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Reflective critique about jack london
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Jack london literary criticism
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Human nature tells us to want what we can't or don't have. Everything from people to a toy to a kind of hairstyle – we just always want what isn't ours. Chris McCandless from Jon Krakauer's Into The Wild is no exception. He lives his life as part of an upper-middle class family, is smart, and goes to and does well in college, but he still feels like something is missing from his life. He want something completely opposite of the life he's used to. Chris McCandless spent a lot of time looking for something entirely different from what he already had and while he found true happiness it eventually lead to his demise. Life is not something that can be defined by any single person. Everyone sees life as having a different purpose. It seems as though the McCandless family's purpose of life was family. To have a close family and live in a nice house and get their kids onto bigger and better things. Chris McCandless lived a pretty wonderful life. He was raised in that nice house and he seemed to be headed in the right direction. With a college education, $25,000 in savings, and a car that he loved he seemed ready for whatever life threw at him. His parents thought that would be law school – Chris had plans of his own. Chris's plan for his life was not a nice house and pretty, perfect life in the suburbs. Chris was inspired by many authors, but primarily by Jack London: “A vast silence reigned over the land. The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness. There was a hint in it of laughter, but of a laughter more terrible than any sadness -- a laughter that was mirthless as the smile of the Sphinx, a laughter cold as the frost and partaki... ... middle of paper ... ...n the picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God.” (199) Even though Chris was so young and such a vibrant young man, he seemed as though he was ready to let himself go. He had accomplished his dream, and even if it wasn't always everything he'd cracked it up to be, he was ready. Ready to be somewhere else where he could be proud of his accomplishments no matter how meager they may have seemed to others. Chris McCandless spent a lot of time looking for something entirely different from what he already had and while he found true happiness it eventually lead to his demise. He realized who he really was and what life was really all about, and in the end he seemed to become someone that he himself respected. Work Cited Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor Books, 1997. Print.
Chris went into the wild, he didn’t seem to grasp the freedom or the beauty he was searching for.
Although he was rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry, and incautious to the point of foolhardiness, he wasn’t incompetent-he wouldn’t have lasted 113 days if he were and he wasn’t a nutcase...McCandless was pilgrim, perhaps”(84). Because McCandless was a believer during the whole duration to his destination, when he died he was at peace with himself and the life that he was given the privilege to live. He no longer was worrying about his father’s betrayal ways, and his mother’s childlike mind. McCandless got what he asked for, and that was to live and to die alone after achieving his dream. Before Chris was at his final ends of life, he took his last breaths to thank god and send everyone his blessings(199). Chris McCandless was born to be an overachiever and died taking pride in who he knew he was and what he had done. He’s more than just a hitchhiker, he’s a
Throughout the novel, Christopher McCandless’s character changed over time. Up to McCandless’s death, he wanted to live with the wild and to be away from civilization as far as possible. He changes his mind when he writes “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” (189). His purpose of living in the wild is to live with freedom and do whatever he wishes to do. However, he realizes he was a “refuge in nature” (189) and intended to abandon his solitary life and rejoin the human community. It is assumed that McCandless died a preventable death because of his unpreparedness, but it is now undeniable that his adversity is what caused his mortality. “…McCandless simple had the misfortune to eat moldy seeds. An innocent mistake, it was nevertheless sufficient to end his life” (194). Had he not eaten the moldy seeds, he would have remained alive to tell the tale.
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...
McCandless had been accused of abandoning his family and loved ones. Chris had always felt like his parents were holding him back, they had a different vision of Chris’ future than Chris had. Even though Chris left his family it was in his best intentions and for the best intentions, if he had never left him he would never have been able to find himself. He did not mean to harm anyone, he was just trying to discover the larger meaning of his life and fulfill his dream. In the end of the novel Chris was able to discover himself when he realized that ‘ Happiness only real when shared’. This was Chris’ realization that life really mattered most when he was with others, it implied that Chris was ready to go back to his parents and
McCandless sister, Carine McCandless knew Chris McCandless the best, in Carine’s statement to 20/20 she said “I had to bet my life on whether or not my brother was happy the day that he died I would tell you he was. Now he wasn't happy to be dying, but He was happy. That he did everything in his life that he possibly could to live his life Not just be alive. He got more out of 24 years than most people get when they live to 90” (Carine McCandless). McCandless had lived his life to the fullest every chance he got.
...fe for oneself. McCandless primary tragic flaw being his unwillingness to form long-term relations brought him both to the happiest moment of his life, but also to his demise. McCandless never had a problem with people, but rather with the status quo of society, the idea that a man or a woman has to live inside of a coordinate plane. McCandless left home and went on his adventure simply for his own well being, he achieved both what he wanted to accomplish while learning a valuable lesson along the way. He learned that happiness must be shared, and while everyone has his or her flaws, it is important to let these go. Christopher McCandless should teach people the importance of following your dreams, and the importance of enjoying the natural serenity of life.
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
To most, Chris McCandless from Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, was a young man who seemed to have it all, yet he felt like he had nothing. Chris thought that his ordinary life lacked substinance and meaning which inspired a journey that forever changed his life. He felt trapped by societal pressures and by his parents tense existence. His rough childhood paved the way for the incredible experience he was able to embark on. Although Chris’s soul searching journey eventually led to his demise, it gave him a glimpse into a fulfilled, free life. His strained and disconnected relationship with his parents propelled his journey in search for the true meaning of life.
Chris came into the wild unprepared for what laid ahead of him but followed his plan sticking with it until the very end. Towards the end Chris’s story he reached the point where he accepted the fact that he needs help he writes the note: “S.O.S. I NEED YOUR HELP.” (Krakauer, 198) After being completely isolated for months, Chris finally reached the end of his journey and really accepted the fact that this journey should not have been by himself, but should have been shared with people who had appreciated him and wanted to help him along the way, even when they knew that it was a risk. Towards the end of Chris’s journey, he wrote down, “HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED.” (Krakauer, 189) Chris realized that by spending all this time by himself it was not worth losing everybody who he had grown to care about and appreciate. This led to Chris seeing how valuable the relationships were that he built with people throughout his journey and how he missed out on so many opportunities of being with them. Chris threw the relationships that he developed away, leaving them to hope that he might return to them one day. “I now wish I had never shot the moose. One of the greatest tragedies of my life.” (Krakauer, 167). After Chris struggled to preserve the moose meat causing it all to go to waste. This action showed how unprepared he was for this journey and that through ignoring advice from people or listening to the wrong advice, he was already setting himself up for failure. Even though Chris had the drive to do everything by himself and isolating himself from the toxic society that he grew up in, he failed to see how he didn’t have to go to such extremes to be able to achieve what he had wanted out of life - to live a life where money was not what defined people, but where who somebody was would define
Before Chris McCandless had ventured off into the woods, he discovered that his parents had kept a secret and there was more to his family than he thought. He is described as someone that, “seemed like a kid who was looking for something, looking for something, just didn’t know what it was yet.” (Krakauer, 42). People can easily make hasty decisions in a spurt of anger or sorrow which is why Chris did not take into consideration the feelings of the people that cared about him. Even though a person may be dealing with something unfortunate that they might not even understand, it is important that he does not push away the people close to him because they are the ones that will help him move passed his hardships. While personal struggles get in the way of making the right choices, personal gratification can be just as
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
Do you ever know what the meaning of life is to you? People have their own wants and needs in life, everyone has a unique mind, we all have different perspectives from life. Us the people won’t understand life till we go out there and experience it for ourselves and the see the beauty in life. In the story Into the Wild, Chris McCandless goes out into the wild not only to see nature but to find himself. People like Shan Callarman thought McCandless was a bright and ignorant child who had no common sense and was making a dumb decision and thought he was just plain crazy, but I disagree with Callarman thought and believed McCandless was a unique soul and was aware of what risks he was taking on this trip, McCandless was an intelligent person and not a careless one.
But in Krakauer’s part he made his way back to his normal life, but as for Chris his life ended trying to find the answers he wanted by isolating himself from his loved ones and reality.
The end for McCandless was a well lived, experienced soul that had seen a lot in the years that he had lived for. He had done great things, and because of that, he will be remembered for a long time. His life was about finding what he wanted most, and doing great things along the way. He had found enlightenment, and discovered tons of things that many people do not know that exist.