...Comparative Essay Into the Wild Leo Tolstoy is considered to be one of the greatest novelists of all time, influencing the world of the arts as well as the way we analyze the philosophies of human beings. Throughout the past century, he has influenced millions of people with his meaningful and powerful novels and essays about the way we appreciate love and how we live our lives. When reading the novel Into the Wild, it becomes clear that the artist’s philosophies have had leverage on Christopher McCandless and the theories he applies to his chosen lifestyle. When analyzing McCandless’ behavior, Tolstoy’s importance becomes evident through the reasons the protagonist has when leaving the society he was a part of in terms of luxury, human contact with the wilderness, and the importance of conscience. These ideals can be seen specifically represented in one of Tolstoy’s essays titled On Labor and Luxury, which forms part of a compilation of papers published in the book What to do? in 1887. Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy opens his argumentative piece by describing his reasons to criticize society, which presents McCandless’ ideals on escaping the community he was a part of. Tolstoy describes “the wretchedness of our life” by stating that “If the people of our sphere, of our caste, will only take a serious look at themselves, then young persons, who are in search of personnel happiness, will stand aghast at the ever-increasing wretchedness of their life, which is plainly leading them...
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...were one is unified with nature. Chris McCandless was one of those people that was looking for this. He was, however, very narcissistic and stubborn in his ridiculous quest, and failed to realize that the real reason why he felt he had to be one with nature, was because he had to find peace with his parents. Chris went into the wild looking to find complete freedom with nature, a better understanding of the world around him, but ultimately, to find forgiveness for his parents. Freedom from materialistic goods and authority are common themes throughout the story shown by Chris’ actions and how he wished to be...
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...Chris McCandless was heroic and brave because he did more in his twenty-four years than most people do in a lifetime. It is rare that people actually make the most of the short time they have on earth and live, rather than just exist. To go against the grain and discover the meaning of life instead of just settling, takes courage, determination, and a completely different, profound mindset, which were qualities Chris possessed. He did not just settle with the monotonous way of life that society expects of us. He went on an odyssey of self-discovery because he thirsted for truth and originality, and that is something to admire. One could say that he was naïve and brash and that inevitably led him to being a failure but he positively affected...
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...lawyers; this aspiration drives an individual to better themselves, thus bettering society. However, there are others who may yearn to be someone who doesn’t have a high paying job or a high ranking position. Holden Caulfield and Chris McCandless seek a unique future; one involving days filled with wonder and tranquility, one away from the hustle and bustle of society, one away the greed that consumes most people. The Catcher in the Rye tells the story of Holden Caulfield, who is a teenage boy that ventures to New York City after being expelled from private school. On the other hand, Into the Wild recounts the adventures...
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...Christopher McCandless In August of 1992, at the Stampede Trail of Alaska, several groups of hikers and hunters discovered the dead body of a young man, shriveled up in an old abandoned bus. That corpse was later identified as Christopher McCandless, an adventure-seeking, young man that had passed due to starvation and poisoning. In the summer of 1990, Christopher had left behind his family and friends, to venture off and experience life for what it actually was. He traversed all across the nation, met many new people along the way, and managed to live off of the land. He kept detailed records of his travels and various encounters in his personal journal. Into the Wild is a book written by Jon Krakauer in attempt to shed light on Chris’s journey to Alaska. Christopher McCandless was running away from a pathway that had been strategically paved for him, by his affluent parents, a pathway which would lead Chris to great heights of materialistic success, and power. Although Christopher’s intentions were ambiguous in the beginning, towards the end of his journey, it had become evident that he wanted to attain a sense of self-fulfillment, without any type of interference or assistance. Walt McCandless and Billie Johnson, Christopher’s parents, contributed to Chris’s departure in a number of ways. Although there were many misunderstandings, and differences of opinion between Chris and Walt, Chris always carried a sense of respect for his father. As Carine, Chris’s sister, told...
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...INTO THE WILD STUDY GUIDE How would you describe Krakauer’s tone in this first chapter? Does he seem sympathetic toward Chris McCandless? | Why do you think Chris would have lied about his name and age to Jim Gallien? Why would someone who was raised in a privileged manner want to hitchhike and live in the wilderness out West? How would you describe Chris McCandless after reading this section? For someone who claimed to be a loner, why did Chris befriend so many people? Do you believe the stories the people in this chapter tell Krakauer are true? How effective is Krakauer’s exploration of these other adventurers? Do you think Chris shared similarities with them? Krakauer is not a psychologist; do you think he is overstating the effects of a strained father-son relationship on the actions of these men? Is it possible that many men have strained relations with their fathers during their early adulthoods as they attempt to establish their own manhood and Krakauer plays on this commonality to make Chris McCandless seem tied to these other men? Do you think these men are foolish or brave, or can they be both? How does the McCandless family’s description of Chris differ from the others we have heard? Do you think Chris’s anger towards his father was deserved? Do you think Chris’s relationship with his father mirrors the relationships the men in the last section had with their fathers? Having learned that Chris was an entrepreneur and considered law...
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...Chris McCandless, round and static character of commentary text novel Into the Wild is depicted as a detached young man contending solely with his own internal conflicts. Into the Wild is a non-fiction journalistic piece written by Jon Krakauer which delineates the events Chris McCandless encountered over a two year journey of self discovery, independence, and utter emancipation from materialistic society in the wilderness. To begin with, Christopher Johnson McCandless, known for a brief period of his life as Alexander Supertramp was born on February 12, 1968 to Walt and Billie McCandless in El Segundo, California. Christopher’s secondary education originated at Wilbert Tucker Woodson High School in Fairfax, Virginia where he would furthermore...
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...Nature’s Influence on American Literature American literature has been influenced by nature for many years. From Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson to Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, nature has influenced the things people write about and what the characters do. In Into the Wild, Chris McCandless felt called to live off the land. He got rid of all his belongings, his money, and his car. All he had was his backpack that only weighed twenty-five to thirty pounds. But it did not start there; it started with his first trip. Nature changed McCandless into a completely different man. He went from trying to figure out how to make money and how to be the fastest track star to striving to figure out how to live completely off the land. “The beauty became...
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...Transcendentalists tend to view the world in a much more positive manner, and in the end, this innate optimism can skew their perception of their surroundings, giving them a false sense of security. Obviously in most cases, like the aforementioned scenario, having a realistic view of the world is ideal, and unfortunately, McCandless fell victim to transcendentalism’s faulty idealism. Chris did exactly what the naturalist most likely wouldn’t attempt – to survive in the barren lands of the Alaskan wilderness. Regrettably, Chris’s idealistic view of the world ended his life. Rational thinking, however, does not prevail in every situation. While naturalism is favorable in instances requiring unbiased assessment to avoid ill fate, it cannot confidently explain intangible concepts like values, morality, or the conscious mind. In these situations, transcendentalists rely on their belief of a higher law or power to guide their understanding of the incorporeal world, which they believe transcends “…beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or see” (Transcendentalism, an American...
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...FAMILY OF SECRETS The Bush Dynasty, America’s Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years RUSS BAKER Contents Foreword by James Moore 1. How Did Bush Happen? 2. Poppy’s Secret 3. Viva Zapata 4. Where Was Poppy? 5. Oswald’s Friend 6. The Hit 7. After Camelot 8. Wings for W. 9. The Nixonian Bushes 10. Downing Nixon, Part I: The Setup 11. Downing Nixon, Part II: The Execution 12. In from the Cold 13. Poppy’s Proxy and the Saudis 14. Poppy’s Web 15. The Handoff 16. The Quacking Duck 17. Playing Hardball 18. Meet the Help 19. The Conversion 20. The Skeleton in W.’s Closet 21. Shock and . . . Oil? 22. Deflection for Reelection 23. Domestic Disturbance 24. Conclusion Afterword Author’s Note Acknowledgments Notes Foreword When a governor or any state official seeks elective national office, his (or her) reputation and what the country knows about the candidate’s background is initially determined by the work of local and regional media. Generally, those journalists do a competent job of reporting on the prospect’s record. In the case of Governor George W. Bush, Texas reporters had written numerous stories about his failed businesses in the oil patch, the dubious land grab and questionable funding behind a new stadium for Bush’s baseball team, the Texas Rangers, and his various political contradictions and hypocrisies while serving in Austin. I was one of those Texas journalists. I spent about a decade...
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...animal Books by Elliot Aronson Theories of Cognitive Consistency (with R. Abelson et al.), 1968 Voices of Modern Psychology, 1969 The Social Animal, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004; (with J. Aronson), 2008 Readings About the Social Animal, 1973, 1977, 1981, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004; (with J. Aronson), 2008 Social Psychology (with R. Helmreich), 1973 Research Methods in Social Psychology (with J. M. Carlsmith & P. Ellsworth), 1976 The Jigsaw Classroom (with C. Stephan et al.), 1978 Burnout: From Tedium to Personal Growth (with A. Pines & D. Kafry), 1981 Energy Use: The Human Dimension (with P. C. Stern), 1984 The Handbook of Social Psychology (with G. Lindzey), 3rd ed., 1985 Career Burnout (with A. Pines), 1988 Methods of Research in Social Psychology (with P. Ellsworth, J. M. Carlsmith, & M. H. Gonzales), 1990 Age of Propaganda (with A. R. Pratkanis), 1992, 2000 Social Psychology, Vols. 1–3 (with A. R. Pratkanis), 1992 Social Psychology: The Heart and the Mind (with T. D. Wilson & R. M. Akert), 1994 Cooperation in the Classroom: The Jigsaw Method (with S. Patnoe), 1997 Nobody Left to Hate: Teaching Compassion After Columbine, 2000 Social Psychology: An Introduction (with T. D. Wilson & R. M. Akert), 2002, 2005, 2007 The Adventures of Ruthie and a Little Boy Named Grandpa (with R. Aronson), 2006 Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) (with C. Tavris), 2007 Books by Joshua Aronson Improving Academic Achievement, 2002 The Social Animal To...
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