Imagine There’s No Wellington (It’s Easy if you Try) Initially, Christopher Boone is seen as being a very creative, outspoken, misunderstood, yet brilliant mind, despite his affliction. One has to wonder, what are the lengths of his mind? How far could he imagine? As a literary audience, questioning everything is essential for a novel such as this one. What if we (a literary audience) subjectively questioned life the way Christopher did? His imagination spoke volumes, his imagination spoke prime numbers. Chris imagined like that of a rockstar, the notorious, often spoken, John Lennon. This novel could have easily had the plot destroyed by one lapse of Christopher's inquisitive judgement. Had he not been so bold in pursuing …show more content…
It also leads us to start comparing his subjectivity to this essay's namesake, “Imagine There's No Wellington (It’s Easy if you Try)”. Choosing the song that inadvertently, killed (or led to the death of- it's only been speculated-) John Lennon wasn't an easy choice to make. Standing out from a crowd is something, these two (Chris, John) had quite the knack for. As a matter of fact, John Lennon’s entire run as a solo artist had to do with (partially) his doubting of a God in the first place. Christopher is very like minded on the subject. Imagine there wasn’t a Wellington in this story. There is a possibility that nothing would come of this novel, eliminating the initial factor in Chris’s strive for independence. There are a million possibilities as to when Chris would have started to prove himself as more of an adult. The “what if” factor is tremendous in this one. It’s easy to ask it, if you try (as Lennon …show more content…
While they were much different than Lennon’s, they consumed him. If Chris were to write a song, it would come out very similar to “Imagine”. Something like “Imagine there are no yellow cars” or “Imagine there are no liars”. Many people believe this song envisions the perfect world and implies that the human race is responsible for all the hatred cast upon our environment and upon each other. This is another very subjective belief voiced by Lennon in such a poetic way. Christopher would agree with this belief one-hundred and ten percent. Chris generally thinks of people as a cancer, not just for lack of empathy, but because the world treats people like him differently. He positively would love a more peaceful world. His dream world was one where him, and the rest of the people in the world were alike and didn't necessarily rely on facial expressions to express how they were feeling. Other people believe this song is a very intricate way of saying that government is pointless. Those are the people, that minds such as Lennon’s, tend to despise and are the reason they have to be subjective. In order for someone to understand your true meaning to the things you say, one must not simply say the thing which they mean, but explain in detail. Sometimes people should be left to figure the meanings out on their
I agree with the author, John Krakauer, in the notion that Chris McCandless was not crazy or an outcast because he was very likable to others and very determined in his fancies, but he did seem to be lacking common sense and was also unprepared for the wild. He made friends very easily and had a very strong effect on people. Wanting to travel and explore did not make him insane, most people love to embark on adventures, but Chris was somewhat incompetent in being prepared. Chris was very likable as others described him, but he also lived by his own rules. Carine, his sister, stated that, “he was very to himself.
Chris refused to confront his mother and father and instead repressed his emotions. Krakauer shows his influence with this comment, “Children can be harsh judges when it comes to their parents, disinclined to grant clemency, and this was especially true in Chris’s case” (Krakauer 122). He makes it very clear that Chris is really just a kid, and therefore, liable to make decisions that are rash or immature. Krakauer makes it clear that he thinks Chris’ opinions on his parents might have changed over time, had he lived. Chris was simply a kid who had been wronged by those who were supposed to protect him. All of Chris’ repressed emotions eventually came to the surface, “Chris kept careful score. And over time he worked himself into a choler of self-righteous indignation that was impossible to keep bottles up” (Krakauer 122). Chris eventually lashed out in the way that lots of children do, he ran away. His options were limited, he could either talk to his parents or a therapist about it or flee. His choice of fleeing shows that he really was working through something. By running away Chris broadcasts his youth and also makes the reader curious as to if he might have come back and worked out his issues eventually. The contradictions in Chris’ severe opinions of those around him show his youth, and inspire’s readers to be more
Although it may be true that Chris McCandles was stubborn, people should consider that he had family problems, he loved nature and he also had an adventurous spirit. I believe that the motives that led him to the wild were family problems and emotional damage as well as his love of nature and his adventurous spirit. In Chris’s journal it seemed like he had lived for 113 days in that “magic bus” but in his last days he had written that “death looms” and that he was “too weak to walk out”. There are many evidence that connect with family problems as well as his adventurous spirit. As I go on with this essay I will state my theory on why Chris was led into the wild as well as evidence that support my claim.
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, it’s what’s inside counts” This quote reminds people about how they should not judge other people from the outside but look deep into their true personalities. Looking from the appearance and how Chris lives, everyone would assume that Chris is a crazy, foolish person and does everything without thinking. If people try to know more about Chris, they would have different perspective. Chris is intelligent, determined, independent and follows what he believes. He went into the wilderness to escape from the society that tries to suppress him and look for the meaning of life.
Because he is a true believer, Chris McCandless is a very spiritual person. Although he never states he is part of a specific religion, he believes in a some godly presence; an important part of being a Transcendentalist. In the end of the book, when Chris is near his inevitable passing, he writes a farewell note to anyone who finds his body. In his final note, he is very euphoric, and not at all regretful of his decision to venture into the Alaskan bush, “I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!” (199). Because he said he had a happy life, and that he thanks the lord, it is clear that Chris appreciates the spirituality within Transcendentalism. It takes true dedication and appreciation in Chris’s final moment to write about spirituality, which is why he includ...
Although, Chris McCandless may be seen as stupid and his ideals uncanny, he gave up everything to follow his heart he escaped the world that would have changed him, he wrote his own tale to feel free, and he left a conformist world to indulge in true happiness. How many people would just give up their lives, family, material goods, to escape into a world of perfect solitude and peace; not many and Chris was one of those that could and he became and inspiration. “The idea of free personality and the idea of life as sacrifice” (187).
This passage shows appreciation for the significance of following ones dreams. Even with all that Chris had accomplished he knew that something was missing and this resonated deeply in his soul. It is refreshing to discover that not all young people are focused on materialistic success. Neal Karlinsky demonstrates this in the quotation, “Today, young idealistic pilgrims post their adventures on YouTube as they follow in the footsteps of Alexander Supertramp and visit the now famous “ magic bus” deep in the Alaskan interior.” This passage describes how some young people use Chris’ journey as a catalyst to discover their own identity and purpose as they travel to Alaska also.
Chris’s mindset of living a very simplistic life is shown during his limited time with Jim Gallien. Jim notes that “Alex admitted that the only food in his pack was a ten-pound bag of rice” and “Alex’s cheap leather hiking boots were neither waterproof nor well insulated” (Krakauer, 5). Nevertheless, Chris lets his hubris get the best of him by failing to realize that he would need waterproof boots if he wanted to go into a snow environment. Chris was about to enter into the Alaskan frontier with an extremely lousy set of equipment. Chris lets his arrogance and the anticipation of the wild get the best of him, causing him to have poor judgment in his decisions on what to bring with him into the wild. His egotistic personality ultimately led to his death in the cold and unrelenting frontier. Nevertheless, this was not Chris’s first failed attempt to live a transcendentalist lifestyle. “Will you come pick me up?” McCandless asked (Krakauer, 54). Chris was unsuccessful in his endeavor to become a hobo and travel all the way to Seattle and live a life there. Not even a full two months passed before Chris realized that living a life in Seattle that was of transcendent origin, was not just hard, but impossible. This display of him being overly confident in his abilities to live on his own was a build up to him believing he was well
As evidenced by Into the Wild, Krakauer admires Chris for his ideals and attempt to live off the land. Krakauer makes it clear that Chris wasn’t mentally ill or narcissistic, but instead courageous. In fact, he praises Chris for choosing a life outside the confines of society. Krakauer flat out states, “...[Chris] wasn’t quite as reckless or incompetent as he has been made out to be” (Krakauer 194). No matter the mistake that others hold Chris accountable for making, he offers a rebuttal in support of McCandless. Even though it’s a known fact that when Chris walked into the wilderness he was ill prepared in the sense of lacking necessary provisions such as a map and large caliber rifle, Krakauer asserts, “It is hardly unusual for a young
The first song I am going to start with and explain is his song soundtrack 2 my life, he discusses how he has a very hard time in his young life. He discusses how his mom got him christmas presents and how he was shocked due to being from a very poor family due to not having the advantage of being white. He continues to say how his emotions are pouring out of him as in he is letting all of the stuff that he has gone through that was hard out and he is ready to let it all out for the best of his health. He mainly discusses the pain he has gone through and how it is hard growing up as a young black male. After this main song, he continues to open up on how he coped with this heartache that he has gone through. In song marijuana he talks about how he used to smoke marijuana to help him cope with life. He at one part says how he needs it because it's the only thing to keep him level up in his head, A.K.A only thing that gets him through this everyday struggle of being the minority. Clearly this was cudi's way of living in the reality of a world that blacks are being oppressed every day. In his song the sky might fall which is already a cry for help. He opens up saying what a world that i'm living in will the rainstorms ever end, he is trying to say will all this pain and
... had a room “furnished with milk crates”. Outside of his “house” a professor specifically gave Chris a key for “after-hours access to the library.” (124) This life, this desire, this simplicity is exactly what Chris had an eagerness for. Being simple, cutting ties from those who cared, but moreover from society as a whole ends up being his downfall. Chris passed in a way no one should want to. The call when you need someone, when you are “NEAR DEATH, AND TOO WEAK”(12) and need that person who can support you, that person you can go to help for but because of this simplicity you have bestowed upon yourself, no one comes is truly heartbreaking. And in the end, the pressure to stay alive on this journey overshadowed the thoughts, of actually cherishing the real meaning of life. McCandless adhered to the transcendentalist ideas so much so that it ended taking his life.
He wanted to see the world and grab it by the horns. A passage from Leo Tolstoy says, “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence”(15). This is Chris’s life in a nutshell. He never was happy in one place during his life whether it is college or his family, it was all the same. I firmly believe that he would’ve stayed in South Dakota if wasn’t for the arrest of Westerberg. He found a family in Carthage and was more than happy. In my opinion Chris was just searching for a new family and place he could call home and when he lost that after leaving Carthage, he lost touch with society and forgot the reason why he was on this journey. Westerberg says, “Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often. A couple of times I tried to tell him it was a mistake to get too deep into that kind of stuff, but Alex got stuck on things”(18). Chris always overthinks society throughout the course of this story. He’s on this trip to become one with nature and to be at peace. He never truly has a plan. I compare him to Holden Caulfield of “The Catcher In the Rye”. Holden had no course of action and he also goes with the flow. They both have a complex outlook on society. Chris sees a canoe and decides to paddle through Mexico. He neither has a plan nor an itinerary. The only place he plans to attend is the wild bush of Alaska and we all know
... every aspect of his life whether it be his education, physical endurance, or making it through the Alaskan wilderness with nothing more than a rifle, a backpack, and a road map. Chris was aware of his differences and that he did not fit into society. He fully embraced that and and chose to lead his own path. Chris led a happy life according to one of his last journal entries he wrote, “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!” (Krakauer 199). Chris was willing to risk everything to gain that happiness. His ambition to enter the wilderness, in the end, took his life but that did not stop him. He would have rather died a happy man than lived a miserable one. Chris ventured out into the wilderness and found himself; a tragic story for a tragic hero.
The Beatles wrote hundreds of songs throughout their long career and many of which had the same main ideas in them. Those two ideas seem to standout in most of their songs, and they are the ideas of peace and love. They were so passionate about these two ideas especially world peace, that they became avid participants and leaders in the anti-war movement, against the War in Vietnam. It seemed strange ...
"I hope some day you will join us, and the world will live as one" Simplicity combines with deep meaning when John Lennon expresses his thoughts in his song "Imagine." This song was a huge hit in the 70’s, the time in which the Vietnam War was occurring. John Lennon’s “Imagine”, was a protest song that questions the morality of war, shows anti-war statements and emphasizes the importance of world peace. In America, every civilian has the Freedom of Speech. For this, artists have every right to compose a protest song. Even if the government is not fond of it, anyone could potentially write a song going against his or her beliefs, which is exactly what Lennon did with "Imagine," in a peaceful way. At the time Lennon’s song went against most beliefs, for people believed that violence in war was the answer to everything. Amongst passive resistance, the refusal to cooperate with legal requirements, strikes and angry mobs, Lennon chose the much calmer approach and simply composed a protest song. A protest song is simply a song that argues a point and tries to encourage one thing against another. In his song "Imagine", Lennon protest that the World should live in peace; keep in mind the Vietnam War was occurring at the time. It was then that protest songs were created to try and make points across, without the actual violence of rioting in protest.