted to live with the wild and to be away from civilization as far as possible. He changes his mind when he writes “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” (189). His purpose of living in the wild is to live with freedom and do whatever he wishes to do. However, he realizes he was a “refuge in nature” (189) and intended to abandon his solitary life and rejoin the human community. It is assumed that McCandless died a preventable death because of his unpreparedness, but it is now undeniable that his adversity is what caused his mortality. “…McCandless simple had the misfortune to eat moldy seeds. An innocent mistake, it was nevertheless

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.

Into the Wild is a modern day exploration of liberty found by eschewing custom and flinging oneself into the literal wilderness. Exploring Christopher McCandless' true story, the film couches McCandless' search for freedom in noble terms, quoting Lord Byron, for example. In addition, both John Stuart Mill and Anne Norton would appear to agree with McCandless' adventure, though there is also the cautionary possibility that McCandless was troubled and selfish rather than noble. John Stuart Mill and Anne Norton both argue for throwing off custom in order to find greater personal freedom. In that respect, McCandless certainly was a man after their own hearts. Unfortunately, it could also be forcefully argued that McCandless was utterly ignorant and lacked respect for the wilderness, for others who knew how to live in the wilderness, and for the family that he put through hell. Even 10-year-old girl scouts know that you should always be prepared but McCandless, a grown, intelligent man, did not bother to prepare himself. Consequently, McCandless could be viewed as a noble adventurer or as a fool.

Hunting is the way many Alaskans fill their freezers with organic, lean and overall environmentally friendly meat. Hunting is a fantastic way to build bonds between generations and between mankind and the environment. Many rural Alaskans would starve if they didn’t have a steady supply of big game and could hunt it. Hunting is a commendable sport if you use the whole animal, meaning meat and hide, and abide by all federal and local guidelines and regulations.

It had been a wonderful two weeks filled with hot days at the beach and new exciting foods, but summer was coming to an end now, and we had to go back home. As Macey and I pulled into the driveway and walked up the steps, I was hit with the reality that school would be starting in a couple of weeks, and I had a whole lot of preparing to do. While we were gone, a pile of mail had been collected with our names all over them. Bank...Boring. Enroll Today!...Boring. Back-to-School!...Boring. But one specific envelope caught my eye. It was smooth and white, with only the words “Clue #1” written on it.