Chris Mccandless

Introduction-

Definition of a seeker= someone who looks outwards and goes on a physical or mental journey to find something hidden about themselves or something.

Thesis- In Jon Krakauer's nonfiction novel, Into the Wild, the wilderness is a natural home to seekers, a place free of the harm of a modern society, where a seeker can explore the lands and experience life by their own rules.

Topic Sentence #1- Chris McCandless’, who had an unconventional approach to life, would not have survived socially in today’s culture; he turned to the wilderness, the only place where this unorthodox mindset is still acceptable.

Excerpt #1→ With regards to Chris’ irregular mindset about the government, he exclaimed to Jim Gallien, “how I feed myself is none

of the government's business. Fuck their stupid rules (6).”
Excerpt #2→ Chris said at the conclusion of an argument with Jim Gallien, “I don’t want to know what time it is.

I don’t want to know what day it is or where I am. None of that matters (7).”

Excerpt #3→ Carine remembered Chris as one who “wasn’t antisocial- he always had friends, and everyone liked him-but he could go off and entertain himself for hours. He could be alone without being lonely (107).”

Excerpt #4→ Andy Horowitz, a teammate of Chris “on the Woodson High cross-country team, had mused that Chris ‘was born into the wrong century.’ He was looking for more adventure and freedom than today’s society gives people (174).”

Topic Sentence #2- Chris McCandless would have been a great explorer because of his desire to discover the unchartered land in the

wilderness.
Excerpt #1→ In a letter to Ronald Franz, Chris describes how a man should strive to life, “the very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun (56).”
Excerpt #2→ Krakauer depicts climbing a mountain as, “a trancelike state settles over your efforts; the climb becomes a clear-eyed dream.

The accumulated clutter of day-to-day existence...is temporarily forgotten (143).”

Excerpt #3→ Carine McCandless specified an unique detail about Chris when she said, “Chris would never, ever, intentionally burn down a forest, not even to save his life. Anybody who would suggest otherwise doesn't understand the first thing about my brother (198).”

Excerpt #4→ Chris marked several sections in a book he finished in Alaska. One section reads, “I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor—such is my idea of happiness (169).”

Topic Sentence #3- Mountains and rivers are not sights on seeker’s journey; Chris is in the wilderness because he feels accomplished and has time to enjoy life when these obstacles are

conquered.
Excerpt #1→ Krakauer recalls showing Ronald Franz Chris pictures as, “the first several images in the stack are landscapes— shots of the surrounding bush, the overgrown trail, distant mountains, the Sushana River. Franz studies them in silence, occasionally nodding when I explain what they depict; he seems grateful to see them (59).”
Excerpt #2→ McCandless was finally able to head North and he became relieved that “he had fled the claustrophobic confines of his family (p.55).”
Excerpt #3→ Chris, prior to his “Alaskan Odyssey”, had already felt a sense of achievement with his father when “they climbed Old Rag almost every year (109).”

Ah-ha Moment- Some readers’ interpretation of Chris McCandless’ journey is that he was crazy and killed himself; however, Chris’ Alaskan Odyssey was a success by his own standards.