Introduction: Hook: Why do we rebel against our parents and society is it because of outer influences? In Christopher McCandless’s case he rejects mainstream society and his parents value by being influenced by great authors and philosophers. Christopher McCandless had a difficult life but on the outside it seemed so perfect. His father was a rocket science,mother an artist, and was upper middle school . In actuality his father had another family , and his father was mentally abusing and physically abusing his mother. His brief adult life was mostly a rebellion against his parents who raised him according to their values and their mainstream way of living but influenced by the writers work he read. 1.Chris McCandless was motivated by the …show more content…
works of authors and rejecting mainstream society views. His parents were the epitome of mainstream society “The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure . “Chris had given away his college fund to OXFAM.(Krakauer 31). He’s showing rebellion against his parents and society. His parents are the quintessential ideal of mainstream society. They are both very successful and college educated and to them their emphasis is education. So Chris giving all his college fund to OXFAM is showing that rejects mainstream society’s views on education and his parents by giving to the less fortunate. Chris McCandless rejects his college education because Chris is an an anti -intellectual but is. He walks a fine line in one regard when he leaves and goes on his adventure he’s still college educated but neglects that. Richard Hofstadter coined the term anti-intellectualism which perfectly describes Chris. __As Hofstadter notes, referring to oneself as one who stands outside the norms naturally leads to a backlash; those who accept traditional social structures view dimly those who stand outside and question or criticize those structures.. Analysis of Research Anti-Intellectualism is going against society and not regarding education highly. That’s definitely chris he’s so intelligent, received great grades, and got a degree but never really mentioned it. He didn’t see his education as making him better than everybody In addition to being anti intellectual he’s also very anti world because of the writers work he read that influenced him to leave “mainstream society”.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Additional Information about McCandless’s Background/Actions/Personality: Chris went against the grain and he was so sheltered and the influences helped him make that adventure. Chris grew up very privileged and sheltered he took lots of trip as a youth. “I learned, in an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C., where he’d excelled academically and had been an elite athlete. (Krakauer 1 ). Chris didn’t like his background because he was rebelling because of the writers he read and his childhood. He learned that his father had another family and his father was abusive to mother physically and verbally. That combination could cause anybody to want to escape and numb his problems. Chris was already interested in nature and adventure so him leaving the home is no surprise. Also, him living in an affluent neighborhood and his father causes him to rebel more than ever. Since, his life was already predetermined to Chris and he already was rebellious he had to find answers on his …show more content…
own. The causes and effects of Child Abuse are a lot. Chris Mccandless is an example of what child abuse can do. In the Causes and Effects of Child Abuse article effects can be devastating and long lasting. It's shown to cause anxiety,depression, self destructive behavior, difficulty interacting with others.”1Chris witnessed his mother's abuse it influenced him to behave recklessly and the writers he read and his upbringing caused him to act recklessly and rebel. So him witnessing that is an effect of child abuse which caused him to go all over the country.1.In addition, to Chris rebelling because of his uprbringing he also rebells because of the writers he read2. Background Information about McCandless’s Actions/Behavior/Situation Chris McCandless read lots of writers Jack London, Henry David Thoreau, and Leo Tolstoy etc. He carried more books on his trip than supplies so he very influenced by those writers. Henry David Thoreau in Particular criticized living only for financial reasons and being materialistic.It was mind -boggling to me that he would ever abandon it and travel on foot.”(Krakauer 23). Him leaving that car and donating 24,000 to OXFAM shows his way off denouncing materialism. He was inspired by Thoreau who lived in a simple small room,lived by himself and, ultimately lived simply. That encouraged McCandless to leave his car and walk on foot and donate his money to simplify his life. 5. Outside Research : In Henry’s David Throaeu biography it says “he established a reputation at Harvard of being an individualist.” He also lived in a small room and never married. He was very rebellious against the Federal government when the Mexican war happened. He believed in simplified life and was very infatuated with nature. There are many parallels of Chris and Thoreau and some of Thoreau's beliefs influenced Chris. An example of this is Thoreau's thoughts on nature which is Chris’ thoughts are too. Another parallel is their views on the government and they both are against the government and don’t like it. They were also very eccentric on their college campuses and were reclusive. Another, writer that influenced Chris was Leo Tolstoy he was very extreme of his doctrine like chris on simplifying life and denouncing materialism. Chris was always different. An example of this is when his graduation party was going on he was reading and briefly enjoying the party. So him going on adventure and rebelling against his parents is nothing new. It's the combination of what he ingested while reading which caused him to leave and simplify his life. 9. Supporting Text Quote __"McCandless was exhilarated: He saw the flash flood as an opportunity to shed unnecessary baggage....He buried his Winchester deer-hunting rifle and a few other possesions that he might want to recover....he arranged all his paper currency in a pile on the sand- and put a match to it"(29)._______________________________________________________________________________(Krakauer29 ). 10. Analysis of Text Quote: Him burning the money is a symbol of being free. Chris thought that we focus on too much materialistic things and him burning his last bit of money shows that's he’s dedicated. “ They focused on personal spiritual awakening and individual self-gained insight; they were idealistic and embraced nature as they reacted against the increasingly commercial nature of the emerging American society. Transcendentalists spoke out against rationalism and materialism”.. 12. Analysis of Research This is very similar to how Chris thoughts and views. Since, he’s so privileged and children tend to rebel he renounce his upbringing and rejects the materialism his parents raised him. So his escape from everything was nature and being alone because of what he saw and him wanting to rebell. TOPIC SENTENCE TO ARGUE ANOTHER POINT ABOUT CHRIS MCCANDLESS’S MOTIVATION Another, point about Chris McCandless is rejcecting his father and divorcing parents because of their relationship.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Background Information about McCandless’s Actions/Behavior/Situation Chris became aware of his parents toxic relationship when he was very young and was deeply affected which caused him to rebell. He learned that his father was beating his mother and had another family which took a toll on him. So, him reading things about distancing himself and living alone made him leave home. Also, his mother divorced him and became very difficult to cope with and he had to figure out things on his own. 3. Supporting Text Quote_"I'm going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live."(Krakauer 44). 4.
Analysis of Text Quote: He wanted to divorce his parents for multiple reasons. For one reason is that he saw their relationship was bad and they gave him all the answers. Also, his parents provided the perfect lifestyle but in the inside it wasn’t really like that. Also, he was already eccentric and him reading about isolation made it even worse. 5. Outside Research : “The second goal for physicians is to help postdivorce families encourage the child to ask questions on an ongoing basis. If divorce happened when the child was a toddler, for example, they are going to have questions 5, 10, and 15 years later that they could not conceptualize until they reached the appropriate developmental point’’(2) 6. Analysis of Research Chris’ parents never really patched things up with Chris and in the research it said stress is an effect of a divorce.Also, the parents have to open to answer questions and build a relationship and in Chris’ case it wasn’t that. Critics of this analysis believe that….. Chris McCandless, still in the cusp of young adulthood, was simply more adventuresome and had a higher threshold for risk than most others; his behavior was not that much more reckless than that of the average
teenager. Research Quote to Support This: __The researchers also found differences among participants in functional connectivity between the caudate nucleus and the dlPFC that were related to the strength of the contagion effect--meaning that these two brain regions somehow work together to make a person more or less susceptible to the contagiousness of risk-taking behavior.However, this practice hasn’t been the ultimate test and proved to be that for risk taking analysis. Also, he witnessed abuse and that would make him being prone to being socially misfit which he was and also many of the authors he read he paralleled their lives.
He left and “walked into the wild”, as he said, to escape his problems (Krakauer, 69). He never confronted his dad about his feelings. Carine McCandless talks about this personality trait in Chris saying, “Chris was the sort of person who brooded on things. If something bothered him; he wouldn’t come right out and say it” (Krakauer, 122). He changed his name, He wasn’t trying to take pride in his “adventure”. It was an extra and unnecessary precaution to ensure that his problems would not affect his escape. Chris McCandless changed his name and then continued his life ignoring all of the problems he had ever
Although Chris McCandless' life at home growing up was hounded by his so called "ignorant" father or his "bigot" parents, made the best out of his life whenever he could. He was on the cross country team when he was younger, and they all ran out into the wild almost, purposely getting lost. Being on that team and experiencing that made him happier and started his interest and passion for embracing nature. Chris even found solace and was content with providing food, such as hamburgers, stated by his cross country teammate Eric Hathway, providing company to people less fortunate than him. Taking hikes with his grandfather and doing things as mentioned previously (cross country), eventually influenced him to make his greatest adventure and unbeknownst
Throughout Into the Wild, Krakauer portrays Christopher McCandless as an infallibly eager young man hoping to distance himself from the society he so obviously loathes, to "live off the land," entirely independent of a world which has "conditioned [itself] to a life of security." Chris, contrarily to this depiction, is disparagingly viewed by some as a "reckless idiot" who lacked the sense he needed to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. This derogatory assessment of Chris's mindset is representative of the society he hopes to escape and contains all the ignorance that causes him to feel this way. Nevertheless, he is misjudged by these critics, allowing Krakauer to hold the more accurate interpretation of Chris's character, his goals, and his accomplishments.
...elligence to help him last an extended period of time in the Alaskan wilderness. In truth, McCandless was someone who wanted to find himself. He wanted to get away from a life in which he could not find fulfilment, which is something many others would be able to relate to. Although most people would not go to such extremes to find fulfilment, everyone has a different way of finding happiness and going after what their heart truly desires. For McCandless, his desire was to live out in the wild. Unfortunately, this man of great character did not succeed in getting out alive. However, that does not change the fact that he tried. McCandless knew what he wanted for himself and he persisted, regardless of the obstacles he faced. He put an incredible amount of effort into accomplishing his goals and never gave up, and that is why Christopher McCandless is someone to admire.
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, it’s what’s inside counts” This quote reminds people about how they should not judge other people from the outside but look deep into their true personalities. Looking from the appearance and how Chris lives, everyone would assume that Chris is a crazy, foolish person and does everything without thinking. If people try to know more about Chris, they would have different perspective. Chris is intelligent, determined, independent and follows what he believes. He went into the wilderness to escape from the society that tries to suppress him and look for the meaning of life.
He also did not have a typical childhood, he witness his parent’s fighting and he also developed a poor relationship with his father. Krakauer was able to find important connections that helped him find the roots of McCandless’ rational actions. “The boy could not pardon the mistakes his father had made as a young man, and he was even less willing to pardon the attempt at concealment… But he did not confront his parents with what he knew, then or ever. He chose instead to make a secret of his dark knowledge and express his rage obliquely, in silence and sullen withdrawal” (Krakauer 122). McCandless did not have a good relationship with his parents, which might have been the reason he decided to go into the wild. Krakauer was able to find clues that caused McCandless to make dangerous
Through his use of special organization, factual accounts and complex syntax, he is able to display McCandless as a person who was living the life that he wanted to live. He was kind and respectful to the people he met along the way, even helping them through their own hardships at times. This is the type person that Krakauer wanted to paint a picture of. He wanted to make sure that people did not see McCandless as the “nut” who did himself in. To make sure that the McCandless family could be proud of their son for being brave and doing what many would be too scared to attempt even if they wanted to. By writing this novel with the impressive rhetoric that he did, Krakauer was able to defend the actions of the late Chris McCandless and paint him as the bright young man that he
Chris McCandless had a reputation for being overly ambitious since grade school. His teachers noticed at young age he was abnormally strong-willed which he coupled with intense idealism and strong physical endurance. In high school, Chris served as the captain of his cross country team asking them to treat each race as a spiritual experience. After graduating high school Chris continued on to college where he would graduate with a bachelor’s degree, doub...
McCandless wanted to escape his life full of expectations. McCandless followed under his parents rule until he graduated from Emroy University. After he graduated, Walt and Billie felt that Chris should attend law school. “He had spent the previous four years, as he saw it, preparing to fulfill an absurd and onerous duty: to graduate from college. At long last he was encumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence” (Krakauer 22). McCandless feels that he is escaping a material world. McCandless took courage to go against what his parents wanted for
Although, Chris McCandless may be seen as stupid and his ideals uncanny, he gave up everything to follow his heart he escaped the world that would have changed him, he wrote his own tale to feel free, and he left a conformist world to indulge in true happiness. How many people would just give up their lives, family, material goods, to escape into a world of perfect solitude and peace; not many and Chris was one of those that could and he became and inspiration. “The idea of free personality and the idea of life as sacrifice” (187).
...emselves. They endure mosquitoes and rain and tough walking and bad river crossings and the possibility of bears. The burden the pilgrims carry to the bus is so heavy, laden with their frailties and hopes and desires, with their lives that don’t quite satisfy. Well, so many of them are young, and they’re lost, somehow, just as he was.” What makes Chris McCandless such a hero to young men is that he is easily relatable to those young men. As Neal Karlinsky writes of Chris McCandless,“McCandless tramped his way across North America determined to live completely free of the trappings of modern society. He was intoxicated by nature and the idea of a great Alaskan adventure — to survive in the bush totally on his own. In his last postcard to a friend, he wrote: "I now walk into the wild."
Christopher McCandless came from a rich suburb of Washington D.C. He excelled in school and had been an outstanding athlete. He graduated with honors from Emory University in the summer of 1990, and soon after he dropped out of sight. He changed his name from Chris to Alex, gave his twenty-four-thousand dollar savings account to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, and burned all of the cash in his wallet. He desired to live off of the land and traveled across North America.
Most things came easy to Chris. In reality, there were very few things that he was not good at. He came from a privileged background. He was accepted and graduated from Emory University, an elite academic institution. All of these variables resulted in Chris despising the society from which he be... ...
The settings in the story have impacts on the theme of young manhood. Chris leaves his family and decides to go on a journey to find a new life. Christopher felt affected in his family presence so he sends his final school report to his family: “McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well-relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it”(Krakauer,55). He believes that this is a way to find his true identity and peace of mind, which he thought could be achieved by fleeing into the wild. Chris seemed to have a bad relationship with his parents, especially with his father because Chris found out that he had a child with his first wife when Chris was born. This fact is revealed by his dad’s old neighbour, “Walt’s split from his first wife, Marcia, was not a clean or amicable parting. Long after falling in love with Billie, long after she gave birth to Chris, Walt continued his relationship with Marcia in secret” (Krakauer121). Chris knew about his father’s affair with another woman and this made it easier for Chris to not care about what his family has to say ...
Chris a sixteen year old African male enter into therapy seeking professional help. Chris grew up in an urban neighborhood in New York, together with his mother and father. Chris develop problems due to longing attention. He begins to act out, hang around with the incorrect crowd, and get into fights.