Personal Reflection on Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer

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Krakauer said “McCandless change his name, gave the entire balance of a 24 thousand-dollar saving account to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his pocket” (Author’s note). Family is an important factor in everyone’s life; apparently that was not enough for Christopher McCandless. I have been fortunate to live with my family my whole life.

Since I was little, my family has taught me how to be humble. My family and I are adventurist and we like going out camping and having different experiences in each place we go. At the age of six, I experienced camping for the first time, it was scary at first but eventually it became more comfortable and I loved it. My childhood consisted of similar experiences, but it was not until age 16 when I understood what it was like to be in a calm place. I liked the feeling of being able to get away from society for a couple of days and have the opportunity to shake some stress away. It also meant no homework and no worries because I found an interior peace in a place where nothing more exists than the beauty of nature. Now, when I think about society I find myself in a more stressed mood, with many things to do and having to deal with some people. McCandless was a young man who believed that being around society can be poisonous and is a trap, that the hypocrisy and arrogance of the people had not end. Especially because he was not materialistic when it came to possessions such as cars or houses. Something that caught my attention is his ideologies about nature, his courage to go into the wild alone and the way he was fascinated by the nature, the sky and the small joys of life.

McCandless was a fearless human being. I think that most of the people’s ideologies and personalities have to do with how they were raised by the parents and everything that was taught to them. When a lack of love exists from a parent towards his child, a hate can be created without knowing it. McCandless could have gone away from society to escape reality or, for being in a place where he could find himself at peace. Either one, we can assume that he obviously had different ideas about civilization; the idea of having a life full of danger and adventure inspired and excited him.

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