Chris McCandless always felt held back and restricted, either by parents or by an indifferent society in general. An abhorrence against the powers that be and against what he saw as an unfulfilled life led him to embark on a great adventure of solitude and self-discovery. Chris’ youth was defined by a sort of cabin fever, one that instilled him with an unshakable desire to escape the monotony of average life in pursuit of greater meaning. He hated that everyone pushed the traditional path on him, school to college, college to career, career to retirement. Why should others dictate the way he chose to approach life? This feeling of entrapment heightened his disdain for societal pressures as he grew to be appalled at the state of the world: …show more content…
Being free of social restrictions allows Chris to act in the most uninhibited and arguably the purest manner. In the wild, no law matters, no person matters. McCandless enjoyed what few people have: total sovereignty over oneself. Congress passed new laws and societal norms shifted but Chris was blissfully detached from what he viewed as distractions from real living. No one could tell him how to act or punish him if he refused. In this sense McCandless did achieve what he set out to do, even if it ended in his demise. His last message read: “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may God bless all” (199). Even in the face of death, Chris felt content with the path he set down and knew that he would become the ultimate testament to the transcendental philosophy. Some may argue that from Thoreau’s view, Chris failed in his goal: “I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours” “Walden,” but seeing how he felt about his life when the end finally came shows that Chris did not necessarily desert his mission. Who else can decide if a life was well-lived other than the one living it? He made his choices and found solace in the complete unchangeability of his past. Alone in the wild, a man becomes equal to animals and plants and whatever else resides in nature. It can be humbling to live not as a conqueror of Earth but as a child nourished by it. This viewpoint, no doubt influenced by Emerson and Thoreau, allowed McCandless to feel a great awe of the world around him. One of Emerson’s most famous lines from his “Nature”, was a clear exposure of mankind's shunning of the very things our ancestors worshipped: “If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and
Chris McCandless, as described in John Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild,” endured many grueling tasks and hardships throughout his odyssey in the wild, but ultimately died of starvation and exposure from the elements. What would have happened if Chris survived and came back to society? If Chris changed his thought’s on how society worked, he might still be here with us today,but it would be difficult to imagine him changing his mind. During his time in the wild, Chris became inspired or enlightened by being alone. If he came back to society, he would be disappointed just like he was before. Quoting from Chris’s journal, Krakauer writes that “[t]o get an ID and a job feels extremely uncomfortable in society now [to chris] and must return to the road
Chris's disposition is elicited by other characters' attitudes toward him. This method of educating the audience allows us to see "the true Chris McCandless" by recounting his interactions with and behavior toward the people he meets on his Emerson-inspired journey to self-reliance. The manner in which Krakau...
McCandless had exceptional reasons for leaving home and taking on the life of a homeless person living in the wild. McCandless wanted to experience this type of individuality and to experience the life that Henry David Thoreau once lived, however there where more reasons on why he ultimately left home and decided to live the life of a free man. In the book, McKinney explains that Chris was convinced that humans had grown into inferior people and that it was his goal to return to the natural state of being a human (74). He also continued to say that Chris was experiencing what ancient civilizations experienced and that by the end of his lifestyle he had incorporated elements of Neolithic (74). This reveals his intensions from the beginning of his state of being an ultimately the beginning of his un...
Chris McCandless does not wish to follow defined life structure that society enforces to simply be alive, instead, he chooses to take a seek a path to live a life with purpose. Such an eagerness to seek detachment from what is expected by society, is enforced by not only McCandless but also Thoreau. A primary factor resembling this, is McCandless’ view that many people “live within unhappy circumstances...yet will not change…they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism...damaging to the adventurous spirit(40).” The detesting tone risen through the confliction of “unhappy circumstances” and “damage,” to “safety, conformity and conservation,” emphasis his will to separate from a lifestyle lacking change. This is done
In some part of everyone’s life, there originates a time where one starts to make decisions on their own. This point in someone’s life varies, but no matter what time it comes in your life there is always this realization that you have to become independent. Chris McCandless was someone who realized this, but unlike most people, he took this involvement to the extreme and it became something that he would not return home from. In college, McCandless was mostly separated from everyone. He didn’t have many friends, and was known by many as being a strange person. He was also brought up from a torn apart family. His father had a son besides him in a previous relationship. In Chris’s life, he was never really shown how to be independent. This is what urged him to take a trip to Alaska to survive on his own.
A trait that CHris McCandless showed was isolation, McCandless would always isolate himself from the world. On page 103 there is a quote that says “There was no one around, neither family nor people whose judgment you respected.”
As McCandless neared the end of his high school years he decided he didn’t want to go to college as he thought it would be, “pointless, a waste of time and money” but surprisingly, he yielded to his parents’ wishes and,“ended up going to Emory”(114). This departure from following his views of the world and allowing himself to submit to ideas that he didn’t really believe in characterizes McCandless in a much more pragmatic light. He may have realized that he was much more dependent on his parents in his day to day life or that college may help him advance his ideals with other like minded people. So instead of fanatically following his ideals to the extreme McCandless decided to keep those ideals with him and act upon them later when he felt the time was right. This would explain his sudden disappearance to go on his Alaskan odyssey many years later as he never let go of his pre-college ideals but rather hid them away temporarily. Chris had a multitude of ideals about the world and others, but he seemed to ignore
Chris McCandless had a thrill for adventure, excitement, and meeting new people. He was top of his class in a good college when he realized the life of conformity wasn't the right fit for him. While many people viewed his as a nutcase, an outcast, or a sociopath, I believe that he was just a modern day Transcendentalist and was simply following his own way of life.
As portrayed in the film, Into the Wild, Chris McCandless hates society. In one particular scene, Chris starts yelling about “society” and how it is bad when he is telling Wayne about his trip to Alaska. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem, Self-Reliance, it says “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, b...
The distinction between whether an individual is to be considered a hero or a coward lies in their death. The difference is the impact, and the impact differs for a hero than a coward. When a hero dies, the magnitude of the impact on society is greater as society reflects on all the positive achievements that have been accomplished. Their death is more of a rebirth of a soul, the rebirth of hope. However, a coward dies many times before their actual death. The mistakes and tragic falls are considered to be these multiple deaths. “The valiant never taste of death but once”, a quote said by William Shakespeare. Throughout the novel of Into the Wild by Jon Krakeur, Chris McCandless is thought to be a courageous hero by many. However, it is not recalled for a courageous person to take on the role of a wanderlust knowing the result is highly fatal. Walt and Billie McCandless, Chris’s parents, have been making funeral arrangements for the last two days, but in a way, they have been making funeral arrangements for the last two years. That is how long it has been since they have seen their son. This tragedy has no one to blame, except for the young man himself. Chris ran away from facing all that was bothering him. It is understandable to feel immense pressure in life sometimes however, the way he went about dealing with this pressure broke the hearts of his parents and his loved ones and got himself killed. Chris Mccandless is to be considered a selfish coward because of the choices he made in dealing with the problems he had to deal with in his life.
...elligence to help him last an extended period of time in the Alaskan wilderness. In truth, McCandless was someone who wanted to find himself. He wanted to get away from a life in which he could not find fulfilment, which is something many others would be able to relate to. Although most people would not go to such extremes to find fulfilment, everyone has a different way of finding happiness and going after what their heart truly desires. For McCandless, his desire was to live out in the wild. Unfortunately, this man of great character did not succeed in getting out alive. However, that does not change the fact that he tried. McCandless knew what he wanted for himself and he persisted, regardless of the obstacles he faced. He put an incredible amount of effort into accomplishing his goals and never gave up, and that is why Christopher McCandless is someone to admire.
Chris McCandless had a reputation for being overly ambitious since grade school. His teachers noticed at young age he was abnormally strong-willed which he coupled with intense idealism and strong physical endurance. In high school, Chris served as the captain of his cross country team asking them to treat each race as a spiritual experience. After graduating high school Chris continued on to college where he would graduate with a bachelor’s degree, doub...
Chris McCandless, a man who went into the wilderness and died in a bus, in the cold wilderness of Alaska, after living 114 days in the Alaska cold. Though, before ending up in Alaska Chris was constantly on the move. Yet he somehow was able to meet people and befriend them. Such people were Wayne Westerberg, Jan Burres, her boyfriend Bob and finally Ronald Franz. In the end, of meeting all these people, Chris ended up leaving such a strong impression on each of them. Though why did Chris McCandless leave such a strong impression on them? Well, in the book “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer, one can read how Chris influenced people, encouraged them, how people thought he was a hard worker that lived out his own beliefs and there are many more reasons
For Chris McCandless’s age, it is immature of him to attempt to survive off the Alaskan wilderness that he says would give him freedom live on his wits. Chris left Ron Franz, an old man who appreciates McCandless’s presences. As Ron tries to get close to Chris, Chris has Ron drop him off on the interstate outside of Grand Junction. “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” (Krakauer 55). His immaturity comes with age as he shows how he can be self-centered and reject his emotions towards others. Whenever someone gets close to him, he bails and moves on a different path to get what he wants without making emotional commitment. Chris is young and still has much to learn. Twenty miles from the trail where he was dropped off, Chris stumbled upon a bus by the Soshana River. He called it a magic bus for he had been looking for shelter for a while. The bus is where he did his camping at. “Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Thou shalt not return, ‘cause “the west is the best” (Krakauer 163). This brings back how immature Chris is he has no...
“It would be easy to stereotype Christopher McCandless as another boy who felt too much, a loopy young man who read too many books and lacked even a modicum of common sense”(Krakauer 184). Some people say that Chris was just a normal guy who read too many books and let it all get into his head and drive him crazy to the point where he would go out into the Alaskan wilderness with no one or no supplies. Although this may be true, there are more facts and evidence to prove that Chris is a true transcendentalist. “But the stereotype isn’t a good fit. McCandless wasn’t some feckless slacker, adrift and confused, racked by existential despair. To the contrary: His life hummed with meaning and purpose”(Krakauer 184). What Krakauer means is that the stereotype that people have against Chris is not true and that he choose to go out into the wild because it’s what he wanted to do like how some people want to go skydiving or go to Paris. Chris is a true transcendentalist and there is much to prove