Chris Mccandless Characteristics

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 started his journey on April 1990, he had traveled from Atlanta, through the southern states of North America, down to Central America, and up to Alaska, leaving many views and impressions of himself along the way. Many from people that he had met and lived with for a week or so, others from Alaska with their own views. Most of the negative views had been from Alaskans, they had felt that McCandless was a reckless, ill-prepared, nut who got lucky. However the positive thoughts and views come from people he had actually met from his journey. Due to these views and impressions we come to our own conclusions of McCandless and what he is remembered for.

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

Chris McCandless was an intelligent young man who decided to leave college, his dysfunctional family, and conventional society with hope of gaining enlightenment by exploring the wilderness. Unfortunately, he starved to death while camping in Alaska’s interior. Chris McCandless is a polarizing figure due to his unorthodox and transcendental ideals and the way that he died. Some individuals label McCandless as “a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity.” Others believe Chris McCandless was courageous, noble, and admiral for adhering to his rigorous moral ideals. Although both arguments contain valid points, the second party’s interpretation of Chris McCandless is closer to the truth.

The Reader should not admire Chris McCandless because he is arrogant and ruined his life and future by running away from his family. Chris is very selfish before and during his journey to Alaska. The first time Chris is selfish is when he runs away from his family without talking to his parents about why he wants to leave

Chris McCandless is a fool because he ventured into the dangerous Alaskan wilderness alone and unprepared for the hardships he would face. First off, Chris was by no means prepared for his adventure, as accomplished hunter and woodsman Jim Gallien recalls, “He wasn’t carrying anywhere near as much food and gear as you’d expect a guy to be carrying for that kind of trip,” (Krakauer 5) Either Chris was trying to get himself

Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild gave insight into the life and thoughts of a young man. Although at times dramatic (which young adult isn’t?), Chris McCandless shares many qualities with other young wanderers of society. Unlike most of us, he decided to live life accordingly to his beliefs in the now and not wait around for life to experience him. I agree with Krakauer that Chris wasn’t a maniac or outcast because besides all of his indifferences, he got along well with others’; he was, oftentimes, immature and irrational in his thoughts about situations.

McCandless was his own person he did what he wanted not caring about what anyone thought, well at least it seemed like he didn’t care. In my opinion I would consider Chris as being overly confident, going into the wild was the biggest risk Chris took. He knew he did not have the right equipment to survive out in the wild but from his knowledge he thought he could have. McCandless risked everything just to live in the wild, overconfident, thinking he could survive some where he was not used to.

The story of Chris McCandless is a very riveting one. The sheer absurdity of a man walking into the Alaskan wilderness with little more than a bag of rice and a rifle is enough to make anyone question his sanity. However, in my opinion, Chris was not insane at all. He was just a very complicated, multi-faceted man; he was simply different.

If I had only been told about Chris McCandless by a story told by an acquaintance or friend I would assume the Chris was no one but a boy making foolish mistakes. I wouldn’t suspect any meaning or purpose behind his actions. When I actually

Chris McCandles was a very unique young man. His morals and general ways of doing things were not mainstream. Almost to the point where he would seem almost crazy in a sense. But in my eyes I see him as an over ambitious and emotionally unstable guy. He would dip in and out of his phases but always tie back to his past family problems. His parents corrupted his mind and made him think differently about society and what it has become. I don’t believe he was necessarily crazy, but he definitely was not normal. He also just generally makes poor decisions in my opinion.

Some young people are inspiration to many and they have unique qualities, but people have been misunderstanding them. Young people think and act differently at times due to different circumstances. Jon Krakauer has written a book about a young, stubborn, unique, idealist named Christopher John McCandless who was also known as Alexander Supertramp in Into The Wild . Chris was in a pursuit of a meaning life. Krakauer never wanted to prove to readers that Chris did the right thing but he just wanted to let them know how unique Chris McCandless was and how and why he chose to live that way and how he died unexpectedly.

Chris’s will to remain in solitude from society and to become in tune with nature allows him to achieve freedom during his journey. This is shown by how Chris avoids developing long term relationships and friendships with the people he met wherever he went. When Krakauer is talking about Chris’s social life before he left home, he says, “His yearning, in a sense, was too powerful to be quenched by human contact”(Krakauer 66). This quote shows Chris’s

Chris McCandless: The protagonists of the film. Despite of his outstanding record and having some savings, he declines to follow a “normal path” and is determined to look for a real experience during his lifetime. He is a round character since the whole action and plot is focused on the way he lives and understand people behavior, system and life in modern society.

Throughout his life, Chris always went against society creating his identity which expressed that he does things the way he wants and won’t accept doing it differently. In high school, Chris, who is very intelligent, received an F on his physics lab for ignoring to complete it in the correct format because he thought it was stupid (Krauker 109). Another example is Chris quitting his job at McDonald’s because the establishment required him to wear socks as he worked (Krauker 40). When Chris meat a new person while hitchhiking and they tried to make suggestions or help them buy better supplies he becomes stubborn and always declines their offer because he was confident in himself. One of Chris’s friends, Wayne Westerberg thought, “What got him into trouble was he did too much thinking,” which resulted to the death of Chris McCandless (Krauker 18). Even though Chris had never been associated with any religion he believed in spirituality and valued the elements of nature. Before Chris died, he had shoot a moose for food, but ended up throwing it out for the wolves because he felt bad for killing the innocent animal (Krauker 169). Chris’ character demonstrated rebellious actions that showed how he opposed rules and also shared a connection with nature by feeling guilt for killing an