Into The Wild Chris Mccandless Character Analysis

Could you ever leave your entire life -your home, savings, and family- behind? Drop everything to pursue an impulsive trip and leave all your loved ones in the dark about it? In the year of 1996, Jon Krakauer published his book called Into The Wild, which narrates the life of Chris McCandless, a young man, aged 23, from a wealthy, suburban home. He gives up all of his possessions, including $25,000 in savings and his car to embark on a journey he liked to call “Into the Wild.” While Krakauer attempts to portray McCandless as a hero, he inevitably lets McCandless’s ignorance and stubbornness prevail all else. Throughout the entire book, he displays Chris as an irresponsible person who lacks a sense of common knowledge. Krakauer, an adventurer

For example, this is exhibited when Krakauer includes an anecdote about Chris and his father “He got real emotional...fighting back the tears, telling Dad that even though they’d had their differences over the years, he was grateful for all the things Dad had done for him. Chris said how much he respected Dad for starting from nothing...to support eight kids”(Krakauer 118). Chris seems to be very appreciative of his father and even gets emotional when thinking about all the sacrifices his father made in order to support both of his fathers families. McCandless appears to be family oriented and quite loving towards those around him, right? If that were the case, then why didn’t he let his family know where he was going or that he was planning on leaving, at the very least? When the McCandless family heard about the tragedy that Chris had suffered, his father, Walt McCandless, said, “How is it...that a kid with so much compassion could cause his parents so much pain?”(Krakauer 104). Chris demonstrates a high level of selfishness and ignorance towards his family’s needs and feelings. He left behind a devoted mother, hard working father and loving sister behind and never looked