...Haydn Schoonover American Lit, P6 Westenskow May 9, 2014 Into the Wild, Chris McCandless Analysis In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer tells the story of Chris McCandless, a man born in an affluent family. McCandless allowed his wandering thoughts and moral code guide him in a way that lead to certain death. His parents, Billie and Walt McCandless set him up for an impressive, promising life. Chris took this promising, successful future and spun into a journey filled with idealist literature and danger that skewed his world view. Chris McCandless is often seen as a narcissistic, deeply-misplaced young man that betrayed the emotional trust of his parents. He was not the ideal hero, nor was he a fool. He was rather an idealist, applying his beliefs in order to shift his purpose, unable to be influenced by the forces in his life, such as his collegiate endeavors and his family. “At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence.” (Krakauer, 22). McCandless frees himself, despite being chained to the rabid chaos of the urban, modern world. The story of Into the Wild communicates that it is important to follow your own path, in spite of external opinions. Chris McCandless was a pompous fool taking into consideration the decisions he made throughout his short life. He burned all of the money his wallet...
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...Krakauer’s, Into the Wild, the main character Chris McCandless ultimately achieves transcendence on his journey. However, this can be argued. At the beginning of the book one of the first things revealed about Chris is his death. So how did he achieve transcendence if he died? Isn’t that failure itself, not succeeding at your task? Even though Chris’s life ends on his journey in Alaska, he found peace before his death. On his deathbed, Chris shows a change of heart. On page 199, he wrote a note, “McCandless penned a brief adios: ‘I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. MAY GOD BLESS ALL.’” This note was a goodbye. Chris was never able to say goodbye to his parents, friends, and other...
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...Into the wild The book Into the wild, by Jon Krakauer, is about a man named Christopher McCandless, who was a very wealthy person, because of his successful parents. Chris McCandless graduated from Emory University as one of their top students and he was also really good athlete. Instead of Chris McCandless following the American Dream, and having his parents pay for a really good college he rebelled and took a life changing journey. He was still very intelligent, however, and decided to change his lifestyle, and he gave his savings to save the hungry charity. Afterwards he burned his money on his journey to the Alaska to find his inner self and get to a certain spiritual journey he was trying to achieve. Because Chris’s life style is changing I give him props for taking control and doing what he is ‘passionate’ about. However I have to agree with Shaun Callarman’s quote, “I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his romantic silliness. He made a lot of mistakes based on arrogance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy.” This is because he had noble ideas, but he took them way too far and was very arrogant. Chris Mccandless would be considered a freak because he went along with what he wanted to do, which was to go into the wild and it was not to follow what everyone else wanted him to do, this happened his entire...
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...Alaska can be very hard. For Chris McCandless, it was tough. He came to Alaska and was not prepared for this type of terrain, so he suffered a slow death. The book Into The Wild shows that Chris comes to Alaska with his clothes, a 10-pound bag of rice, a 22 rifle, and boots given to him by Jim Gallien. This is the type of equipment you would need for a day. But what he was going to do was spend the next 113 days there. Chris McCandless was an ill-prepared hero who should be remembered because he showed the importance of nature and what it did for his mental state. Chris was a child who was shown a lot of violence against his family members when he was young. This made him want to restart and have his...
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...Chris McCandless was a very isolated person. He depended on one person only, that being himself. Not only did McCandless push away his family, he pushed away the society as a whole. On page 55 it says, “He had fled the claustrophobic confines of his family.” This and his parents achievements show that he may have left his family because he felt like they expected too much of him, making him very independent. Chris was not close with his father, Walt. Walt was a very successful. Because Walt was successful, he was a busy man. Because if this, Chris did not see Walt very much during his childhood. This made Chris and Walt become distant and not close. As said on page 64, “Both father and son were stubborn and high-strung.” I think that because...
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...Into the Wild Compare and Contrast Essay Christ McCandless could be compared and contrasted to thousands of individuals. One person who was also an outcast, rebel, adventurer, and a social and economic warrior was Vincent van Gogh. Despite the difference of when they lived, they can easily be compared and contrasted to each other. Vincent van Gogh is a famous Dutch painter. Throughout his life he was poor and not unknown. He suffered mental illnesses and died at the young age of 37. It wasn’t until after he passed away that people knew much about his art. One of the biggest challenges each person found was success during their lives. Although Chris is well-known know, he did not complete his quest when he wanted to because he did...
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...them or not. When reading the book Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, one can see the success Chris McCandless had on his journey across the United States and into the Alaskan wilderness. He was able to live like a true transcendentalist would, with very few possessions. McCandless’s journey across the United States and into the Alaskan wilderness should be interpreted as an example of success because he made it to Alaska, lived a very simple life, and didn’t follow the crowd. To start, people should interpret Chris McCandless’s travels across the United States and into the Alaskan wilderness as an example of success because he actually made it to Alaska. “It was very difficult...but I finally got here”(Krakauer 69). Albeit he faced many challenges, including having to hitchhike everywhere and having little to no money, he still managed to make it to his destination; the Alaskan wilderness. Plus, along the way he had to find multiple different jobs to make sure he had enough supplies to survive. Not to mention he traveled through Arizona, California, South Dakota and many more states to get to Alaska. Ultimately, McCandless’s travels should be seen as an example of success...
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...In this section, Chris McCandless encounters a travelling couple, Jan Burres and her boyfriend Bob. They kindly take him in temporarily and, noting his ravenous appearance, decide to feed him. McCandless himself is grateful and even after their separation he continues “staying in touch” (31) by writing them “a postcard every month or two” (31). Krakauer also describes how the young man’s parents, worried about the sudden disappearance of and lack of communication from their son, hire a private investigator to locate him - to no avail. Chris McCandless maintains his journal and regularly writes and jots down his thoughts. Despite losing “over 25 pounds” (37), he nevertheless describes himself and his spirit as “soaring” (37). This section...
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...Writer Joseph Campbell was once a young man who hoped to clear his mind by experiencing the soul of America, by traveling the land that holds the purpose of life. During his journey, he discovered what life really meant to him and was capable of exploring America free from rules and some human contacts .During Campbell’s travel, his writing became influential to his supporters, some of his greatest pieces were created along with his travels. Campbell once said,”A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” That is how many Campbell as, a hero. A man who stepped outside boundaries and gave his full potential to something he believed in. Campbell's story relates to biography Into The Wild By author Jon Krakauer....
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...Is risking your life for a dream brave or idiotic? Chris McCandless was in his early twenties and just graduated college when he decided to leave everything behind and search for his place in society. He journeyed around the world for 2 years before he ended up in the Alaskan wilderness, where he died from starvation four months after he arrived. The story of his life soon became well-known, which sparked anger from many Alaskans on how he had decided to live and was seen as unprepared, arrogant, and harmfully idealistic. One of these Alaskans, Nick Jans, sent a letter to Outside Magazine saying that McCandless was living out stories he had read in books and disrespecting the land. Although Nick Jans’s letter of criticism towards Chris McCandless grasped specific traits,...
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...make some questionable decisions. Chris McCandless is a key example of someone who chooses against forgiveness. Chris McCandless is the main character in the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer which speaks of his journey to Alaska. As soon as Chris graduated from Emory, a top university school with a 4.0 GPA, his life was all planned out to be successful. Then came his irrational decision to drop everything and journey to Alaska. On top of that, he also dropped everyone, including his very own family. What kind of sane...
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...happiness, while some people don’t need to be successful to be happy. Some people can achieve happiness by themselves, while others require other people in their lives for support and companionship. In summary, happiness is not something that only has one definition. Happiness falls on a very wide scale and everybody achieves happiness in different ways. Human connection is very important in regards to happiness. People often struggle with finding happiness when living in solitude. When people don’t have other people to talk to for long periods of time, they often start to feel lonely or depressed....
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...Shepard and Chris McCandless were two young and intelligent men who embarked upon their own journeys. Despite having different outcomes and differences among each other, they both made impacts on many. However, the question still remains. Who served a greater purpose and who was more admirable? Adam Shepard served a greater purpose and was more admirable because he showed his readers that the American Dream is still possible and achievable through hard work and determination. As Shepard and McCandless set out onto their journeys, they both create goals for themselves along the way. Before Shepard sets out onto his journey, he comes up with a plan/goal beforehand. Shepard hopes to live in a house, own a car, and have $2000 cash by the end of his project (one year). As he is about to embark and make his way to his destination he will start “literally from scratch with one 8’ x 10’ tarp, a sleeping bag, an empty gym bag, $25, and the clothes on my back” (Shepard, pg. xiv). As for McCandless, he didn’t have as much goals for himself. McCandless had planned his escape/disappearance in advance. He hitchhiked his way to Alaska and meet some people along the way who...
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...brought up creates the basis of the values and expectations that one grows accustomed to. This fundamental experience forges the personal ideas that shape one’s thoughts and actions. The discontent that Chris McCandless (Into the Wild) experiences is inversely reflected upon his parents’ expectations of him, shown in the scene where Chris is standing outside a restaurant and peering at the man within. The expectations that his parents held of him pushed Chris into the direction of the man he sees within – wealthy, successful and socially respected. However, by stepping away from this, be his disregarding his upbringing, his fundamental values and the expectations held of him. This leads to the deep unhappiness and discomfort that restricts one’s attainment of freedom. Freedom cannot be achieved if one’s fundamental point of view, forged by cultural values and expectations, is disregarded. One’s point of view is largely influenced by past experiences in life. These experiences and the manner with which they are dealt help create the psyche that shapes the individual’s thought processes. It is with these ingrained thought processes that an understanding of the world is created. This situation is presented in Into the Wild as the audience is introduced to the nature of Chris’ childhood and adolescence – in particular, the point at which his mother is explained to be...
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...“Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer presents Christopher McCandless as a character much like the transcendentalists who believe that life is best lived alone when engaging with nature, a primary motive in Chris’s arduous journey. I find the main character to be very much of an idealist who wishes to remove technology and progress in his life in order to pursue a life away from other human beings. For instance, Chris had received a bequest from a family friend of $24,000, but instead of using that money to attend law school, he donated it to a charity that was dedicating to fighting hunger. I don’t think I can relate to such a character because I believe that the money could have gone to better use so Chris may have achieved a successful, well-settled life. For instance, I...
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