...Why would someone like Chris McCandless want to hitchhike and live in the wilderness out West? From birth Chris McCandless lived a most considerable privileged life. McCandless grew up with everything given to him; therefore Chris never endured the hardships in terms of finance. As McCandless grew older the life filled with materialistic possessions and physical conveniences was not helping him grow as a person and did not help him make sense of the world.” The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun,” in happiness Chris expresses. Chris craved adventure, to get lost in nature, and to find himself through his passion of adventure. Chris later believed that his privileged life was cruel and evil, so he ventured out to live a life filled with new excitement each day that only required his heart for adventure and the clothes on his back. Unlike most people, Chris idealism of life was living on the edge and taking risky chances. Prone to explore Chris left his privileged...
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...friends warned McCandless “living in the bush ain’t no picnic,” and critics thought he was ill prepared and just out for an adventure he knew nothing about, Jon Krakauer thought differently. After spending an extensive amount of time trying to back track everywhere McCandless had been within the last couple of years of his life Krakauer showed great devotion and dedication to letting the world know McCandless’s story. Krakauer primarily uses McCandless’s journal entries, photographs, and books to try to gain a deeper understanding of the young man. I find it amazing Krakauer being a journalist in Alaska would not go directly to the site where McCandless died but, traveled all over the country to find out who this individual was and his purpose or meaning for going to Alaska. Krakauer found McCandless to be a riveting and intellectual human being. However misunderstood McCandless was Krakauer, wanted to prove that McCandless was important and not crazy. In Krakauer’s book there are some chapters dedicated to men with similar stories to McCandless such as Everett Ruess, an artist and wanderer who went missing in Utah, who did similar things and had a similar background as McCandless. Krakauer defends McCandless by comparing his personalities to Jack London, Leo Tolstoy, and Henry David Thoreau as well as himself recounting being a young man with his own Alaskan adventure on Devil’s Thumb. The people Krakauer encountered while back tracking McCandless were all impacted...
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...McCandless was a heroic disciple of Reuss because he adopted his philosophies. Ruess was a successful and intelligent man, such as McCandless, he went on a hike into the wild to experience true freedom with the attentions of creating a new life for himself by distancing himself from society. Both men took quests outside their boundaries; Ruess traveling all around Southwest and McCandless traveling to Alaska. Ruess and McCandless faced what Krakauer said reminded him of the journey of the monks. Many argued that since McCandless died of, what many assumed, starvation that he was stupid. Until Ruess story is brought up to emphasize that McCandless was not the only one to hike alone. But, for Reuss his body was not found at the Colorado River, however, a carving of his name,should Ruess too have been classified as stupid or a wanderer? However, when analyzing both sides Krakauer shows that McCandless and Ruess share the belief that they are a part of nature . When McCandless and Ruess leave society behind both men decide to change their names. To start something new but, it was more than just a name change. Krakauer inserts an excerpt from Reuss where he states “The beauty of this country is becoming part of me. I feel more detached...
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...Jason Parker RWS 100 September 27, 2013 Writing Project 1 What would drive a person to abandon his or her life in society? Apparently Christopher McCandless is dumb enough to put everything he’s worked for on the line and just leave it all behind. Instead of moving on to graduate school, in May 1990, McCandless decided to abandon his family and social network to begin an adventure across North America that lasted two years and culminated in Alaska. You’re probably thinking, “Well, what’s so idiotic about that?” Well, perhaps it is his outcome that appears so mindlessly stupid, for McCandless' story of self-discovery ended tragically with the discovery of his remains in a derelict school bus by three hunters in September 1992. In “Selections from Into the Wild,” Jon Krakauer, a travel writer and biographer, attempts to piece together what happened to McCandless, trying to determine what drove him to leave his old life behind, what prompted him to travel the continent, and ultimately what caused his early demise. In my essay, I will analyze Krakauer’s argument about Christopher McCandless. Specifically, the essay will analyze claims Krakauer makes about McCandless, different types of support he uses to strengthen his main point, and how Krakauer structures his argument. What Krakauer is truly trying to grasp is why did McCandless decide to make such a decision to embark on a journey that he was not really prepared for that eventually ended up in tragedy? He is so curious as to...
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...Alyssa Nevarez ENG 214.58 Professor Sours September 18 2012 Into the Wild In the spring of 1990, Chris McCandless graduated from Emory University with the notion of attending law school. Before he could start out his new and carefully constructed life, he disappeared. Chris became a nomad, meandering around the North American continent under the pseudo name Alex Supertramp, searching for the meaning of life. John Krakauer revives Chris’s story while attempting to interpret Chris’s intentions. He died during his quest at the age of twenty-four alone in the Alaskan Range. His dispassion towards the life he lived attributed to his decision on entering the wild. His epic two year journey to the Alaskan wilderness led him to the discovery of himself and true happiness. By the time Chris embarked on his chase for self discovery and ultimate happiness, his relationship with his parents was distant. Walt and Billie McCandless were the epitome of a white collar, upper middle-class family who enjoyed the materialistic possessions they earned. Walt and Billie worked hard every day from sunrise till sunset on their home business. During this time Chris and Carine, Chris’s little sister, were only toddlers and rarely spent quality time with their parents. Only once a year Walt would take Chris to Longs Peak, the highest summit in the Rocky Mountain National Park, to make-up for lost time together. The status of Chris’s relationship with his parents throughout high school...
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