Chris Mccandless

The American dream, the epitome of hope for people of all ages, races and genders. This dream may warp and change as the individual goes through life, and is impacted by their family. The Child of Rage and Christopher McCandless from Into the Wild exemplify this aspect of the influence of family on a child within the American Dream. There was a child named Beth, she was known as the worst child due to her past. "She was... abused... psychologists believe" her previous family life. (Thalmon 1) When she was asked about why her new adoptive parents were afraid of her, she simply responded in a sweet voice, "Stab them." (Maza 1) This response was due to her rare personality disorder, attachment disorder, which is caused by early trauma in childhood. Though, "after all that horror, today Beth is a nurse and gives talks on parenting methods." (Child of Rage Movie) This is due to the support of her adoptive parents, who let her follow her new dreams.

When he talked about his parents, he'd always say how "they think they have bought his respect." (Chris 17) This showed his parents left a profound mark on his life even to the point of him wanting complete independence financially. Chris would also constantly tell Burres, a person who was almost family to him, "to quit trying to mother him" (Burres 34) when Burres would ask about his parents. The reason his adverse reactions is important as it showed he wanted to distance himself from people who tried to get him to talk to his parents. He told his sister "[he was] going to divorce them as his parents once and for all." (Chris 47) His divorcing his parents is very insightful as this was his first step in achieving his dream of living in Alaska. The story of Chris and his motivation to do better than his family without the help of his