Chris Wastes The Moose Analysis

The incident in which Chris wastes the moose is a turning point in the story. Discuss the scene in relation to his character.

Chris McCandless was a young man from Washington, D.C.. In an effort to live closer to nature, he abandoned his life and education at university studying. He gave his life savings to a charity and started hitchhiking and traveling for almost two years. He eventually finds himself in Alaska, where he lived for four months before he unfortunately died due to starvation. McCandless’ journey was in tune with the movement of transcendentalism, a movement in which its founders were a strong inspiration to Chris. Chris McCandless was very in tune with his surrounding and the nature within it and his connection with it. A turning

McCandless began reading Thoreau’s Walden, a book reflecting simple living in natural surroundings. Henry David Thoreau was an American philosopher and poet, among other things, he was largely involved in the advocacy of and the involvement in the transcendentalist movement. Transcendentalism was a major principle that outlined how Chris ultimately lived the rest of his life after he set out on his adventure to live as one among nature. The chapter in which Chris had a particular admiration of was titled ‘Higher Laws’. “I believe that every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food, and from much food of any kind....” (Excerpt from the book ‘Walden’, written by Henry David Thoreau. Into The Wild, pg. 115). The content of this chapter stuck firmly in Chris’ mind and he became very conscious of food. Further developing Chris’ character into that of someone who lives by philosophical morals and

He failed to preserve the meat, ultimately ruining whatever he hadn’t already eaten - which amounted to a lot of food. Chris mourned over the loss of the life of the moose and chastised himself over wasting that life. After this incident, there was a noticeable shift in Chris’ character. He overlooked his life in a much more philosophical manner. The loss of the moose also showed a sympathetic and apathetic side of Chris that was not as apparent