Chris Mccandless: A Brief Biography

Christopher Johnson McCandless was born on February 7, 1968, and died sometime in August 1992. His surviving family members include his parents, Walt and Billie, his sister, Carine McCandless, and his friend, Westerberg. One of the defining moments in Christopher’s life was when he did a selfless deed by picking up a homeless man and keeping him in his parents’ trailer without them knowing. Christopher was an extremely confident man who always did what he wanted and set high standards for himself. One can say that his extreme confidence and high standards are what enabled him to fall on the path towards death. In April 1992, Christopher embarked on a peregrination in Alaska where he intended to live off of the land for a few months. He was

It has been very perplexing reading this novel and trying to truly understand the motives one would have to have to make the decisions McCandless made. I am questioning Chris’ motives for cutting ties with his family and travelling all around the country. I think that he truly had a deep love and spiritual connection with nature. It began as a young child when Walt McCandless (Chris’ father) took Chris on many excursions in the outdoors, such as hiking in the mountains. Chris immediately fell in love with nature and all of the pleasures it had to offer. Also, Chris was motivated by his withering relationship with his family. Early in his life his parents worked tirelessly and it was difficult for Chris to spend time and build a solid relationship with them. Throughout his young life he had disagreed with his parents about many aspects of life. It was said that he

In 1992, a young college graduate ventured out into the Alaskan Wilderness, searching for peace and tranquility. Chris McCandless and his family lived in a small town in Virginia. They were an upper middle class family, Chris’s father was a rocket scientist for NASA and his mom was a secretary. Chris was extremely bold and adventurous even early in his childhood. Chris’s parents lied to him until his teenage years about their history together. Chris’s dad, Walter, originally had a different family, whom he left when he discovered that his mistress, Chris’s mom, became pregnant with Chris. Chris did not find this out until the summer after graduating high school, when he traveled all the way to southern California, where old family friends told him about his family’s dark secret. This could arguably have triggered Chris’s later adventure into the wild. When Chris graduated from Emory University with honors in 1990, he had a bright future ahead of him. He could have done almost anything. Instead, he threw away all of his identification, gave his life savings to charity ($24,000), and set out on a drive to the western United States and Mexico. He left no trace of where he was going to his parents or even that he was going anywhere at all, and lost touch with his sister whom he was very attached to. Eventually, he abandoned his car and burnt all of the money he brought. Throughout his two year trek, he met many people of different ages whom he befriended, and considered a

John Krakauer writes the non-fiction book Into the Wild and discusses the story of Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless takes on the journey of going into the wilderness that relates to the same journey Krakauer went on. McCandless leaves behind society to look for his soul, but while on his journey, he passes away in Alaska. In the book, Krakauer does a great job talking about Chris’s life because he studied and retraced Chris’s life back. Despite 3 years of writing the book, you can see the detail and care he has for the story.

The next evidence of Christopher McCandless surfaces not far from Lake Mead in Nevada, when a ranger with the National Park Service inadvertently discovers the yellow Datsun in which McCandless drove west from Atlanta. Covered in mud, the car has been hidden under a tarp and is parked on a dry riverbed, apparently struck by a flash flood. There is no sign of the car's

Epigraphs serve to lead into the core of the chapter and text, as well as connect the reader's experiences to the text. John Krakauer, the author of Into the Wild, craftily selects these epigraphs, and uses techniques of fiction to create an appealing story and characterize Chris McCandless as a latter-day transcendentalist, counterculture rebel, and hero. By doing so, Krakauer explains and defends Mccandless’ actions from criticism, therefore transforming a man who some think of as suicidal into a character whose story is exceptional. Krakauer's use of Mccandless’ highlighted portion from Henry David Thoreau's’ Walden as an epigraph not only draws parallels to Mccandless’ life, but rather explains Mccandless’ condemnation of materialism and his rejection of the opulence built around his father's lies.

Why did the director of Into the wild choose the songs that he chose? In the song Setting Forth, Long Night, and Guaranteed these songs all have to do with the journey that Alex or Chris McCandless took. They are about being free not to look back on the past but just to focus on what is next.

Chris then, after graduating from Emory University, donated most of his savings to charity. He then took a path to the vagabond lifestyle and worked when necessary as a restaurant food preparer and a helping hand for farming. A good contrast between McCandless and Shepard, is that McCandless was not interested in the knowledge of wanting “...to know what day it is, or where i am. None of it matters” (Death of an Innocent 1). Once McCandless was on his way to Alaska, he did not want to take part in knowing what time or day it was when on his voyage. McCandless is well-known for his stubborn personality, while also having a different to abnormal thought process when finding solutions for solving worldwide problems. Chris was only 24 years of age when he died out in the abandoned bus. His survival out in Alaska lasted 4 months, where he ate a very poisonous plant that forced the human body to starve, no matter how many calories you

“Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.” This is not only a quote by Charles Spurgeon but a philosophy that I have been trying to live by my entire life. This quote fits perfectly into this prompt because it explains how Chris was a fool. Undeniably, Chris was very knowledgeable, he graduated from one of the top universities in the country maintaining an A grade in his classes. But as the quote reads, many people know a lot and that’s what makes them fools, using knowledge for the right purpose gives someone wisdom. Essentially the quote conveys that the implementation of knowledge separates the fools from the wise. Instead of using his knowledge to help society Chris decided that he had enough of society and wanted to live on his own. Hence, Chris McCandless is a fool because he went into the wild alone and unprepared, he didn’t have knowledge of how to survive in the wilderness alone, and his personality features lead him to his death.

Chris McCandless is said to be a stubborn child who went into the Alaskan Bush unprepared for what was to come. Even though he did end up dying we can learn from his traits the different types of dreams people have. He showed many traits that explained who he was. He was courageous, mentally independant, and wholehearted. Having such different wants then what his parents wanted for him he followed his dreams.

Growing up in Virginia with a large family can be tough. But imagine growing up with domestic violence, yelling, and screaming. Growing up in that environment can be very stressful, which was the case for Chris McCandless. To add to the tragic situation, he found out during high school that his mother and father were not married when he was born. His life had become unfamiliar to him and he yearned to escape his parents. Influences from Emerson, Thoreau and other naturalists inspired him to walk into the wild to evade the confines of his situation. The author of Into the Wild used Chris’s connections to Thoreau to help tell McCandless’s story. The book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, has small connections to my own life, remarkable similarities

hundred twenty-three dollars in legal tender was promptly reduced to ashes and smoke” (P. 29). Chris

so in the hope that my experiences will throw some oblique light on the enigma

A person can ponder the meaning of life for hours, days or an entire lifetime. A student can write an entire critical essay on the topic of the meaning of life and not truly understand it, but you will never understand the true beauty of life until you completely immerse yourself in it and experience it for yourself. The story about Christopher McCandless in the book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, gives the reader Insight on how Christopher McCandless searched for his soul through living one with nature. Everybody has their own set of needs, wants, and desires. But it isn’t until you go out and finally do the things that you’ve dreamt about, that you really discover what you love, and most importantly who you are.

b) In the beginning of his journey, Chris McCandless is very adventurous and has a positive outlook throughout his journey. “I’ll be fine with what I’ve got.” (Krakauer, 6) This shows he is happy, as he wanted to ‘live off the land’ and is eager to get there. By the end of his journey Chris is in need of help as he is starving in his base camp in Alaska. Although his poor health, and awareness that his death would come soon, he is overall content with his journey and had accepted his death writing in a death note, “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may god bless all.” (Krakauer, 199) This shows he was in a happy state when he died that day. Chris’ character had not changed much throughout his journey because of who he