Chris McCandless' Search For Truth in Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer

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John Karkauer novel, Into the Wild tells a true life story about a young man

by the name of Christopher McCandless, who creates a new life for himself by leaving

civilization to live in the wilderness. The story exhibits how Christopher develops and

matures throughout the story by prevailing harsh predicaments and learning valuable

lessons on the way. Christopher’s character evolves by comprehending several new

lessons such as finding true pleasure, disregarding other people’s judgments, as well as

realizing that material things are just material things and nothing else. All through the

story, Christopher struggles to discover the true satisfaction in his life. Christopher

struggles to choose what makes him truthfully content over what makes his parents

happy. Christopher’s parents want him to attend law school, despite the fact that he wants

to follow his passion to live in the northern wild. His letter to his sister Carine says, “or

that they think I’d actually let them pay for my law school if I was going to go….”

(Krakauer.pg21). According to this quote it can be known that Christopher does not

really feel any pleasure or happiness in wanting to go to law school. He finds his

satisfaction with life on the road and experiences this because life on the road gives him

endless possibilities and adventures every day. Christopher’s letter to Ron Franz goes as,

“I’d like to repeat the advice I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a

radical change in your lifestyle and begin in boldly do things which you may previously

never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt……Don’t settle down and sit

in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon.”(Krakaur.pg56-

57). The ...

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... McCandless

learned all these lessons, and became a more complete person. He found who he truly

was and found happiness in his life. In general, Chris knew that the only way he could

find true satisfaction in life was to follow his passion into Alaska the northern. The

wilderness allowed Chris to learn the true meaning of living. In my opinion, I do not

agree with everything that Chris did, such is totally leaving society and becoming isolated

form the world. I believe that you need to share your happiness with others. But I do agree

with Chris’s judgment, that in our society you can never find out the true significance of

life. Everyone in society needs to spend some time alone in their life, just similar to Chris

had and by completing that, you can really find out the real you.

Works Cited

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor, 1997. Print.

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