Chris Hondros Research Paper

As Chris breathed his last breath, he was finally able to find his inner happiness through the Alaskan wilderness. In chapter 18, Krakauer notes about Chris’ final photo of himself, describing Chris as, “[he] was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God,” (199). The way he was described in this picture shows that Chris has in fact found the happiness that he was looking for and was able to leave this earth in peace. Then again, in chapter 18, the last words of Chris McCandless wrote, “I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD.GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL,”(199). Although he was in severe pain, from starvation, he was still able to find the bright side of things. He was able to die in the one place that he had desired to be at.

When growing up you believed you could grow up to be anything. Chris Hadfield's dream was to become an astronaut. Their were two things holding him back, one he was only nine years old and two he lived in Canada. When he first knew he wanted to be an astronaut was after the Moon landing in 1969. The landing was a major value for him because that was the event that kicked this training process into motion. Chris said "Slowly, methodically, a man descended the leg of a spaceship and carefully stepped onto the surface of the Moon... Later walking back to our cottage, I looked up at the Moon... At that moment, I knew what I wanted to do with my life." Another value of his was his training, which started the next day. Not only did Chris take the time to plan this out he also believed in himself to do it all. He said " I had decided to imagine what an astronaut might do if he were 9 years old, then do the exact same thing." Being this determined about his future is a big value to have was a kid. As if being in school wasn’t enough to believe that you can get through it, Chris had to stay focused and believe he could do more than just the normal amount of work. As Chris said " It's not difficult to make yourself work hard when you want something the way I wanted to be an astronaut." In today's society if any kid was this determined to become something extraordinary they

Lastly, Chris Mccandless got to fulfill his dream, live his own life, and now he even got to find his inner self, find out who he truly is. Chris was the kind of person that lived dangerously unlike most people, he was different “It is hardly unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders...Danger has always held a certain allure. McCandless, in his fashion, merely took risk-taking to its logical extreme” (Krakauer, 182). Chris’s true self-was one that was riskful and daring until he could finish the task. Furthermore, he was different from others and throughout his journey, others could see that. In the end that was the kind of person Chris Mccandless was, and this is the person he became after fulfilling his dream and living his own life. In contrast, others did

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.

Ruess didn’t do this, he kept the little amount of money he had. When it came to their deaths; Chris’s is known that he died from starvation. However, Everett’s remains a mystery, many people have different hypothesis’ of what happened to him, some believe he was murdered, some think he fell off a climb, and others claim that he

Chris made an “indelible impression” on most of the people he met “during the course of his [wild adventure]” and his death affected them greatly (Krakauer 48). One

Shaun Callarman says “I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas.” (Krakauer, 1997) While he is entitled to his own opinion, so am I. I do admire Chris for doing something that many of us want to do but are too afraid. We may not all want to go into the wild but just about everyone has a wild, nonconformist, grand thing that we want to do but are too scared too. Chris was brave enough to follow his heart, and to me, that’s something that should be admired by

Hoechner was born on Sept. 8, 1994, in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Bruce and Judith Hoechner. He spent nearly half of his childhood in Yardley, Pennsylvania where he attended high school at Pennington Preparatory School. During his time there, he ran track, achieved academic honors, and received drum and music awards. Hoechner graduated high school with honors in 2012. Hoechner spent the remainder of his childhood traveling around China, Thailand, and Australia due to his father’s occupation.

First off, Chris was born February 2, 1972. He had two older sisters named Sarah and Betsy. Chris grew up on a farm near Humeston, Iowa. Then decided to go to a different school to be more noticed and more likely to get a scholarship. So he went to school at Indianola High School. Chris has been a Hawkeye fan ever since he knew what basketball was. He stopped growing at the height of 6’ 8”. At his school, he not only played basketball, but also baseball and football.

“One of his last acts was to take a picture of himself, standing near the bus under the high Alaska sky, one hand holding his final note toward the camera lens, the other raised in a brave, beatific farewell. His face is horribly emaciated, almost skeletal. But if he pitied himself in those last difficult hours— because he was so young, because he was alone, because his body had betrayed him and his will had let him down—it’s not apparent from the photograph. He is smiling in the picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God.”

It is false for Chris to be perceived as a hero because Chris could have helped a great amount of people with his wits and generosity, but he fled alternatively. His family always thought of him to be a caring young man with maturity beyond his age. He had the talents to be come a highly respected professional man who could help people in need. His mother told him that he would be in a much better position to help others if he “had some leverage first. Go to school, get a law degree and then you’ll have a real impact” (Krakauer 114). Becoming an established lawyer would have enabled him to help a countless amount of people. However his last two years took a turn from that potential but instead he seemed to have reflected the life of an angry child. Many of the letters, engravings and graffiti attributed to Chris on the road seemed like the emotional scrawling of teenagers. Exclamations such as “Jack London is king! (Krakauer 9), “All hail the dominant primordial beast, and Captain Ahab too!” (Krakauer 69) Do not sound like a bright young man in his 20s. Chris was a great student, completing Emory College with straight As and then without any notice, was gone. He donated his savings and “burned all his

If you attempted to talk him out of something, he wouldn’t argue. He would just nod politely and then do exactly what he wanted” (Krakauer 182). Chris did exactly as Carine stated he would when someone tried to stop his trip to Alaska. Chris understood what the trip to Alaska would entail but decided to continue anyway. He was confident in his abilities and constantly felt the need to challenge those abilities. According to Jon Krakauer, “He had a need to test himself in ways, as he was fond of saying ‘that mattered’. He possessed grand- some would say grandiose- spiritual ambitions” (Krakauer 182). Although Chris’s ambition is surely admirable it also could be credited as his tragic flaw. Chris strived for perfection in everything he set his mind to. He refused to listen to individuals who were trying to help him when saying he was ill prepared; instead he ignored their efforts and went into the wild. Chris’s unpreparedness could later be identified as the cause of his death but in his mind, his supporters would like to believe, it did not matter. Chris died doing what he loved, living in isolation with nature being his only companion.

Thomas Heyward. Jr. was born July 28, 1746, on his father's’ plantation in St. Lukes Parish, South Carolina. He is named Thomas Heyward. Jr. because his father named his older sibling as well, so gave him the Jr. at the end of his name to make a distinction between the two. He grew up pretty wealthy, with his father being one of the wealthiest rice planters at the time. Heyward’s dad wanted what was best for his three children’s education so Heyward got an education at home, then went to England to study law at Cambridge University. Heyward’s father was also a strong royalist, and was devoted to the King.

The second part of the first question asked if the reader believed that Harless was a criminal or a victim of domestic violence who was suffering from PSTD (Rasor, 2017). Nearly all students argued that he was both a criminal and a victim. To better explain, there is very little doubt that Jason Harless was a victim of domestic violence and as a result could suffer from PSTD; however, it is extremely rear for the PSTD to manifest into anger or rage to the point where the victim physically harm other (U.S Department of Veterans Affairs, 2017). That being said, at the end of the day Jason Harless did bring the gun into the school, he did shoot three people, and one did sadly die. Therefore Mr. Harless is a criminal.

Chris McCandless died doing what he loved, but was it worth all of the pain and uncertainty he caused his family? Chris embarked on a journey through the Alaskan wilderness, which resulted in his demise. He cut ties with his family due to personal differences in opinion and travelled all around the country living off of the land for the most part. People have formed many different opinions of Chris McCandless, but its up to you to decide whether his actions were selfish or purposeful. In this Journal, I will be questioning the motives of McCandless, connecting with him, as well as evaluating the author.