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Character traits of chris mccandless essay
Character traits of christopher mccandless
The journey of chris mccandless
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The Lost and Confused Christopher McCandless
Christopher McCandless, a born hypocrite, was seeking the wilderness’ wild and untamed freedom to find his true potential. Chris was born in a middle class and loving family.
He had amazing talent and was very bright. His family thought he would have an amazing future, even when he was a teenager. Yet, Chris abandoned his family and his social life to walk into the wilderness. Chris searched for a life without the stress of money or government laws. When
Chris went into the wild, he didn’t seem to grasp the freedom or the beauty he was searching for.
McCandless didn’t fit into the society or the wilderness by the way his personality always contrasted itself, meaning that Chris’s erratic personality
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“McCandless gave his parents’ Annandale address when the arresting officer demanded to know his permanent place or residence” (p.31). McCandless believed that money and the government was a corrupt, greedy pig commanding people to obey the rules of society. Yet, he went against those beliefs and submitted to the officer. “The entries in McCandless’s journal contain few abstractions about wilderness or, for that matter, few ruminations of any kind”
(p.139). Chris, was seeking the wild freedom, yet when he got there, it seemed to have hardly phased him. He was mostly recording what he ate or what animal he killed. There was barely anything about the beauty of Alaska. McCandless spent his whole life imagining there were more offered in the wilderness; however, once he arrived he wouldn’t live the way he wanted to truly wanted.
Chris’s personality affected everyone around him: his parents, friends, and even himself. Walt McCandless said, “How is it that a kid with so much compassion could cause his parents so much pain?” (p.104). Chris had a wonderful family, however he abandoned them when all they ever wanted to do was to help him. They, Walt, Billie, and Carine, only wanted
Chris to be happy and wished him the best. Chris wrote in a letter to Ronald Franz, “You
Although it may be true that Chris McCandles was stubborn, people should consider that he had family problems, he loved nature and he also had an adventurous spirit. I believe that the motives that led him to the wild were family problems and emotional damage as well as his love of nature and his adventurous spirit. In Chris’s journal it seemed like he had lived for 113 days in that “magic bus” but in his last days he had written that “death looms” and that he was “too weak to walk out”. There are many evidence that connect with family problems as well as his adventurous spirit. As I go on with this essay I will state my theory on why Chris was led into the wild as well as evidence that support my claim.
“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.
McCandless always did what he wanted to do rather than what other people, specifically his
Seeing that Chris did not have a sturdy relationship with his father, he was driven by anger to go out to the Alaskan wilderness, he may have survived this adventure, or ev...
He went through many obstacles that could have proved fatal. From canoeing in the Colorado River to picking the right berries, he was testing his intelligence. Chris had a true confidence in the land and in himself to set out on a mission so dangerous. “Wilderness appealed to those bored or disgusted with man and his works. It not only offered an escape from society but also was an ideal stage for the Romantic individual to exercise the cult that he frequently made of his own soul. The solitude and total freedom of the wilderness created a perfect setting for either melancholy or exaltation” (Nash; Krakauer 157). Chris longed to escape from society and rely on only mother nature. An innumerable amount of people desire to withdraw from society as Chris did; but they are so comfortable and secure with a normal life they do not dare take such a gutsy
2. On page 107, “He could be alone without being lonely.” Chris adored being alone, away from other people. It seems rational that this attitude was a basis of his later journey where he was unaccompanied for months. On page 109 “Chris was fearless even when he was little.” Chris wouldn’t have lived alone in the Alaskan wilderness for that long if he was frightened. At
Chris was unique compared to others, but he was not insane in any sense of the word. He led a journey to Alaska based on emotional reasons and motivations. Chris went into the wild looking for freedom and answers to his questions. Ultimately, Chris found what he was looking for emotionally and went to leave the wild, but in an unfortunate turn of events and a lack of preparedness, Chris mistimed his departure and was stuck in the wild. Eventually, because of his lack of local knowledge and resources, Chris never left the Alaskan wilderness
...e wilderness.” Krakauer stats this in the book to explain what Chris was up against walking into the wilderness. No ordinary man would do this to survive out on his own facing the wilderness. Kleinfeld made an extraordinary remark in her article “McCandless: Hero or Dumb Jerk” “Jon Krakauer's best seller "Into the Wild" immortalizes this young man, who walked into the wilderness with no map, no ax, no mosquito repellent and no first aid equipment.” She makes a good statement about his bravery because not many men would go out with no supplies to make them survive. He went out by himself, no supplies and try to pull off to live in the wild.
Chris McCandless was a young man who did everything in his power to try and represent that freedom he was searching for. McCandless had everything before we went out but he decided to go out and travel by choice. He was considered a selfish man because when someone offered him to help him he rejects it in a nice way since we wants to do things himself. In the book Into the wild he states that,"You don't need to worry about me. I have a college education. I'm not destitute. I'm living like this by choice."
Living in the wilderness is difficult, but understanding the meaning of such lifestyle is even more difficult. One of the Christopher’s admirable qualities was that he was well aware of what he was doing. He knew about the difficulties and dangers that he would face into the wilderness, and was mentally prepared for that. Author Jon Krakauer says that “McCandless was green, and he overestimated his resilience, but he was sufficiently skilled to last for sixteen weeks on little more than his wits and ten pounds of rice. And he was fully aware when he entered the bush that he had given himself a perilously slim margin for error. He knew precisely what was at stake” (182). McCandless was an educated youth, who loved nature and dreamed of living in the Alaskan wilderness. Although he ignored to take many necessary things with him on this
Kleinfeld tries to categorize Chris McCandless as a hero, dumb jerk, or soul searcher. She uses pathos as well as blatantly stating her opinion to achieve her goal. In Jon Krakauer’s book Into the Wild we see many aspects of Chris McCandless that both support and contradicts these categorizations given by Kleinfeld. Jon Krakauer shows us every aspect of Chris McCandless’s journey as well as his life before, by doing this Krakauer shows Chris McCandless is not just one category, he is not any category at all. Kleinfeld’s condescending tone expresses the lack of heroism she sees in McCandless. (Adjust thesis to fit new purpose).
... every aspect of his life whether it be his education, physical endurance, or making it through the Alaskan wilderness with nothing more than a rifle, a backpack, and a road map. Chris was aware of his differences and that he did not fit into society. He fully embraced that and and chose to lead his own path. Chris led a happy life according to one of his last journal entries he wrote, “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!” (Krakauer 199). Chris was willing to risk everything to gain that happiness. His ambition to enter the wilderness, in the end, took his life but that did not stop him. He would have rather died a happy man than lived a miserable one. Chris ventured out into the wilderness and found himself; a tragic story for a tragic hero.
Ultimate freedom is an odyssey everyone, at least once in their lifetime, tries to conquer. Chris McCandless did everything in his power to try and capture that freedom he was searching for. He ultimately gave up his own life during that quest. Did he find what he was searching for? We may never know. Very many people have diverse opinions on this character. Chris McCandless was not selfish. He was a young, well-educated boy. His parents handed him everything on a silver platter; he wanted to prove not only to himself but to everyone else he could do things on his own. His possessions did not define who he was as a person. He thought towards everyone else he was just another brick in the wall, a pretty rich boy, and that did not “fly” with him. He had to prove his worth.
Chris McCandless was still just a young man when he decided to drastically alter his life through the form of a child’s foolishness. However, Chris had not known at the time just how powerful his testimony against his father’s authority, society, or maybe even his own lifestyle was going to be revolutionary throughout not only Alaska,not even the lower 48, but the world. The story of Chris McCandless is a much talked about debate on topics of safety and preparedness in the wild, these things forever associated with the boy who was a little too eager for a death wish. Today, Chris is remember as a fool or a hero. The fool, a boy who allowed himself to be drowned in a fictional world inspired by his readings,dying because he ignored he was just a normal human being or the hero who set out to become something more.
All in all, it is interesting how the trials of life can lead a person into an awakening that inspires millions. Many people believe that walking “into the wild” to live off the land and find himself alone in nature was arrogant, foolish and irresponsible. Chris lacks of knowledge about the wild was a major factor in his death. Chris did not plan how he will survive in the wilderness without proper equipments. He misunderstood that he would have no problem in setting in the wild. Chris immature manner and decisions lead him to starvation and ultimately death. If he planned it out in the beginning he would have saved his life.