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Into The Wild Chris Mccandless Analysis

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In July of 1990, a young man seeking for a life he desires leaves entirely behind his old life and family to embark on a new one. Chris McCandless, a 24-year-old outdoor enthusiast, established his own will as he ventured across the country. He searched for independence along with his true self as an individual during his journey of free-spiritedness that has become well-known by the world today as a story of a man who controlled his life to be one of challenge and adventure. Chris grabbed life by the horns and made the best of it he possibly could for himself on a journey that was an unrestrained, passionate experience. Chris McCandless embarked on a life he creates as means of escapism from his family and society in pursuit to prove himself …show more content…
From the start, Chris wanted to face adversity amid his journey and would grow weary of boredom without a challenge. The disadvantages Chris undermined his circumstances with would only prove to add a layer of fulfillment and pleasure. Chris readily accepted the ramifications of his own actions even burning his last penny “in a gesture that would have done both Thoreau and Tolstoy proud, he arranged all his paper currency in a pile on the sand–a pathetic little stack of ones and fives and twenties–and put a match to it. One hundred twenty-three dollars in legal tender was promptly reduced to ash and smoke” (Krakauer, “Into” 29). Furthermore, on his great Alaskan odyssey, McCandless had the full capability to reach out for help when he needed or wanted it. Chris writes in his journal, “On a hillside, Alex spots a sled dog which most likely belongs to a musher living in one of the cabins he sees dotting the landscape” (McCandless, “Back” 177). Regardless of what criticizers say, Chris had full capability to leave anytime during the summer he wanted to if multiple cabins surrounded his own campsite. In the end, the arrogance many thought McCandless had towards his own safety and capability did not bring an end to his own life, but instead a chemical compound, Chris unknowingly digested based off of his diet of potato seeds, known as beta-ODAP brought the life of the young man to a slow, enfeebling end. The unknown ODAP unfairly brought an end to Chris’s short life as his time spent in Alaska placed him right in the category where the chemical compound acts the most deadly: “those who will be hit the hardest are always young men between the ages of 15 and 25 and who are essentially starving or ingesting very limited

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