Character Analysis: Chris Mccandless

One would agree with the author that Chris McCandless wasn’t a crazy person, a sociopath, or an outcast because he got along with many people very well, but he did seem incompetent, even though he survived for a while in the wild on his own. It was amazing Chris survived for so long but he did know stuff about the wild, just not enough, but he was very bright and made good decision. Also on his journey he made friends easily and had a very strong impact on them.

Into The Wild was a tremendous story which Shaun Callarman did not have many positive things to say about Chris McCandless, the main character. He went on this adventure to find out what life is all about in his own eyes. He wanted to see how different living in the wild really was compared to society because he was not satisfied with his living arrangements and household. Shaun’s quote says that he thinks “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,” shows that Shaun believes Chris had no common sense in his doing for leaving society for the wild. I agree with Callarman’s position for thinking “ he had no common sense” and that he

Chris McCandless was possessed by a nomadic existence and was trying to share his principle of life to his friend by telling that the truth about life was to explore the nature. Chris McCandless's last letter to Wayne revealed his true passion of nature. "This is the last you shall hear from me...I now walk into the wild"(pg 69). Some people concluded that it was Chris McCandless's suicide letter. However, in my opinion, Chris McCandless was just a victim of his own ego, pride and confidence that made him to neglect basic precautions that keep one person alive. He was controlled by his own delusions and that made him eager to test himself into strenuousness which proved fatal to him.

Overall, Chris McCandless was a smart young boy who was raised into the wrong society and he chose to be the way he was. Going into the wild was what Chris needed in order to get away from everybody and find his reality. By the end of his journey he did just that and was ready to come back and experience life from a different point of view. Unfortunately, Chris was unable to come back and show everyone the person he found himself to

Chris Mccandless’s motivation was for staying in the woods was for the excitement and rush. Chris is known for many of his specific traits as a person. His stubborn nature or arrogant personality but, one of his very apparent attributes were his self-reliance and his love for nature. He found nature to be an unknown. An unknown that he would turn into a familiar territory. According to Chris, “Tramping is too easy with all of this money. When I was penniless and had to forage around for my next meal.” (Into The Wild 33). Christopher enjoyed the wild because you had to take risks and you always had an adventure every day. Christopher Mccandless stayed in the woods for the excitement and the daily adventure of the woods

In society, people tend to follow the people's footsteps and apply new characteristic or methods that they obtain from there person. In the story, Into the Wild, Chris McCandless was a boy who favors several literacy heroes. He was able to understand each hero and apply there knowledge that they obtain from other people. He was favoriting Henry David Thoreau, Jack London, Leo Tolstoy and much more. Henry David Thoreau was an American poet and an essayist and wrote numerous books based on his philosophy. However, in the book, he plays a crucial role in giving Chris McCandless life lesson throughout his journey. Jack London is a worldwide celebrity and a famous novelist and journalist. He also has some characteristics that Chris has also obtained from him. In addition, Leo Tolstoy was one of the greatest Russian authors of all times. He has inspired Chris with some of his quotes which reflects him during his journey. There are more heroes that Chris mentions in the story but these are three which he tends to reflect more on.

Chris McCandless, also known as Alex Supertramp, was an ignorant and blatantly stupid child trapped in his own reality, and he used his traumatic childhood to try and justify the poor decisions that would eventually lead to his untimely demise. Chris McCandless was just an ordinary guttersnipe that John Krakauer wrongfully glorified in his obsession called Into The Wild. In April 1992, Chris ran from all of his problems and heads into the brutal Alaskan wilderness unequipped and alone. Before he wandered into Alaska, he donated twenty four thousand dollars to charity and left everything else behind. Four months later, the inevitable happened and he died. He starved to death after he thought it was a good idea to bring only a ten pound bag of rice to nourish him for one hundred days. Chris had a book on what plants to eat and not to eat, yet he still ate one of the plants with poisonous seeds that would prevent digestion. Chris’s lack of intelligence, selfishness, and cowardice is what makes him thickheaded.

One of the most admirable characteristics about Chris was his determination to do whatever he wanted to. He didn’t believe in the government or their rules, logically influencing his new life in the wild where he could be alone and do as he wanted, not taking advice from anyone who tried talking him out of it. Until the last day of his life, Chris had worked the hardest he could to survive in the wild and continued living the life that he had desired. Also, Chris was a very social man and enjoyed conversing with others that he had met along the way to Alaska. “He was intensely private but could be convivial and gregarious in the extreme” (pg. 115).

Christopher McCandless was an adventurer no doubt. He spent the last few years of his life living purely off the land and exploring, doing what he felt called to do. However, to venture off on such an intense, dangerous, and wild journey, a person most likely has some deeply thought out reason as to why he or she is embarking on the mission. Chris himself seems to have had some reasons, besides his curiosity, as to why he explored. However, he made a decision to leave without truly thinking about just how dangerous his journey was going to be. Due to his rash actions, Chris eventually died in an abandoned bus out in the wild. Now, some folks today think that Chris was a hero for doing what interested him and for doing his own thing without worrying about the trivial things in life. However, I have reason to believe that Chris was indeed not a hero. Instead, I believe that Chris McCandless’s journey into the wild was rash, ludicrous and foolish.

A lot of people have read the book, “Into the Wild” and everyone has different opinions on the main character, Chris McCandless AKA Alex Supertramp, and many admire him but many also question his sanity… but is he really crazy as some people think he is? Chris McCandless is a kid who just graduated from college and set a plan for himself to live in the wild… to live in Alaska. He travels across the country, made new friends, experienced life, all whilst running from his past. He eventually made it to Alaska to survive for about 3 months, but soon died from starvation, which made people wonder; was Chris McCandless insane?

Chris McCandless: Ignorance Is Not Bliss Judith Kleinfeld (2001) defines a dumb jerk as: ”a person who is futilely questing for something meaningless or worthless. A person who is woefully unprepared for a trip, who clings to misguided, self-righteous principles, losing friends and hurting themselves and their family in the process"”. This accurately describes Chris McCandless, a 24-year-old man who set out on a journey to find himself as he travels across the country, only to end in the complete and harsh wilderness of Alaska. Another part of the definition that McCandless fits is losing his friends and hurting himself and his family; moreover, during this hiatus in his life, he meets many people and creates strong bonds with them, only to destroy them after ignoring their advice about the Alaskan Tundra.

The author, Tim O’brien of the book The Things They Carried uses events and characters from the memoir in place of some experiences him and the narrator shares. Fictionalizing many emotions and events that happened to Tim through other characters usually that he wouldn’t feel or do. For example Tim talks about how at a point he wanted to run away to canada when he received his draft notice. This feeling of discontent and the thought of war sickened him to the point he was just yards away from Canada but felt as though that would be a coward move. The author and character shared similar ideas however the author Tim didn’t attempt to run away but his character did. O’Brien informs his audience on the difference of the war from the stereotypical

We all change whether good or bad. It is in us to make decisions that shape the way we act towards everyday occurrences. In this cases Chris Theodorakis changed immensely. Chris went from a unconfident recluse to an outgoing professor. This just shows how fast you can change to become a better person for yourself.

There was just something about Alistair Crosner that seemed to set people on edge. He'd always been the sort to keep to himself, and though that did not mean anything in and of itself, his lack of contribution in some things led to suspicion. Cross, for that is what he went by, had immersed himself instead into more scholarly pursuits. The man was a dreamer, a thinker, and he often thought of giving grand lectures on various topics before audiences paying rapt attention to what he had to say. Accolades would follow and his reputation would soar, bringing him riches and adoration.

Christopher Johnson McCandless graduated from Emory University in 1990. The son of well-to-do parents, it appeared that Chris was prepared to embark on the next chapter of his life. He had been editor of the student newspaper, earned honors with a double major in history and anthropology, and seemed destined for law school. Determined to rewrite his story, Chris eschewed conventional expectations. He divested himself of money and possessions and immersed himself in a new identity: Alexander Supertramp, Alaskan Adventurer. Four months after beginning his trek into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley, Chris's decomposed body was found. When the details of his story emerged, many people thought Chris was mentally disturbed, calling him a "kook," a "nut," and "a half-cocked greenhorn," among other things (Krakauer, 1996, pp. 71-72). Had Chris's story had a happy ending, he would probably be described differently. He brought the tragic ending on himself, and people called him crazy. "Crazy" is a non-clinical word often used to describe someone with an underlying pathology. In this sense, there was nothing wrong with Chris McCandless. What he did suffer from was the enthusiasm and over-confidence of youth. Combined with poor planning and insufficient skills and experience in the outdoors, his "affliction" became fatal. McCandless made bad decisions, but he was not crazy.