Chris McCandless Character Analysis One may say that Chris McCandless was an arrogant fool considering the decisions he made throughout his short life. Others may say he was an incredible inspiration and should be honored beyond his death for his choices. McCandless may have made some questionable choices within his journey, yet he was nothing less of an inspiration to those who feel that they have not ‘found themselves’ and deserves respect for the impact he has made. Although he is respectable, he also had ample flaws that may have led him to his tragic ending. Instead of being seen as narcissistic and arrogant, McCandless could be seen as an idealist. He believed that reality was past the everyday life that he was living, …show more content…
McCandless’s father even noticed the strive for difference in his son. “He didn’t think the odds applied to him. We were always trying to pull him back from the edge,” said Walt McCandless. The way Chris refused to blend in with society even with the pressure surrounding him to fit in was a respectable quality in his personality. Many of those who connected with Chris on his trip also saw him as a respectable man. Even though he had refused their
-- In this quote Eric Hathaway reveals that McCandless was more than just his criticizing persona, He was a caring person who defies the pressures of society, which can be supported with his trips to the underdeveloped parts of town. He is a self-reliant individual who stands for individualism.
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
In the brighter spectrum of Mr. Chris McCandless, is his deep and intellectual personality, shining through on most every occasion with cynical value or an interesting opinion every now and then. In Chris’s deep scholarly thought he decides to give up many things for his own self righteousness in attemp to make himself free of any evil or distraction as well as anything that may hold him down. As a younger boy in high school he proved his good Samaritan self by spending weekends taking to the the streets, spending nights with prostitutes, the homeless, and the addicts, feeding them and experiencing a little of what they felt. As I mentioned before he gave up what he thought would ruin his dreams and soil his life, he rid his life of luxury and wealth along with long-term relationships with people. As one of the things that he had apparently given up was the desire of sex and all of it’s evils, and proclaimed that his need was much to great for something so petty. Truly I believe traveling as a child with his family engineered a mind set within Chris that made him feel as if familiarity was just a weight holding him down from the flight toward his dreams. He also thought that being lost in such a superficial and trivial society could help no one
Chris McCandless is a person of great strength of mind that is not well used for he became arrogant in his life and stayed stubbornly away from new knowledge that could have helped him. While chris may have ended his life's story with his odyssey he is still one of the few people to actually follow their dreams all the way to their ends even if it meant
First things first, Chris Mccandless followed his dream to escape society and live in nature. Once he got out of society and was on the road he delighted, "McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well—relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy” (Krakauer, 55). Chris had the capability of escaping the society where he could go off on a journey to find himself. Chris is one of the few people out there that has the mindset of doing whatever it is to achieve his dream. Not many people in this world are able to do that especially if it is going out into the wild to fulfill your dream, maybe they will swim 50 miles in an ocean
However, McCandless has “always been unsatisfied with life as most live it” (Into the Wild) and desired to “live more intensely and richly” (Into the Wild) and decided to act on his vision which vastly differentiates himself to the majority of individuals who were unwilling to take the
Not only did Chris McCandless sacrifice so much for the future that he wanted, but he remained focus on his goal and he never ever regretted a minute of it. Even close to his death he was always smiling in the pictures he took and he never looked for a way out. He came into the wild and learned to be one with it. He respected it and learned from it all while staying at his peak of happiness. Chris McCandless’ did not necessarily have a bad life, but it was clear that he was not always happy. When he was truly happiest, he was alone. His disapproval of modern day society is evident throughout the book; “I told him ‘Man, you gotta have money to get along in this world’ but he wouldn’t take it” (46). He realized he needed to be separated from these people and live on his own. He decided to change his course for the future into an isolated lifestyle all without notice to the people that loved him. He was set up for a great life, but he ended it all to follow his dreams and fulfill his purpose. Not
Christopher McCandless was a unique individual, and the trials that he had went through in
Chris Mccandless thought about life very deeply and lived by standards set in many of
Life is never easy, no matter how hard we try to short cut and escape the inevitable difficulties. After College is when life sets in, when work becomes a necessity and we all begin to find a place to settle down. People respond differently to different situations. Some of us embrace the freedom and the ability to earn money and spend money indiscriminately. Others crumple under the social pressures placed on us. Christopher McCandless is a perfect example. Settling down and raising a family, providing for that family and creating a sustainable lifestyle are important and high stress things that we all must deal with if we are to enjoy the finer things in life. Chris totally abandoned that, he gave away all of his possessions; even
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.
The tale of McCandless is read over high schools everywhere. Classes discuss who he really was. Most critics state that he was ignorant, by not being properly equipped with knowledge and tools. However, this shouldn’t make him innocent. Personally, I believe McCandless was arrogant, but not selfish.
Is difficulty forgiving a driving force in people’s lives? People tend to have trouble letting things go and moving on. Instead they will bury things within themselves and walk in day to day life holding on to negativity. Chris McCandless sister Carine said in The Truth About Chris McCandless: “Perhaps I cannot escape the irony that as children, throughout dads gin, induced rages, we were told that he himself, was God, so his actions could not be wrong.” The home when they were younger was fairly stable, it included dad, mom, Carine, Chris, Shelley and Shawna but there father was a drunk and he kept secrets Chris could've never imagined. In a new memoir The Wild Truth, Carine writes that she believes her brother's sudden disappearance and journey reflected his determination to separate
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
Chris McCandless enjoyed a privileged upbringing, but one in which he was held to high expectations. Chris's