Chris Mccandless Impact On Society

Out of all the people Chris McCandless met on his trip, there were only three that he truly inspired and left a great impact on. Since Chris was always going to different places, he met different people everywhere he went. Jan Burres, Wayne Westerberg, and Ron Franz were among the few that Chris deeply affected. These were the people that Chris could confide in. He spent a great amount of time with them and they accepted Chris as their own.

Jan Burres was quite a drifter herself. Jan met Chris when he arrived on the road tired and hungry. She and her boyfriend take care of Chris and take him in as their own. Jan Burres and her boyfriend travel across the country in their motorhome and attempt to mature Chris's desire to live free of society

and to warn him of the dangers in his actions. Jan starts to realize that Chris reminds her of her son that left too. She asks him why doesn't he call his parents just to let them know that he is ok. She constantly asks him if his parents know where he is and to call his mom because she was a mother who had a drifting son too. Chris left a big impression on her because Jan Burres wanted to keep him as her own. She ended up telling her boyfriend that he reminded her of her son and eventually she told Chris.

Wayne Westerberg was more like a father figure to Chris because he did not judge anything Chris said or did. Wayne was the owner of a mill that Chris worked at for a short time. Wayne always talked about how good of a worker Chris was to him and how much Chris helped him out with the mill. Wayne was an inspiration to Chris. He represented the middle class and was the opposite of everything that his father was. This made Chris realize that everyone wasn't the same as his father. Wayne was deeply impacted by Chris because he was such a good worker to him. Wayne wished that Chris could have stuck around longer but Chris felt that if he would have stayed to long with Wayne, Chris would have realized that he was an imperfect human being just like his father was and Chris didn't want to see that about Wayne.

Ron Franz was an eighty year old widow who Chris met the road. Ron is a widow whose son and wife died forty years earlier while in Japan for the military. Since Ron has lost his whole family, he has no kids and no wife. After staying with him for a while, Ron tells Chris that he wants to adopt him and take him in as his son. While on his journey, Chris convices Ron to go out and try new things instead of wallowing in his guilt about what happened to his family. Chris convinces him to sell his possessions and to go out on the open road with Chris. He agrees hoping that Chris will be with him but only ends up alone, on the road, and hoping for his death to come. Chris left an impression on Ron because he tried to convince him that being alone is not the way to be. He showed him that he still has some life left in him and he should try and use that in a good way instead of thinking about what he could have been. Chris showed him that he had to live in the moment.

Chris left a deep and different impression on each of these people.

He showed him that it's not always about being with family and the society but to live your own life and discover yourself. The solitude and total freedom of the wilderness created a perfect setting for either melancholy or exultation." p. 157 When Christopher McCandless's died in the Alaskan interior, people from all over the country reacted in different ways. Many wrote letters describing Chris as some ignorant kid who did not know what he was doing, but others, reacted in a more personal manner. These were random people who happened to pick the vagabond up on the side of some street. These were people who were affected by the unusual personality of Chris, aka Alexander Supertramp, as he introduced himself along his expedition. Three particular individuals picked Chris up along his adventure, Jan Burre, Wayne Westerberg, and Ronald Franz. All three were left with a strange feeling after they learned about his death. Westerberg had given Chris a job for a couple of days. He housed Chris fed him, and gave him a job. Westerberg thought Alex was the “hardest worker he had ever met.” p.18 Jan Burre and her boyfriend also picked Alex up. They took him back to Niland, where he helped Jan sell items at a flea market. Here, Jan really was allowed to see the personality of Chris McCandless. According to Jan, Chris was extremely social, and unusual quality for a boy who desires to drop human contact all together to live on his own. She was surprised at how enthralled he was about some literary books she was trying to sell, authors including Tolstoy, London and Wells. The next individual who gave a ride to Alex was and elderly man by the name of Ronald Franz. Franz and Chris became very close and spent a lot of time together, until Chris announced he was finally taking the ultimate adventure to the Alaskan wilderness. Before leaving, Franz asked if he could adopt Chris, but McCandless quickly

fled the rapidly arising intimacy Franz was not afraid to hide. “He’d [Chris] successfully kept Jan Burres and Wayne Westerberg at arms length, flitting in and out of their lives before anything was expected of him. And now he’d slipped painlessly out of Ron Franz’s life as well.” P. 55. Each of these individuals Chris came into contact with was left with a great impression about McCandless. Each of them in their interviews admitted that Chris seemed incredibly smart. I believe Chris left such an impact on these people simply because of how different he was from the rest of society. He was personable, friendly, humble, modest, intelligent, enjoyable, just an all around good kid, a quality one does not see often in a man his age. I don’t think anyone could really grasp why anyone like him would ever have their heart set on such a dangerous idea to trek alone in the wilderness grossly unprepared. However, I believe that is precisely why they all felt the way they did. Chris had a different perspective on life. He believed that by going into the wild, completely severing all ties from the outside world, would he truly find his self of belonging, his soul, his natural behavior as a man, his primordial beast. These people found this kid who was different, respectful, intelligent etc., and found it refreshing, new, and different.
Three particular individuals picked Chris up along his adventure, Jan Burre, Wayne Westerberg, and Ronald Franz. All three were left with a strange feeling after they learned about his death. Westerberg had given Chris a job for a couple of days. He housed Chris fed him, and gave him a job. Westerberg thought Alex was the “hardest worker he had ever met.” p.18 Jan Burre and her boyfriend also picked Alex up.
I believe Chris left such an impact on these people simply because of how different he was from the rest of society. He was personable, friendly, humble, modest, intelligent, enjoyable, just an all around good kid, a quality one does not see often in a man his age. I don’t think anyone could really grasp why anyone like him would ever have their heart set on such a dangerous idea to trek alone in the wilderness grossly unprepared.