Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

529 Words2 Pages

In Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, Chris McCandless is often portrayed as a fool, depending on one’s perspective, due to his reckless decisions that ultimately led him to death. McCandless seeks a wholesome, authentic life by which he believes he can only concur in nature, and he believes to achieve this he must cut off ties with his family and past. Much of what leads to Chris’s foolish actions is his hatred for materialism and how a typical person lives their day-to-day life. Chris’s disdain for materialism is shown at the very beginning of the book when the author reveals that he donated the $24,000 left of his college fund to OXFAM America, a charity dedicated to fighting hunger (16). His motivation for this foolish action is thought to be an effort to rebel against his parents. This large amount of money could have supported his journey into the wild and bought him things like better supplies, gear, or even an abundance of food, but because of how foolish his behavior was, he had a preventable death. …show more content…

McCandless had a yellow Datson he purchased his senior year of high school that some might argue he was overly attached to, that he left behind when he went on his journey. When he was in Detriental Valley, a flood occurred that damaged his car, and he ultimately decided to abandon it. What makes the abandonment of his beloved car so odd is that the book explains that” Instead of feeling distraught over this turn of events, moreover, McCandless was exhilarated: He saw the flash flood as an opportunity to shed unnecessary baggage (21). The fact that McCandless was so unbothered by abandoning the Datsun shows that he simply was a foolish man, he didn't account for worldly things at the slightest

Open Document