Adventures of Chris McCandless in Jon Krakauer’s Book, Into the Wild

Human nature tells us to want what we can't or don't have. Everything from people to a toy to a kind of hairstyle – we just always want what isn't ours. Chris McCandless from Jon Krakauer's Into The Wild is no exception. He lives his life as part of an upper-middle class family, is smart, and goes to and does well in college, but he still feels like something is missing from his life. He want something completely opposite of the life he's used to. Chris McCandless spent a lot of time looking for something entirely different from what he already had and while he found true happiness it eventually lead to his demise.

I agree with Callarman when he stated, '' 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 idea. Really, I think he was just plain crazy.'' I'm in the same page as Callarman because I give McCandless the credit for the courage he had to go into the wild without anything just living how an animal would live in the wild. At the same time I think he just ran away from his problems instead of facing them.

Chris McCandless was just a victim of his own obsession. The novel "Into The Wild" written by John Krakauer revealed the life of a young bright man named Chris McCandless who turned up dead in Alaska in summer 1992. In the novel, John Krakauer approached carefully McCandless's life without putting too much authorial judgment to the readers. Although Chris McCandless remained an elusive figure throughout the novel, I can see Chris McCandless as a dreamy young idealist who tries to follow his dream but failed because of his innocent mistake which prove to be fatal and irreversible. Still, Chris McCandless's courage and passion was something that we should all be proud of.

Many people have read the story “Into the Wild” By Jon Krakauer, when mentioning the name Chris McCandless he is either viewed as hero or as a dumb man. The people who view him as a hero tend to believe that he was determined enough to want to do something. Others view him as an idiot who just wanted attention. Him being unprepared and not knowing much about how to survive in the wild made McCandless an idiot, the dumb jerk. Also causing him to be a poor role model to multiple people causing them to end up in dangerous situations that could be threatening to their lives.

In 1992, when Chris McCandless abandoned modern society and fled to Alaska to find himself and, in the long run, lose his life, Americans from all over saw his death as a tragic downfall, and his story as a relatable and moving tale of a young man simply trying to make a difference. On the other hand, others looked at his journey to be an inevitable suicide-trip, considering his lack of supplies and overall experience. However, despite the fact that he was unprepared, McCandless, because of his ideas and motivation for a better world, was justified in shunning society in order to pursue his dream life on the Alaskan frontier.

Jon Krakauer, fascinated by a young man in April 1992 who hitchhiked to Alaska and lived alone in the wild for four months before his decomposed body was discovered, writes the story of Christopher McCandless, in his national bestseller: Into the Wild. McCandless was always a unique and intelligent boy who saw the world differently. Into the Wild explores all aspects of McCandless’s life in order to better understand the reason why a smart, social boy, from an upper class family would put himself in extraordinary peril by living off the land in the Alaskan Bush. McCandless represents the true tragic hero that Aristotle defined. Krakauer depicts McCandless as a tragic hero by detailing his unique and perhaps flawed views on society,

Award winning journalist and author, Jon Krakauer, in his book, Into the Wild, analyzes the life of Chris McCandless as well as the events that ensued his death. Krakauer’s purpose is to inform the reader about how and why Chris McCandless decided to embark on a journey into the wilderness of Alaska. He adopts an empathetic tone in order to impart to his readers that Chris McCandless was a very misunderstood young adult.

Jon Krakauer wrote, “It is hardly unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders ... McCandless, in his fashion, merely took risk-taking to its logical extreme” (Krakauer 182). Chris did not think about dying much before he went to survive in Alaska. Many of Chris’s critics thought he was just a kid who overestimated himself and underestimated the difficulty of living in the Alaskan bush. McCandless went into the bush seeking answers and I believe he found his answers, but met fatality before he could leave. Chris McCandless was not ill-prepared for his odyssey and he was not a kook.

Chris McCandless started his journey on April 1990, he had traveled from Atlanta, through the southern states of North America, down to Central America, and up to Alaska, leaving many views and impressions of himself along the way. Many from people that he had met and lived with for a week or so, others from Alaska with their own views. Most of the negative views had been from Alaskans, they had felt that McCandless was a reckless, ill-prepared, nut who got lucky. However the positive thoughts and views come from people he had actually met from his journey. Due to these views and impressions we come to our own conclusions of McCandless and what he is remembered for.

Would you ever try to go to Alaska with the hope surviving its menacing terrain with only a few supplies, along with little to no experience of, actually being in Alaska? Probably not. But what if it was your dream to do something this idiotic and crazy? To be out in the wilderness, away from all of the troubles and worries of society, while living life to the fullest? Alexander Supertramp or his real name, Christopher McCandless, had that same exact dream. Author Jon Krakauer describes the courageous adventures of the young, wild, charismatic Supertramp and his journeys across the United States and untimely demise in Alaska. Some readers agree that McCandless is a hero in his own right, and if you searched up the definition of a hero, you would get: a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities, all of which,

This is really because with Chris McCandless there are really only two opinions about him, how noble and free he is and how he’s selfish and how he made an arrogant assumption that he could survive in the wild by himself. Those of the prior prefer to have Chris represent some kind of emblem of purity and freedom they can relate to. “McCandless was not a transcendent saint, nor was he a bumbling, arrogant dis-respecter of nature, and to press him into service as an emblem of anything is a mistake”(Hodes). What this quote states is that yes Chris is not a mindless fool, but he definitely is not a saint either. While farfetched, Chris may have done all of this for some sort of attention, and if that is true, he succeeded. It has been 24 years since Chris’ death and he is still a relevant topic in our society. This can really paint a somewhat blurry picture of what may have gone through Chris’ head, because there is either a young adult traveling into nature without any support and got himself killed, or someone who did this all purposely to go down in history. Either way there is no doubt Chris is selfish since if he were just someone who made a bunch of idiotic decisions and got himself killed, the pain everyone who tried to help him is at full, and if it was the latter Chris is just another kid dying for

The actions of Chris McCandless has stirred a huge controversy to the general public. Similar to that of American politics, opinions of McCandless vary in a wide spectrum. There are people that herald him as a champion who follows his dream and ideals. At the same time, critics condemn his actions as reckless, moronic, and narcissistic. Although it is easy to pick a side and argue for that cause, I believe that Chris McCandless was an imperfect, complicated human being whose troubled childhood caused him to seek enlightenment through a personal pursuit of nature, simplicity, and experience in Alaska.

Want to walk Into the Wild? Well, Chris McCandless did, young smart boy, just out of college could get any job he wants. Instead he decides to throw all that away to take an adventure to the Alaskan wilderness. Throughout Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer characterizes Chris McCandless as unafraid and unprepared.

Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild shows the journey of a young man who travels to Alaska with little resources and dies. Although the young man, Chris McCandless, came from money and was very intelligent, he had a deadly obsession with Alaska and it’s ruthlessness and mystery. What started as a naive boy wanting adventure and freedom and solitude soon turned into a family mourning the death of a son and brother. Many say that it was the young lads fault for going head into something that he wasn’t prepared for, and I for one agree with them. Shaun Callarman had it right when he said that Chris McCandless “...was just plain crazy.”

Thanks to Krakauer’s biography, one can imagine McCandless’s life as he grew up. McCandless’s family was wealthy, his father worked for NASA and eventually left to form his own business with Billie, Chris’s mother. The two would argue over business matters often enough that Carine, his sister, became his support. Even though his parents fought, he did have a fairly decent home life. Chris even went to Emory and graduated, he was a knowledgeable human being. In chapter eight of Into the Wild, Krakauer informs readers of peoples’ opinions of Chris after his death was broadcasted on the news, “many people concluded that the boy must be mentally disturbed” (Krakauer p.70). Chris was not a fool when considering mental stability, but he was not a hero either. A hero is typically someone that has