The Foolish Chris McCandless of Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer

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Many people dream about leaving everything behind and starting a new life, but it’s not as easy as it seems. Learning how to adapt to a new environment may be a challenge. In the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Christopher McCandless has no knowledge of the conditions he’s going to face when he arrives in Alaska. I would classify Christopher McCandless as a fearless crazy guy, because he leaves his well-shaped life behind. McCandless is not prepared for his expedition to Alaska, because he’s not familiar with the different lifestyles. Making all of these changes to his life like, detaching himself from his family and changing his name to Alexander Supertramp was a bad idea; because losing all of his connections means that he has no help from the people who really know him.

McCandless doesn’t have the best relationship with his parents. He decides to keep things to himself and learns how to deal with situations in silence. He addresses an issue he had with his parents in a letter he wrote to his sister Carine, “I’ve told them a million times that I have the best car in the world ... a car that I will never trade in, a car that I am very strongly attached to---yet they still ignore what I say and think I’d accept a new car from them!” (21). McCandless talks about how his parents try to gift him a new car after telling them that he doesn’t want a new car. His parents tend to make decisions for him a lot and McCandless doesn’t want them to. Another major problem he has with his parents is the discovery he made about his father’s affair. This is the main reason he cut all his connections with this family. McCandless discovers that “Walt continued his relationship with Marcia in secret, dividing his time between ...

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... as a consequence.” (192). Due to Supertramp’s lack of knowledge, he didn’t tell the difference between two types of seeds. One kind of seed was okay to eat, while the other was a very poisonous, this resulting into his death.

Although Christopher McCandless was intelligent young man, he could’ve been a little more considerate of the fact that he wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild. To be able to survive without civilization, it requires experience and awareness of what’s to be expected. Christopher McCandless was not familiar with this type of environment, therefore he couldn’t survive. He was brave and fearless leaving everything behind and burning most of his belongings. Starting over is a hard thing to do, but getting rid of your old self may not be the best idea.

Works Cited

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor Books, 1997. Print.

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