Chris Going Into The Wild

Throughout his adolescent to young adult years it was very clear that Chris had an attachment to the wild. In chapter 11, as Walt reminisces about Chris and their family camp trips he reflects, “‘Chris loved those trips, the longer the better . . .’”(108). Even at a very young age, Chris had a fascination about living within

“…but when I suggested he work on the gaps in his game, he refused to listen” (111). One of the reasons why he had a strained relationship with his father is because when Chris was younger, he believed that his father always tried to force rules and his own ideas on Chris. He also disliked how his father like to display his wealth or to enjoy the materialisms in his life. Chris and his father had always butted heads with each other, because both of them had such different perspectives and ways to approach it. But this was not the only reason why Chris and his father had a strained

Relationships between people can change lives forever. For instance, the relationship between a parent and a child is one of the most important ones because that is where our consciousness about love, trust, and assurance comes from. Depending on the relationship, it can either benefit or negatively affect the child’s future, since little children always look up to their parents as role models. In the novel, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless is negatively affected by his relationship with his parents. Chris McCandless’ parent, on the outside, appear to want Chris to be a successful student. Meanwhile, in the inside appearance, especially Walter, was an abusive father. This reflected a double life and could cause a devastating

According to Walt McCandless, Chris caused him a tremendous amount of pain, despite having “so much compassion.” Causing parents pain is a part of growing up and becoming an adult. Getting jobs , moving out, and watching their kids make mistakes for themselves are just some ways pain is unavoidable in the growing up process.

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

Throughout children’s lives they struggle with complying with their parents lifestyles. When children reach an age of early adulthood, they start to rebel against their parents’ way of life. The psychological term for this dynamic is called reaction formation ("Into the Wild."). Chris McCandless had this reaction, but much more radical than normal. McCandless developed an abhorrence to his parents lifestyle and goals for him at a reasonably early age. This later intensified as Chris discovered his father's past. Rage turned Chris into a devil’s advocate, and it seems as though he would do anything as long as his father disapproved. The attitude to never bend a knee from his original mindset through every situation was a result of this rebellion.

Chris is a charismatic young man, but takes extensive measures to ensure he does not become too close with anyone. By going out into the wild without so much as a letter to his parents,

With a silent yet inescapable list of expectations, the pressure of society, and his damaged parents, one could believe that the adventure he embarked on was a way to remove himself from his destructive environment. However Chris had never experienced independence in his life. He felt separated from everyone with few friends and a well-off family that was tragically broken, and

In Carine’s book The Wild Truth, she lists multiple accounts of their father Walt McCandless’ abusive tendencies towards his children. Walt would mock Chris as being “completely irresponsible” (Carine 51) and would even let his verbal abuse turn physical, “slam(ing) his fist into the center of Chris’ spine” (Carine 52). In a letter written by Carine she explains the effect their apologetic and manipulative mother had on Chris in his childhood, with him “being constantly told… that the family struggles began with [Chris’] birth, when [Billie] became ‘stuck’ with their dad” (Carine). McCandless lived with this constant burden on his shoulder and over time had finally grown sick and tired of it.

Since the beginning of time man has learned how to live off the land. Over the centuries technology has advanced and humanity had slowly been accustomed to a much more luxurious way of living. In the writing of Jon Krakauer “Into The Wild” Chris McCandless is a peculiar, intelligent, and dauntless individual who tries to escape the modern way of life and attempts to challenge himself past his own limitations. Christopher McCandless is an 18 year old hitchhiker who sets off onto a great journey to find himself and experience a life that no human cares to live for. Chris McCandless, who is also understood as Alex McCandless, is an individual whose personality was “puzzling in its complexity”, but he could also be “convivial and gregarious in the extreme.

Another burden Christopher’s family laid on him was a massive amount of guilt. As mentioned above, Chris felt responsible for the ‘abandonment’ of Walt’s ex-wife and her children. Carine writes, “From the time we were small children, still unaware of how children come to be, I remember Chris being consistently told through our mother’s tears that the family struggles began with his birth, when she became ‘stuck’ with our dad. Chris carried this unfounded guilt with him until the wisdom that comes with age resulted in feelings of betrayal and eventually anger. This mislaid blame was never rescinded, only ignored.”3 Carine, Chris’s youngest and only natal sister, believed that the painful and unbearable family life that they endured provided Chris with a just reason to abandon his life. She respected this part of his motivation for leaving,

In the novel, Into the wild, a young misunderstood man goes on an adventure to prove who he really is. Throughout the novel, Chris believes he is incompatible to meet his parents' expectations as he defines himself to be uninterested to become who his parents want him to be. In excerpt from chapter 3, the author informs that Chris "insist[ed] that titles and honors [were] irrelevant." This quote leads readers into presuming that Chris' morals and values greater than materialistic accomplishments. A reader learns many things about his personality as he is portrayed as humble individual whose parents standards don't define who he is. His parents, especially his father claimed that he misread who Chris actually was. During Chris' life he was always

Have you ever wanted to just take off and see the world with nothing holding you back? Well that is exactly what Chris McCandless wanted and he did it. Into The Wild is about a college graduate that had conflicts with his parents and did not want them to be in his life anymore. Chris succeeded in this by taking a journey across the united states, changing his name, and not telling anyone from home when he was going.

The desire for an authentic life does not mean people should leave everything they have ever known behind. In Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into the Wild, Christopher McCandless follows his transcendental and minimalistic ideals which leads to his inevitable demise. McCandless had always possessed an intelligent mind, however his perspicacious thoughts were not evident through his ignorant decisions. McCandless reveals this incognizance when he lacks the essentials to survive in the wild. Chris shows characteristics of unmitigated immaturity when he leaves his family behind with virtually no warning.

The clearest example of this is his inability to pass on any leniency to his mother or father after learning that his father, Walt Mccandless, was married to his first wife while being pregnant with the child of his second wife. This leads to him informing his older sister that his “entire childhood seem[s] like a fiction” on page 123 and leads to decreased contact that leads to him, as Chris stated in a letter to his sister, to “divorce them as [his] parents“ (64). It is also made clear that Chris is unwilling to extend any semblance of understanding over an affair that happened years. He cannot understand his parent's decision to move on, nor can he treat his loving parents as people who can make and move on from mistakes. The reader is made to given the second family as a way of explaining Chris’s decision to cut off his parents.