Persuasive Essay On Chris Mccandless

1043 Words3 Pages

Chris McCandless took a gamble with his life and as a result, he lost it. McCandless was a very adventurous, free spirited, young man that chose to do anything and everything he set his mind to. He was born into a family that he did not quite fit in with, it was a family of money with no emotions for love other than that for money of course. Due to his personal issues and the rebellion of his youth McCandless decided to go on an adventure traveling to Alaska and ultimately sacrificing his life from his risk taking tendencies. Although it may be true that McCandless could potentially suffer from a type of mental illness, people should consider that he is completely sane because he ultimately just wanted to travel and find himself while doing …show more content…

Thoreau states, “I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary.” I truly believe that McCandless took this adventure in order to be able to live his own life the way he wanted to with no problems and without the cost of letting others make his decisions for him; hence never accepting help from others. McCandless understood what he was getting himself into, he understood that it would be difficult, he understood it would take a toll on his body and he understood that he could possibly die. With the knowledge of this it was his own decision, his own ideas and thirst for adventure that lead him into the …show more content…

Numberless of people believe that he was schizophrenic or suffered from a type of mental illness during his life and that is why he chose to go on this adventure, yet many others believe that he went into the wild in order to commit suicide. Despite the fact that McCandless abruptly left his home and family in a quickly manner, I believe that he did not suffer from any of those previously mentioned. Schizophrenia is when the individual cannot tell what is real and what is imagined, they lose touch with reality; this is not the case for McCandless. McCandless was not imagining anything and if he did ‘lose touch with reality’ then how would one explain his relationship with the many people he encountered on his way. A mental illness is a condition that impacts a person’s thinking, feelings or moods that may affect his or her ability to relate to others and function on a daily basis. Although McCandless could possibly fall under certain types of mental illness from him choosing to go into the wild, the author of this book, Jon Krakauer, is able to relate to McCandless as well. Krakauer writes, “As a youth … I was … intermittently reckless… Like McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in me a confusing medley of corked fury … captured my undisciplined imagination … I pursued it with .. mountain climbing.” (page 134). From this,

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