There is a time in everyone's life when you are given two options, two paths. You must take one of them and for Chris McCandless, he chose the wrong one. In the book, Into The Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless was blinded by his own stubbornness and pride when it came to safety. He denied all risks and plunged deep into the Denali National Parks without even considering the risks he may face. Chris McCandless was a reckless idiot because he was unaware of the dangers he faced as well as the supplies he needed to survive. Chris McCandless was a young man influenced by his emotions and didn't consider the risks to what he was doing. He started his journey, unbenounced to his parents, and did little research into what he faced and the climate, animals, that followed. ”… he intended to spend the upcoming summer on the road as well.“I think I'm going to disappear for a while”(Krakauer 22). At this point in his life he had just graduated from college and had his whole life in front of him. He did little to no research in where would be the best to go this time of year, but was so heavily influenced by a book that he left all rational thought behind. was His death was inevitable, he had no chance of survival even before he went into the …show more content…
He carried with him only a small bag with limited food. ”He wasn't carrying anywhere near as much food and gear as you'd expect a guy to be carrying for that kind of a trip” (Krakauer 5). This was with the first man he met along his trip, as someone of experience he could tell by the appearance of Chris that he was not someone that had done this before. Chris was blinded by his goals that he was arrogant and didn't think he would even need the proper attire, “He had no ax, no bug dope, no snowshoes, no compass” (Krakauer 5). He was way ahead of himself and didn't know what he was getting into, one of the hardest places to survive as told by
The book about Chris McCandless’s journey into the Alaskan bush, Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, received a lot of criticism about Chris being foolish for being unprepared. From the articles that I have read, most of the sources do believe that he was poorly prepared for his journey. But there are a few people who believe he was prepared mentally, and an even smaller amount believe he was fully prepared. I believe that Chris only knew what he was doing mentally. He did not have the correct tools or the developed skills to survive, for an extended period of time in the wild. But, he did know what he was about to get himself into. He planned out the trip and knew exactly what his risk factors were. Chris McCandless was either prepared
Surviving in Alaska is no simple task. You are constantly putting your life in danger. Living of the and is no vacation. Christopher McCandless was not an exception to these facts. In the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, the protagonist Christopher McCandless dies due to his inexperience surviving in climates like Alaska. What happened to him could have been prevented. First of all, Chris would have had a better chance at survival if he was more prepared to live in Alaska. Secondly, Chris made many mistakes that led to his death that could have be less severe if he knew what to do. Finally, Chris was not the only one that made mistakes that cost them their lives.
Furthermore, Krakauer highlights Chris’s arrogance when Chris, “Simply got rid of the map” (Krakauer 174). Chris’s disregard for essential tools led him to get rid of the one guide tool he had. He showed a careless and dangerous attitude toward his own safety by removing an essential navigational tool, which greatly increased the risk of his trip. Although Chris McCandless's actions might at first seem selfish and careless, it's important to take into account the true motives for his decision to disappear into the wild. McCandless rejected society's materialistic ideals in favor of a more meaningful living because he was driven by an intense desire for authenticity and
In the book “Into the Wild”, by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCancldes is impulsive and lacks knowledge because he is always unprepared and puts himself in situations with no foresight. Like many young men, he liked to challenge himself and go against society. Growing up Chris had a very toxic household, he would always go on road trips by himself for a couple days to escape it. After graduating college, he decided to hike to Alaska. He left almost everything behind and completely vanished for 2 years till he was later discovered dead in the wild.
In the summer of 1992 Christopher McCandless was found by a group of hikers dead on Stampede trail in Fairbanks 142. After college Chris had left society donating his life savings to charity, burning the remainder of his money, left all his belongings in his 1982 Datsun B210, and presented himself as Alex. This was the beginning of Chris’s journey into the wild. He has met a lot of people along the way and they all were devastated to hear that Chris had died in Alaska from starvation. Chris was a well liked person by the people that he spoke to. A troubled childhood fueled his fire and gave him every reason to dislike his parents for what they had done to his only sister and himself as children. In Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, he uses ethos and logos in order to compare and contrast others experiences to Chris McCandless so that
Hailey Altenhof Mrs. Flores English 12 6 March 2024 Into The Wild Final Essay Chris McCandless was not reckless, he was not an idiot, and should not be considered as such. Chris McCandless left home after graduation in the search of adventure. He wanted to test his limits and prove to himself that he did not need the help of society to be able to survive. This is shown in Jon Krakauer’s novel Into The Wild. Chris McCandless is not reckless or a narcissist for three reasons that can be found in Krakauer's writing.
In 1996 Jon Krakauer wrote a book called Into the Wild about a young man who embarked on a great journey across the United States and the Alaskan wilderness. In this book Krakauer gives an account of Chris McCandless’s short life and he searches for clues that could lead to the cause of McCandless’s of death. As the story develops and McCandless goes further into his journey, his ideas about many things, such as money, change.
Imagine getting lost in the wilderness with only enough food to survive for a few days and not being able to get help from anyone and no one knows where you are at. Many of us would be terribly frightened and hopeless. We wouldn’t know what to do or where to go and death would be staring into our eyes. Essentially this scenario can be compared to Chris McCandless’s story. Chris wanted to proved to himself that he could live off the land and survive with his own bear hands. He got himself “lost” in the Alaskan wilderness from all civilization and ended up starving to death. Chris McCandless was a reckless idiot who perished out of arrogance and stupidity because he went into the wild ill-prepared and did not tell his family were he was going.
In April of 1992, a young man of the age of twenty-four, later determined to be Chris McCandless ' body, was discovered in an old Fairbanks bus in the Alaskan bush. Four years after his death, Jon Krakauer wrote a novel titled Into The Wild, the book traced McCandless 's journey around much of the United States, across the West side of Canada, and even down to the boarder of Mexico. Over the many years since his death, speculations have arisen about how death was brought upon him. Most believe starvation was the only reason, but with extensive research Jon Krakauer discovered another theory, that a substance in the seeds that Chris McCandless was ingesting was a contributing factor to his death. Even with this conclusion many around the world despise Chris for his being naive and unprepared when walking into the wild. While others believe he was brave for following his dreams and never letting anyone talk him out of his plans. Chris McCandless was an adventurer who was brave enough to never back down, but in the end his luck turned for the worst and was misfortunate enough to have ate the wrong type of food. McCandless was an inspiration and a lesson to people of all ages, that dreams aren 't meant to be taken lightly and even with possible risks they should be followed. Jon Krakauer 's book tells a marvelous story of a young man who left behind the outside world to do what he loved the most.
For someone to have plans to survive in the harsh wilderness of the Alaskan frontier many have said that McCandless was completely un prepared as recalled in the first chapter of the book by Jim Gallien who picked up McCandless outside of Fairbanks Alaska and drove him to the stampede trail, the beginning of Chris’s journey into the wild. “He wasn’t carrying anywhere near as much food and gear as you’d be expecting a guy to be carrying for that kind of trip.” (Krakauer 4) Through the research that Krakauer completed we know that Chris was carrying only a ten-pound bag of rice and some paperback books along with other camping supplies. Jim
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.
Chris McCandless was a very unique individual. In Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, he tries his best to make sense of McCandless’ journey to the Alaskan wilderness. However, he never really figured out what McCandless’ purpose of the trip was. Looking at McCandless’ life throughout the book, I believe that Chris McCandless went on his journey to find happiness within his own life and did achieve it in the end.
Jon Krakauer, the author of the book, Into the Wild only know about Chris McCandless is an explorer traveling to Alaska search for himself reborn. However he isn’t exactly what he really is, but an ignorant, foolish, selfish, and misunderstanding of the world in which he lives. These words that have been used to describe him are based on the idea that he went on a journey to the Alaskan wilderness to seek his own revelation, but not having a firm grasp of reality, he senselessly died a stubborn man, the people mention that he was unprepared to go into the wilderness, didn’t listen to a more experienced person, broken several of state laws, abandoned his family and loved ones, and followed a dream that never existed. Personally believed he is an ignorant fool, selfish, and misunderstand man that throws his life away for nothing but despair.
The story of Chris McCandless has become a pop culture phenomenon. Many are fascinated by his desire to abandon his family and society and “walk into the wild” (Krakauer 69). Newscasts, magazine articles, movies, and books have tried to define what motivated him to give up everything for his Alaskan odyssey; however, the answers died with McCandless. People make assumptions about him without knowing his entire story. McCandless chose to do the unconventional, making people think he was either foolish or brave and determined, but ultimately he was selfish for doing what he did.
The author’s main purpose for writing Into The Wild was to explain exactly what happened to Chris on his trail and find a motive for why Chris decided to do this. Krakauer also wanted to provide reasoning for McCandless's actions, or at least provide more detail about McCandless's personal life. Also Krakauer wanted to motivate readers to do what makes them happy by providing justification for Chris’s actions. A quote that describes this is, “Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt." ( Page 56 ) Krakauer also explains “many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation.” (Page 57) This doesn’t mean that you should go out into the wild like Chris, unprepared. The author just wants to identify that going to Alaska isn’t a horrible idea, a person just needs to be well equipped and go along with friends because he doesn’t want nobody to go through what Chris had to go through.