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Essays written on christopher mccandless
Christopher mccandless character analysis
Character Traits Of Chris Mccandless
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Just because someone is top of the class, graduated at a very wealthy, highly academic school they can still make foolish decisions. No matter the IQ or schooling it can't stop someone from being a fool. Chris McCandless was all of these things and had all the knowledge and preparation needed. Although Christopher McCandless embodied intelligence and impacted many lives, he made many foolish decisions that ultimately cost him his life and his family much undeserved pain. People with a stubborn nature refuse to hear good advise causing them to make unnecessary mistakes. Chris’s friends and family tried to persuade him to not follow through with his foolish plan, but he rejected their thoughts and selfishly did the opposite. His good friend …show more content…
McCandless put little to no thought into his actions and his venture to Alaska. After McCandless graduated he decided he was going to drive around on an adventure to find himself. In the middle of this journey “his car broke down and he abandoned it in the Arizona desert. McCandless was exhilarated, so much that he decided to bury most of his worldly possessions the parched earth of Detrital Wash and then--in a gesture that would have done Tolstoy proud--burned his last remaining cash, about $160 in small bills” (Krakauer 4). McCandless thrived off of the feeling of being lost and hopeless. When his car broke down, unlike any other human, He didn't call for help. He was excited. He took his excitement then way too far and decided right then and there to make this accident into an adventure. He immediately buried all his belongings he had with him thinking that would free him from this world. He didn’t think twice about it. He acted on his thrill and was not being rational. When he got home from his adventure through Arizona he decided that his trip was so freeing he wanted to go on another one. This time he would tackle Alaska. In preparation for his trip to Alaska “he donated the $20,000 in his bank account to Oxfam, loaded up his car, and disappeared. From then on he scrupulously avoided contacting either of his parents or Carnie, the sister for whom he purportedly cared immensely” (Krakauer 8). Chris didn’t think this trip through. A regular trip to Alaska would take months to prepare for lodging, food, and packing the necessities. Chris was not a regular person though. He believed the necessities were just worldly things therefore he could survive without them. He headed out on his challenging excursion only two months after he got back from Arizona. He didn’t even care to say goodbye to his family. He didn’t want them to know because he figured they would stop him. He was
Chris believes that if he too the ticket from Wayne that would be a shortcut, an easy way out. Chris believes that the voyage is just as important as the destination. One example of this is on Page 67 Chapter 7 “Once Alex made his mind up about something, there was no changing it.” This quote shows Chris’s stubbornness and how he is determined to get to Alaska as he intended, the long way. Another quote showing that he lives to his own words, and wouldn’t take a shortcut is on Page 68 Chapter 7, when Chris sent a postcard to Wayne saying “April 18 Arrived in Whitefish this morning on a freight train. I am making good time. Today I will jump the border and turn north for Alaska. Give my regards to everyone.” TAKE CARE ,
"I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness. He made a lot of mistakes based on ignorance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy”- Shaun Callarman. Feeling invincible is new for young adults, but Chris McCandless convinced himself that he knew he was immortal rather than just believing it. His adventure into the wild was mostly due to his rebellious spirit. Some would argue that his vacation wasn 't inspired by his irrational aspirations, but instead by his family. Some say that he skipped town to get away from the strict prison that he called
If Chris was better prepared, he may have been able to survive and a live the life he wanted to in the Alaskan wild. “His rifle was only .22 caliber, a bore too small to rely on if he expected to kill large animals like moose and caribou, which he would have to eat if he hoped to remain very long in the country. He had no ax, no bug dope, no snowshoes, no compass.” (Krakauer 5) Seeing that within the first couple of pages, Jim Gallien had pointed out that his supplies were not enough to sustain a long period of time in the wild, this should have been a red flag for Chris even before he went into the wilderness. In Roberts article called “Jon Krakauer + Sean Penn: Back Into the Wild”, Roberts quotes Krakauer’s original magazine article that talks to the hunters that found Chris’s body. "The kid didn't know what the hell he was doing up here” The hunters did not personally know Chris and did not meet him in person and they could tell by evidence only that Chris McCandless was not suited to live in the Alaskan Wilderness.
Was Chris McCandless deranged? Was he delusional? Or was he a hero? Since Chris’ body was found in bus 142 in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, he has been called many things. Those who knew him believed that he wasn’t crazy; that his impulsive actions and aspirations to explore the world, were no more than the natural inclinations of a young and idealistic spirit. However, his desire to venture into the unknown with no source of human contact and nothing but a ten-pound bag of rice, is not considered normal behavior. Jon Kraukauer’s, Into The Wild, manifests how Chris McCandless’ antisocial demeanor, lack of remorse, and impulsive actions are directly relatable to behaviors associated with a sociopath.
He went through many obstacles that could have proved fatal. From canoeing in the Colorado River to picking the right berries, he was testing his intelligence. Chris had a true confidence in the land and in himself to set out on a mission so dangerous. “Wilderness appealed to those bored or disgusted with man and his works. It not only offered an escape from society but also was an ideal stage for the Romantic individual to exercise the cult that he frequently made of his own soul. The solitude and total freedom of the wilderness created a perfect setting for either melancholy or exaltation” (Nash; Krakauer 157). Chris longed to escape from society and rely on only mother nature. An innumerable amount of people desire to withdraw from society as Chris did; but they are so comfortable and secure with a normal life they do not dare take such a gutsy
Was he a reckless idiot? That is the big question. This is what people always seem to talk about when they talk about Chris McCandless. There are many people who think that Chris McCandless was a reckless idiot who was mentally ill, or something else was wrong with Chris. It seems that almost everybody that met Chris thought maybe Chris was crazy or had problems. Here are just a few things that people said about Chris and his state of mind. Pg 40 Zarza admits saying, "he was always going on about trees and nature and weird stuff like that. We all thought he was missing a few screws. Pg 42 Charlie said, "seemed like a kid who was looking for something." Pg 45 Burres said "I thought Alex had lost his mind when he told us about his 'great Alaskan odyssey, ' as he called it."
He took everything in his life to the extreme. As stated earlier, “It is hardly unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders; engaging in risky behavior is a rite of passage in our culture no less than in most others. Danger has always held a certain allure….”(Krakauer 182). People want to live while their young, therefore they take risks. However, what McCandless did was more than just risk taking. He contained something along the lines of an excessive hubris. ‘“He didn’t think the odds applied to him. We were always trying to pull him back from the edge,” vocalizes Walt McCandless (Krakauer 109). Trudging into the vast Alaskan wilderness without proper provisions is taking the extreme too far. As Krakauer states, “...[Chris] was fully aware when he entered the brush that he he had given himself a perilously slim margin for error” (182). Only someone with an extensive hubris would commit an act so dangerous and be confident in their survival. Although he lent himself to a handful of stupid mistakes, McCandless was far from an idiot. Even though the extreme he took his Alaska adventure to was ill-advised, there is something about Chris that is almost admirable. Many people have dreams and passions that get shoved into an old chest and are never to be visited again. In today’s society it seems as though everyone is
“McCandless was something else – although precisely what is hard to say.” (pg. 85). Chris was a very different person, but not crazy. He was emotionally motivated at the time and had his mind set on Alaska. In the end, Chris was nowhere near prepared for this journey, but was too caught up in what he was trying to do to realize this. I agree with Krakauer that Chris wasn’t crazy or insane, but in his attempts to survive in Alaska he made several mistakes and ultimately, led an ill-prepared journey to Alaska that killed him.
In Jon Krakauer’s book Into the Wild, he documents the events that led up to the death of Chris McCandless. McCandless was a teenage boy who dealt with tremendous amounts of pressure from his parents to do well in school and keep family secrets — they apologized for it through buying him things that they thought he needed. However, Chris hated this and just wanted peace, and honesty at home. There was one place in which Chris could get this, and it is in nature — there was no chaos or dishonesty amongst his family. Before he would go to college, he would drive to unknown places on his own — cherishing the peace that he gets. And when he decides to go to Alaska, his journey leads him to
Many people thought that Chris had no idea what he was doing and that he was very unprepared. In an article, written by Peter Christian, an Alaska Park Ranger, he talks about how Chris was unprepared for his trip: “First off, he spent very little time learning how to actually live in the wild. He arrived at the Stampede Trail without even a map of the area. If he had a good map he could have walked out of his predicament using one of several routes that could have been successful. …A bag of rice and a sleeping bag do not constitute adequate gear and provisions for a long stay in the wilderness.” Christian believed that Chris was very unprepared and if he would have had a map, he could have made it out of the wild alive. No one really knows if Chris could have, indeed, made it out using the map. But it could have helped him find one of three cabins located within a few miles of the bus. Christian also points out that a bag o...
Living in the wilderness is difficult, but understanding the meaning of such lifestyle is even more difficult. One of the Christopher’s admirable qualities was that he was well aware of what he was doing. He knew about the difficulties and dangers that he would face into the wilderness, and was mentally prepared for that. Author Jon Krakauer says that “McCandless was green, and he overestimated his resilience, but he was sufficiently skilled to last for sixteen weeks on little more than his wits and ten pounds of rice. And he was fully aware when he entered the bush that he had given himself a perilously slim margin for error. He knew precisely what was at stake” (182). McCandless was an educated youth, who loved nature and dreamed of living in the Alaskan wilderness. Although he ignored to take many necessary things with him on this
The steps explained by Krakauer can be described not only as reckless but as arrogant and insensitive to those that live in Alaska. The messages sent to Krakauer by the people of Alaska show more examples of people who were anything but inspired by Chris McCandless. The Alaskan’s went as far as to say, “The only difference is that McCandless ended up dead, with the story on his dumbassedness splashed across the media” (Krakauer, 71). That same Alaskan continued, “Such willful ignorance… amounts to disrespect for the land, and paradoxically demonstrates the same sort of arrogance that resulted in the Exxon Valdez spill--” (Krakauer, 72). People all over have read Krakauer’s book and vouch for the inspirational tale it tells, because of the controversy this Chris McCandless’s story still brings today, it is obvious that there are people out there inspired by his story and journey. Many have even followed his lead by pulling what is sometimes referred to as “a McCandless”
According to others, Chris McCandless was inherently selfish. Please, let’s beg to differ, for goodness sake, he was a grown man! It was his life and he was living it the way he wanted to. Chris gave his sister fair warning. He bid to her, “Since they won’t ever take me seriously, for a few months after graduation I’m going to let them think they are right, I’m going to let them think that I’m “coming around to see their sides of things” and that our relationship is stabilizing. And then, once the time is right, with one abrupt, swift action I’m going to completely knock them out of my life...” (Krakauer 64) He knew what he had to do. He had to show his parents how they had made him feel his whole life. As a graduation present they offered him a new car, his old Datsun apparently was to their standards. Chris became infuriated. That was his pride and joy, how dare them try and take that away! They ignored what he was saying, as he did many times before, he o...
Chris McCandless is regarded as being something as a spiritual figure almost as a cult hero, some call him a disillusioned fool, some call him a great adventurer, and the debate still continues. As Matthew Power calls in his article, an article where he tells the story of McCandless,“The debate falls into two camps: Krakauer's visionary seeker, the tragic hero who dared to live the unmediated life he had dreamed of and died trying; or, as many Alaskans see it, the unprepared fool, a greenhorn who had fundamentally misjudged the wilderness he'd wanted so desperately to commune with.” Like so many stories covering Christopher McCandless’ death, both ends of the argument are discussed in an unfavored manner in the hopes to help develop an opinion on the McCandless story. This open ended question can only be answered open-endedly based on what the readers base for themselves as covered stories intend. Like Power has done, ...
Christopher McCandless was a well educated high class adult who always dreamed about the Alaskan Odyssey. This was living off the land far from all types of civilization. Basically just living out in the wild all alone with no electricity or running water. Growing up Christopher was a very privileged child. He wasn't the type of person you would think would just leave everything behind them to go out and live by them self in the wild. No one in his family really saw it coming. McCandless had great academic success, but what influenced him to do what he did was he hated seeing how materialistic this world could be. He wanted to just escape. McCandless made his way up to Alaska and got rid of all of his possessions. He made it to Alaska and from there started hitchhiking towards the wilderness. After that McCandless started his adventure of attempting to live off the land the rest of his life. No running water, no electricity, no real source of food, no money, and no people there to help him. "two years he walks the earth. no phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. ul...