...Krakauer portrays Chris McCandless as a courageous man. Through Krakauer’s use of symbols and motifs, as well as themes, the reader can easily describe McCandless as a non materialistic, independent human. Although some readers view McCandless as an insane lunatic, McCandless was truly a humble man who wanted nothing more than to understand how the less fortunate in society live. Throughout Into the Wild, the reader can envision how McCandless was independent throughout his upbringing as a child. McCandless, although a brilliant child, had parents who worked day and night, leaving him to take care of himself and his sister, Carine. Although he lived in luxury, he did not have a strong relationship with his parents,...
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...Chris McCandless believed in the concept of non-conformity. His upbringing impacted his life of ease and simplicity. However, he always felt as if he was independent but never was able to fully arrive at complete independence. Chris’s constrained values of appreciation of the power of nature and non-materialism brought him to be labeled as a transcendentalist. Alexander Supertramp was the epitome of non-conformity. That is the reason Chris created him. “To symbolize his complete severance from his previous life, he even adopted a new name. No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny.” (p.23) He felt as though he had accepted society too deeply into his life to regain happiness into his life as Chris. So he created an alter ego that was and did everything Chris wanted to but could not because of his acceptance of society. Alex...
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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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..."McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well—relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it. He had fled the claustrophobic confines of his family. He’d successfully kept Jan Burres and Wayne Westerberg at arm’s length, flitting out of their lives before anything was expected of him. And now he’d slipped painlessly out of Ron Franz’s life as well." This quotation shows Chris’s problems with intimacy which was highlighted on his two-year journey to find meaning in his life. During his journey he does not contact his sister, which he was very close with. Although he made lots of friends and acquaintances he made sure...
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...Chris McCandless’s Journey Chris McCandless’s was the son of an upper-middle class parents in the suburban Virginia area. Chris was trying to find the Self through the practice of self-reliance from 1990 to 1992. Inspired by geography, nature and his personal quests of self-discovery, he looked for peace within the Alaskan wilderness. He completely disconnected from his past life and abandoned everything but a few possessions. He misguidedly believed that the abandonment of others would be necessary to find enlightenment. Chris’s journey is comparable to the travels of Siddhartha from his privileged family to the end of their remarkable experiences. During the teen age years of Chris and Siddhartha, both wanted to leave their families to start an expedition of self-discovery. Chris’s parents were upper-middle class parents who loved Chris and wanted him to succeed. Siddhartha’s father was a Brahman who wanted Siddhartha to continue his practice with him. However, Chris felt like society was corrupt and that money should not be the most important valuable to someone. Siddhartha felt like he has achieved the limit of...
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...While Mccandless himself does have some flaws, it’s blasphemous to say that he doesn't have any transcendentalist attributes. Throughout the whole book, Mccandless’ words and actions can clearly show that he does indeed have transcendentalism inside him. One of the main and obvious examples is how Mccandless decided to leave his home for a journey to Alaska. “Two years he walks the earth, no phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road.” This clearly shows that Mccandless embodies transcendentalism because one of transcendentalism’s major beliefs is on anti-materialism, as seen in “no phone, pool, pets, and cigarettes,” and on departure from society, as seen in “whose home is the road.” Body paragraphs for Synthesis: Body paragraphs 1 and 2 should include a topic sentence followed by the position you are taking. Your body paragraphs should be supporting your position and should include quotations or evidence from the given sources you read. This will allow your claim to be more credible. Counterargument...
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