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

and risk taker himself, consequently lets his opinion cloud his judgement and paints McCandless as a hero, but because he is biased, it destroys his credibility. Although he claims to have tried to “minimize his authoritarian presence” (Author's note)., he continues to discredit himself by contradicting himself time and time again.
To start off, it is clear to Krakauer's readers that he lets his own life blend with Chris’s experiences as he tries to convince everyone that McCandless is a hero. In his author's note, he explains the route he attempted to take with this book. He also included a statement warning his audience that he included the stories of others just like McCandless and him. Young men who have taken a trip to attempt to find themselves and become fully independent from all outside sources. These stories make him bias in the way that he only added these stories to try to get his readers to sympathize with Chris. He even admits himself, “I do so in hope that my experience will throw some oblique light on the enigma of Chris McCandless” (Authors note). If Krakauer was able to admit to his biased opinion on Chris, his audience should be able to make that opinion, too.
In the course of Into the Wild, one could see that McCandless is instantly put on a pedestal by Krakauer and all his flaws seem to be overlooked by him. He also makes an effort to do the same with his readers. However, he seems to mention many instances in which he demonstrates an ignorant demeanor, such as the time he got picked up by Jim Gallien. Krakauer writes, “...only food in his pack was a ten-pound bag of rice. His gear seemed exceedingly minimal for the harsh conditions of the interior...Alex’s cheap leather hiking boots were neither waterproof nor well insulated. His rifle was only .22 caliber, a bore too small to rely on if he expected to kill large animals…” (Krakauer 5). This small excerpt was said by the last character that had the opportunity to encounter McCandless while on the road, Jim Gallien. This was coming from a man who knew what it took to survive in the wild, for he was a woodman and successful hunter. It was evident McCandless didn’t care enough to properly research for his very difficult trip. Furthermore, in Peter Christian’s Criticism of McCandless, he reviews his various opinions in respect to Chris’s trip and the decisions he made on it. Peter Christian, an Alaskan Park Ranger, seems to have many things in common with Chris. They were both in Alaska the year of 1992, came from the same area in Washington, D.C., shared the same age and thought similarly. The only difference is that Christian was experienced and compliant. Christian made it clear from the very beginning that he doesn’t like Chris at all. His opinion is brought to light he when he says, “There was nothing heroic or even mysterious about what Chris McCandless did in April 1992,” then adds, “...McCandless was not something special” (Christian 1). He continues his rant by discussing how many others, just like Chris, take on the expedition without willing to educate themselves about situations he might encounter.. “Some like McCandless, show up in Alaska, unprepared, unskilled and unwilling to take the time to learn the skills they need to be successful. These quickly get in trouble...they are rescued by park rangers...not before risking their lives and/or spending a lot of government money on helicopters and overtime” (Christian 1). Peter Christian ruthlessly talks about McCandless’ case because he can only understand and support these young men to a certain extent, but Chris was just too extreme for him to understand his actions. In his perspective, what happened to Chris was “stupid, tragic and inconsiderate”(Christian 1). We don’t know for a fact that he would’ve survived if he had the proper replenishments and garments, but he at least could’ve lasted long enough to contact his parents or call for help.
In addition to the list of McCandless’s flaws, he is often perceived as quite stubborn. This is demonstrated in practically the entire book, seeing as he left without anybody’s blessing and ignored the advice from the nice people he encountered on the road. When he was in the third grade, he was recommended for an accelerated program for gifted children after scoring unbelievably high on a test. Most would be thrilled to even be considered for this program, but young McCandless persistently attempted to get himself withdrawn from this offer. “...it meant he had to do extra homework. So he spent a week trying to get himself out of the gifted program.This little boy attempted to convince the teacher, the principal, anybody who would listen, that the test results were in error…” (Krakauer 107). By being in that program, it would have granted many opportunities for McCandless. He would've received a more advanced education than the rest which might have led to a great future for him, but because the extra work was not something he wanted to do, he decided he would do anything to be exempt from this at any cost. Perhaps if he wasn’t so tenacious he would’ve done the right thing and have a very bright future. Moreover, he showed this strong headed mindset again when Krakauer mentioned “A gifted French-horn player, as a teen he was a member of the American University Symphony but quit, according to Walt, after objecting to the rules imposed by a high school band leader” (Krakauer 110). Chris was so unrelentingly obstinate to being his own boss and doing whatever he pleased that he quit something he had a true talent for. Krakauer showed us many instances in which he was stubborn in nature and he dragged on this attitude until he took his very last breath.
In contrast, Krakauer is able to show how compassionate McCandless can be when he chooses to be.

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

back.
In conclusion, no matter how much Krakauer tried to portray McCandless as a tragic hero, he instead successfully demonstrated McCandless in a negative light. Chris McCandless had many negative traits throughout the entire course of the book. Out of these many traits, most would agree he is mostly ignorant and stubborn. If he had only informed himself more or gave his family some details about his whereabouts, he could’ve possibly been here to share his experiences himself.