Into the Wild, by Sean Penn, illustrates the story of a young man’s journey into the Alaskan wilderness. The theme of the movie revolves around the escape of civilization to find happiness and freedom. The main character, Christopher McCandless, is a young adventurer who has lived a life that many would view as comfortable. He is the son of wealthy parents and a recent graduate of Emory University. However, Chris is not happy with his life. Because of their status in society, his parents hold him to very high expectations. For Chris it’s too much and eventually he rebels. He views both society and his parents as money driven and materialistic and felt he needed an escape. Fed up, Chris flees from his dysfunctional family without saying a word. …show more content…
In the film Into the Wild, we learned that while Chris was on a trip to his parents’ hometown, he discovered that when he was two years old his father was previously married with kids and Chris’s mother had been his father’s mistress. Though Chris never shares his discovery with his parents, the hurt and betrayal he feels from it still sits in the back of his mind. We can conclude from this that he has trust issues because of the situation with his parents. When Chris is picked up by a hippie couple, Jan and Rainey, he shares a quote from Thoreau while they eat dinner. It states “rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness…give me truth.” (Into the Wild) He was scared by his parent’s indiscretions caused him to become emotionally distant from others. He is able to grow a bond with the couple because of the similarities they share in living a nomadic lifestyle. However, when the sun goes down he departs in the middle of the night while they are sleeping and leaves them a drawn message in the sand thanking them. Here Chris is showing a strong distance from relationships. He makes the trip to Alaska his main …show more content…
After removing himself from civilization, Chris was able to reinvent himself. He was attracted to the wilderness because he believed it would be his outlet from his past life and he wanted to live in solitude. The wild gave Chris the escape to find happiness and freedom. Chris keeps minimum amount of possessions because he feels that material things could never make him as happy as living alone in the nature. He was able to bond with those who represented the opposite of his family however he does stay long enough to develop a true relationship. In the movie Chris determines that in order to be happy he needed to experience absolute
The McCandless family all loved and cared about Chris deeply. The McCandless family was constantly distressed over Chris and the choices he made I life, as they knew they could not change his mind on any decision no matter how much they resented said decision. As shown in the book, “And then he left on his trip. . . We had our hearts in our mouths the whole time he was gone, but there was no way to stop him.” Page 118 Chapter 12. These quotes showed the constant worry they had over Chris fully knowing they could not change him. Chris’s feeling about his family weren’t as strong in return. Chris was more distant from his parents, Chris eventually grew a distaste for his parents when he discovered that his father never told him about his previous marriage. “He seemed mad at us more often, but he wouldn’t tell us what was on his mind and spent more time by himself.” Page 121 Chapter 12. Thoreau’s quote is similar to Chris’s viewpoint as Thoreau’s quote talks about lack of truth, which is why Chris is upset with Walt, lack of truth from his previous
Throughout Into the Wild, Krakauer portrays Christopher McCandless as an infallibly eager young man hoping to distance himself from the society he so obviously loathes, to "live off the land," entirely independent of a world which has "conditioned [itself] to a life of security." Chris, contrarily to this depiction, is disparagingly viewed by some as a "reckless idiot" who lacked the sense he needed to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. This derogatory assessment of Chris's mindset is representative of the society he hopes to escape and contains all the ignorance that causes him to feel this way. Nevertheless, he is misjudged by these critics, allowing Krakauer to hold the more accurate interpretation of Chris's character, his goals, and his accomplishments.
“I now walk into the wild” (3). It was April 1992 a young man from a rather wealthy family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness. His name was Christopher McCandless. He gave all of his savings to a charity, abandoned his car in the desert, left all his possessions, burned his money and wallet, and invented an alter ego all to shun society. Four months after his adventure, his decomposing body was found in bus 142 by a moose hunter. Into the Wild is a riveting novel about one man’s journey to find himself and live as an individual. Although, Chris McCandless may come as an ill-prepared idiot, his reasons for leaving society are rational. He wanted to leave the conformist society and blossom into his own person, he wanted to create his own story not have his story written for him, and he wanted to be happy not the world’s form of happiness.
The book Into The Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, tells the story of Chris McCandless a young man who abandoned his life in search of something more meaningful than a materialistic society. In 1992 Chris gave his $ 25,000 savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, and burned all of his money to chase his dream. Chris’s legacy was to live in simplicity, to find his purpose, and to chase his dreams.
Chris McCandless, the main character of “Into the wild” was angered by his father’s infidelity and bigamy. As a result, Chris McCandless wanted to separate himself from his family and he begins a spiritual adventure to search for his identity. Chris McCandless isolates himself physically and emotionally to find freedom and peace by adventuring into the wild. Therefore, McCandless escapes from Emory University and immediately flees his dull and predictable life, heading west without a word to his family. Although, McCandless journey ends in a tragic ending, he fulfilled his ambition by pursuing his ambition and inner peace. In conclusion, McCandless journey was both a search for inner peace and transition to maturity.
Into The Wild by John Krauker is based around the story of Chris McCandless, a bright young man who believed that a life in the Alaskan wilderness would help him to live a more deliberate life. He followed many transcendentalist keys without openly admitting to it or stating it upright. Some of these include having few belongings when he passed away, not continuing the path that was in store for him, and braving the Alaskan wilderness with few belongings to his name.
In Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild”, Krakauer describes the travels of Chris McCandless, a young man, who travels alone into the Alaskan wilderness. Krakauer details Chris’s painful demise from starvation was at the age of 24 in an abandoned bus deep in Alaska. According to Krakauer, Chris McCandless left for Alaska because he was seeking refuge from his betrayal by his father. Chris was searching for truth; something he could believe in after he had found out his dad led a double life; one with Chris and his mother and another with another woman and another son. It seems McCandless was looking to test himself; to prove he could survive in the wild without society, but mostly without his father’s help. Chris was searching for something, Independence. During Chris journey to Alaska, he found what he was looking for an escape but also found his identity. During his final days in the bus, Chris’s mindset changed; he determined he needed people. Some say Chris was foolish but he was a smart kid in unfortunate circumstances.
“Into the Wild” is a thought-provoking yet tragic film that depicts Sean Penn’s adaptation of the nonfiction novel by Jon Krakauer. The film portrays the gruesome fate of Christopher Johnson McCandless, a brave, charming, and troubled 22-year-old college graduate who set out into the natural world on a path of self-discovery and true happiness. In the beginning of the film Chris McCandless is introduced as a dreamer. His literary heroes included transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Jack London. The thinking behind McCandless’ rash decision stems from his anger with his parents for the lies and infidelities he witnessed as a child. Another contribution included his affinity for nature as it symbolized freedom and his desire to escape civilization. Following in the footsteps of his heroes, McCandless donated his $24,000 funding for law school to charity, gave away all of his material possessions, and left his family and friends with vague letters of his whereabouts. For 2 years, Chris adopted an alias as Alexander
The book Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, was a very interesting story about a young man going to live out in the wild of Alaska. This young mans name is Chris McCandless also known as Alex Supertramp. He had a lot of courage to go out this trip facing the wild. He has set high hopes for how young he is. Graduating college than leaving directly after graduating and burned all of his money and left his car and most possessions behind. His bravery definitely had a big impact on the story. With his bravery, it seemed like he has done this before and has no weariness. Chris was very independent on his trip. He received little help from people. He got work a few times to buy gear for his trip to Alaska, other than that he was either hitch hiking or walking.
... 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.
Into the Wild, written by John Krakauer tells of a young man named Chris McCandless who 1deserted his college degree and all his worldly possessions in favor of a primitive transient life in the wilderness. Krakauer first told the story of Chris in an article in Outside Magazine, but went on to write a thorough book, which encompasses his life in the hopes to explain what caused him to venture off alone into the wild. McCandless’ story soon became a national phenomenon, and had many people questioning why a “young man from a well-to-do East Coast family [would] hitchhike to Alaska” (Krakauer i). Chris comes from an affluent household and has parents that strived to create a desirable life for him and his sister. As Chris grows up, he becomes more and more disturbed by society’s ideals and the control they have on everyday life. He made a point of spiting his parents and the lifestyle they lived. This sense of unhappiness continues to build until after Chris has graduated college and decided to leave everything behind for the Alaskan wilderness. Knowing very little about how to survive in the wild, Chris ventures off on his adventure in a state of naïveté. It is obvious that he possessed monumental potential that was wasted on romanticized ideals and a lack of wisdom. Christopher McCandless is a unique and talented young man, but his selfish and ultimately complacent attitude towards life and his successes led to his demise.
All in all, it is interesting how the trials of life can lead a person into an awakening that inspires millions. Many people believe that walking “into the wild” to live off the land and find himself alone in nature was arrogant, foolish and irresponsible. Chris lacks of knowledge about the wild was a major factor in his death. Chris did not plan how he will survive in the wilderness without proper equipments. He misunderstood that he would have no problem in setting in the wild. Chris immature manner and decisions lead him to starvation and ultimately death. If he planned it out in the beginning he would have saved his life.
Into the Wild, a novel written by Jon Krakauer, as well as a film directed by Sean Penn, talks about Chris McCandless, a young individual who sets out on a journey throughout the Western United States, isolating himself from society, and more importantly, his family. During his travels, he meets a lot of different people, that in a way, change his ways about how he sees the world. There are many characteristics to describe McCandless, such as “nave”, “adventurous”, and “independent”. In the book, Krakauer described McCandless as “intelligent”, using parts in his book that show McCandless being “intelligent”. While Krakauer thinks of McCandless as being “intelligent”, Penn thinks of McCandless as a more “saint” type of person.
The book, Into the Wild, is about a young man, Chris McCandless, who decides to live as a hiker throughout the United States wilderness. This young man, hid his identity from people he met throughout the country, and identified himself in many ways, such as: Alex McCandless, Alexander McCandless, and Chris McCandless. During the time he traveled,
Into the Wild portrays Christopher McCandless, a recent college graduate, and his adventure throughout the American West. Christopher begins hiking in Lake Mead, Arizona. He then treks the Pacific Coast Trail where he meets a couple. A few months later he starts working as a contract harvester in South Dakota.