In the novel, Into the wild, author Jon Krakauer follows the journey of Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless is a twenty-four year's old boy who graduated from college when he decides to leave his family to go into the wilderness. Although Chris McCandless’s journey proves fatal, he lives on through the ongoing debate whether he was ignorant or not. According to the article, “The beatification of Chris McCandless”, Medrid shares the feelings of many readers who believe McCandless was selfish, arrogant, and ignorant. However, Chris McCandless was not what people thought of. During Chris’s journey, he was able to accomplish a lot which most people would dream of. For instance, “By the end of summer in 1990, McCandless had driven his Datsun through Arizona, California, and South Dakota, where he worked at a grain elevator in Carthage.” Also, one day “A flash flood disabled his car, at which point he removed its license plates, took what he could carry, and kept moving on foot.” This proves that Chris McCandless was not ignorant. Chris McCandless always kept moving on no matter what conflict came his way. When he went into the wild, he was committed to staying there as long as he could. He survived for four months in the wild. However, he is …show more content…
In the book, Into the Wild, he inspired one of his friend, Ronald Franz who helped drive Chris to places where he needed to during his journey. For instance, Ronald Franz drove Chris McCandless to San diego and had a place ready for him to stay in. Chris was able to inspire by making Ronald Franz go out and explore nature rather sit on the couch every day. Not only that but a lot of kids that read about Chris’s journey are inspired by it. Medrid is wrong about Chris. He makes it sound like he did had no idea what he was doing. Although, Chris may have some negative impacts on people and made mistakes but at the end of the day, no one is
One would agree with the author that Chris McCandless wasn’t a crazy person, a sociopath, or an outcast because he got along with many people very well, but he did seem incompetent, even though he survived for a while in the wild on his own. It was amazing Chris survived for so long but he did know stuff about the wild, just not enough, but he was very bright and made good decision. Also on his journey he made friends easily and had a very strong impact on them.
The romantic notion of condemning society and leaving everything behind is one many have had, but next to none have carried out. While there are reasons for this, Christopher McCandless disregarded them and completed this surreal experience. John Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, chronicled this journey from Virginia to Alaska. On this expedition McCandless touched many people’s lives, working odd-jobs and hitching rides. He eventually met his end while on his Alaskan odyssey, his most ambitious campaign. Many people think that he deserved this fate because of his disregard for the dangers of the Alaskan wilderness. However, Chris McCandless was independent and he did not care for fitting in. His happiness with his life was uncommon. He was
Into The Wild was a tremendous story which Shaun Callarman did not have many positive things to say about Chris McCandless, the main character. He went on this adventure to find out what life is all about in his own eyes. He wanted to see how different living in the wild really was compared to society because he was not satisfied with his living arrangements and household. Shaun’s quote says that he thinks “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 arrogance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy,” shows that Shaun believes Chris had no common sense in his doing for leaving society for the wild. I agree with Callarman’s position for thinking “ he had no common sense” and that he
It was very unlikely for the friends he made to ever see him again as he was destined to live a life of isolation from society. On one of McCandless’s letter he wrote, “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 security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one piece of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.” I feel like Chris is trying to inspire people to live the life they want and
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.
Chris was a very stubborn individual and never wanted to compromise his morals to please others. Chris never listened to suggestions or advisement of others as he was on his journey. His incompetence and inability to take other people’s advisement into account was ultimately was caused his death. Gallien tried to warn McCandless of the rough conditions by telling him “the hunting wasn’t easy where he was going, that he could go days without killing any game” (Krakauer 5). Gallien is just one example of someone who tried to help McCandless realize that living alone in Alaska would be very gueling, but McCandless assumed that if he could survive for a month in the Gulf of California, he would also be able to thrive in Alaska. Of course Chris ignored Galliens advice and did things his own way because he’s stubborn. One of Chris’ flaws was that he had very strong opinions that were so different from the rest of society and was fiercely independent. Chris’ beliefs and points of view led to him going into the wild without anyone aware of his whereabouts. Chris never wanted help from anyone and he expressed this when he said, “I won’t run into anything I can’t deal with on my own”(Krakauer 6). Chris also “hadn’t spoken to his family in nearly two years”(Krakauer 6). Both of these quotes emphasize the fact that he felt the need to be utterly alone. If Chris had told someone his real name and his desired destination then he wouldn’t have died alone in Alaska. Chris would’ve been better off if he had listened to the advice he was given and if he had told people about his whereabouts.
Chris McCandless as depicted in the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer and in the movie of the same name by Sean Penn, was not ignorant and he did have common sense. He had every reason to go into the Alaskan wilderness and to say he had no common sense is ridiculous. He was definitely not crazy and his courage and noble ideas should be admired. He was a man that followed his dreams and did something that most of us wish we had the guts to do. What Chris McCandless A.K.A Alexander Supertramp did, was admirable and worthy of respect.
If Chris was a real hero, he would’ve came up with his own trail and followed his own footsteps and discovered something new, and something no one has never been on. In the authors note Krakauer writes, “..McCandless particular admired how the great novelist had forsaken a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute.” Chris following another person’s footsteps doesn’t make you a hero, it makes you a follower.
It is false for Chris to be perceived as a hero because Chris could have helped a great amount of people with his wits and generosity, but he fled alternatively. His family always thought of him to be a caring young man with maturity beyond his age. He had the talents to be come a highly respected professional man who could help people in need. His mother told him that he would be in a much better position to help others if he “had some leverage first. Go to school, get a law degree and then you’ll have a real impact” (Krakauer 114). Becoming an established lawyer would have enabled him to help a countless amount of people. However his last two years took a turn from that potential but instead he seemed to have reflected the life of an angry child. Many of the letters, engravings and graffiti attributed to Chris on the road seemed like the emotional scrawling of teenagers. Exclamations such as “Jack London is king! (Krakauer 9), “All hail the dominant primordial beast, and Captain Ahab too!” (Krakauer 69) Do not sound like a bright young man in his 20s. Chris was a great student, completing Emory College with straight As and then without any notice, was gone. He donated his savings and “burned all his
Chris McCandless did in fact have a goal in mind that he wanted to accomplish. In the book Into the Wild, Chris wanted to escape his family and set out on a journey that would change his life. Chris was trying to accomplish surviving in the wild on his own with none of his belongings except for his twenty-five dollars. McCandless was trying to prove something that no one else could do. Chris also made an impact on many people along the way also. A man that Chris meet wanted to adopt Chris because of the influence that McCandless put on him. But Chris declined and would continue his
In John Krakauer's novel, Into The Wild, the reader is presented with a captivating character named Chris McCandless, or Alex Supertramp. Krakauer noted that if McCandless “wasn’t incompetent-he wouldn’t have last 113 days.” Although one could agree with Krakauer when stating that McCandless is not crazy, or an outcast, one could also argue that he is still incompetent in some ways, which is seen in how he interacts with nature, rather than with people. McCandless had a unique charisma and charm to him that made him get friends easily and as a result had a strong effect on people. The quote, “the more they talked, the less Alex struck Gallien as a nutcase,” shows how other people perceived him.
The people of the world feel Connected by the events that they have lived through. This is even true for Chris; he went through many bad things but came out a good person. In the documentary return to the wild, it was said that Chris could be isolated but never be lonely. He needed nothing (PBS). This gave an insight into his life when he was younger.
Relates to the book “Into the wild” because Chris took a big risk and didn’t take enough time to plan his adventure out too much. He thought he knew what he was doing but sometimes maybe taking advice from other people isn’t such a bad idea.
The wilderness is a place full of adventure and mystery. It is a place to feel free and experience new things. Chris McCandless loved all of those things. Chris McCandless (or Alexander Supertramp) is the main character in the novel “Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer. Krakauer wrote about Chris’ life in the wild. He talks about Chris’ hatred of authority, his relationship with his family, and his journey before going into the wild. Krakauer was inspired with McCandless’s story and believed that he was a smart man who followed his dream and lived a life not many people would be able to handle. I agree with Krakauer's statement about Chris McCandless being a leader and not a follower, he lived the life he wanted and didn’t care what others thought about him.
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.