Into The Wild Chris Mccandless Inspiration Essay

With bright eyes and a fascination for adventure, Chris McCandless was truly one in a million. Chris McCandless, the star of “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer, stirs up powerful emotions in readers, leaving them divided into two camps. His rash behavior and defiance of society's norms can be seen as reckless and troublesome or as inspiration. Chris lived in a middle class household with parents who set him up to have a ‘successful’ future and live out his days as most people would. After high school he went to college, where he discovered his true adventurous soul. Chris was not the type of person to just become a lawyer and live in a nice house. He saw more to life than the conventional and average lifestyle of an American. Although it meant leaving behind his prior life, Chris found happiness in, “endlessly changing horizon(s)” (Krakauer, 57). Chris McCandless died twenty years ago, but he still is an inspiration today because he lived for his happiness.
Chris regarded the modernized way of living as unfulfilling and wasteful. He wanted no part of that

cookie cutter life that revolved around materialistic needs and greed. His views on a materialist life can be seen in the letter he wrote to his sister, “I can’t believe they’d try and buy me a car,’ he later complained in a letter to Carine, “or that they think I’d actually let them pay for my law school if I was going to go”( Krakauer,48). Unlike the majority of people, Chris refuses the new car not just because he already had a perfectly good one, but because of his strong belief against an endless consumer lifestyle. The basis of the American economy lies on the consumer's desire for the newest and best product. Humans are wasteful consumers who go through the cycle that is fueled by the need for the newest product. The comfortable lifestyle Americans live became unappealing to Chris as he took his life into his own hands.
Chris made his own way, instead of just growing up to get through life. He would not be the man who hates his job, working in a cubicle 9 to 5 just to have a white picket fence. Through his ideals Chris inspired many of those who were around him. When he was on the High School track team he used his ideas to pull others to their full potential, “He’d tell us to think about all the evil in the world, all the hatred, and imagine ourselves running against the forces of darkness, the evil wall that was trying to keep us from running our best. He believed doing well was all mental, a simple matter of harnessing whatever energy was available.” (112, Krakauer). There is no doubt that Chris influenced many of the people around him with his uniqueness that made people stop and pay attention. He was not an ignorant person who was satisfied with the ‘normal’ American life. Chris lived his life to the fullest capacity and he never let anything stop him from achieving his goals. He no longer was Chris McCandless, the middle class boy who studied to be a lawyer, “he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his destiny.” (Krakauer, 23).
Chris McCandless did not surrender himself to the law of society. By determining his own path, he made his own rules and chose which laws to follow. He found inspiration in Henry Thoreau, read many of his works, and followed the detail that came with the mindset. Chris’s adventures led him to trespass where his car eventually broke down. He knew that the rangers would not appreciate him making his own path and laws. “Truthful responses to (their) queries were not likely to be well (received) by the rangers. McCandless could endeavor to explain that he answered to statutes of the higher order-that as a latter day adherent of Henry David Thoreau, he took as gospel the essay; On the Duty of Civil Disobedience”(Krakauer, 28). Thoreau believe only in following rules that you believed in and those of which you do not, you must suffer the consequences that might follow. In a way Chris did not follow society's rules and ended up paying with his life.

I’d like to repeat the advice I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. And so, On, in short, get out of Salton City and hit the Road. I guarantee you will be very glad you did. My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. Don’t hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it. You will be very, very glad that you did.
(Krakauer, 57)

Chris McCandless is an inspiration to many. His journey to new places always lead him to finding new friends. ‘So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure.’ Chris knew that there were many people out there like him waiting to be discovered. Not many people are courageous enough to abandon all that is familiar to them just for the sake of a dream,. Chris brought his dream to life and as people as that they saw the possibilities of their fantasies become a reality. Chris especially impacted Ron, emotionally and spiritually. As soon as Chris met Ron they instantly bonded, to Ron Chris was like a son but inevitably Chris moved, leaving his friend. “Painlessly, that is, from McCandless's perspective- although not from the old man’s. One can only speculate about why Franz became so attached to McCandless so quickly, but the affection he felt was genuine, intense, and unalloyed.”(Krakauer, 55). People like Chris are extremely rare and leave a lasting impact everywhere they go. Everyone remembers and cherishes their connections with Chris. Although he eventually leaves, he is not entirely gone, his inspiration remains omnipresent in the people's lives. Right before Chris goes off into the wild he sends his goodbyes which show how much the people mean to him.
Whether Chris went off on his Alaskan Odyssey as his final adventure or as an unprepared mistake is widely debated. Numerous times Chris declined help from everyone he encountered, but his most fatal mistake was his refusal of help from Gallien who offered to buy him the proper gear and supplies. The necessities, although made from a materialist society, would have helped Chris survive longer. He also went without food or even a simple map. All of these hints mixed with his goodbyes pointed in one direction, “When McCandless hugged Borah good-bye, she says, “I noticed he was crying. That frightened me. He wasn’t planning on being gone all that long; I figured he wouldn’t have been crying unless he intended to take some big risks and knew he might not be coming back. That’s when I started having a bad feeling that we wouldn’t never see Alex again.”” (Krakauer, 68). Even Chris knew that he might not ever return to his friends. The infuriated Alaskans and critics argue over the fact that Chris did not bring the proper supplies. His lack of supplies shows a lack of caring and consideration for his survival which ultimately means he wasn't planning on surviving. He wrote his final goodbyes and left the ‘civil’ world.
Chris McCandless fate was not suicide, but pure overestimating himself and unfortunate luck. When in the prime of life most people think they are invincible and can take on whatever the world throws at them. Chris did just that, he underestimated the power of Alaska. Although he had not planned properly there were various signs that show that he was not planning on dying in Alaska. In a weak and deteriorating state Chris made his final attempt to save himself, “S.O.S. I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone, this is NO JOKE. In the name of God, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening. Thank you, Chris McCandless. August?” (Krakauer, 12). Chris enjoyed his two years of various journeys so much why would he want them to come to an end? He made a fatal mistake that cost him his life but Chris tried his best to survive through Alaska and he certainly did not try to inspirer anyone else to die in the wilderness as well.

“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. And so, On, in short, get out of Salton City and hit the Road. I guarantee you will be very glad you did.”
(Krakauer, 57)

Chris McCandless is an inspirational human not only because he chose how he wanted to live but he did what made him happy.

At the end of the day it doesn't matter who you are or where you are as long as you're happy. Chris left his family behind in an attempt to find what life had to offer other than just an ignorant mindset and a way to get by. He was not afraid to take the risks that many people only dream of doing. He believes in ‘(endless) changing horizons’ and that a basic life, is no life at all. He would rather not know what tomorrow will bring that to be an unhappy office worker making ends meet. Many people live unhappy lives either because they are scared to take the risks and step off the beaten path or because they would rather live a materialistic life. Even if you don't agree with Chris you can not deny that even though he made mistakes, dying alone in Alaska, he inspired people to be

themselves.