Chris Mccandless Disappearing

No individual had the same family background and early experiences in their lives. Each individual also had their own personalities. Chris McCandless was a young and successful college graduate with a job and had money. Oddly, he decided to disappear in response to his father’s misjudgment, giving away his money and overall, became homeless. McCandless could no longer

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

Chris McCandless finds many conflicts within his life such as his conflict with his father Walt. Walt McCandless was very educated he was one of the most important NASA engineers of the time. He lived his life in normality by finding a job and wife and simply living a simple. For Chris he was a lot different than from his

Chris felt deceived and let down because of his father’s infidelity to both of his wives. Carine says in her interview with Krakauer, “When Walt’s double life came to light, the revelations inflicted deep wounds. All parties suffered terribly” (121). This is a perfect example of how the affair affected the McCandless family, thus giving him a major motivation to leave his parents. Another perspective of the father and son conflict in Into the Wild was between Chris and an elderly man that he met on the road named Ronald Franz. Ron Franz, whom was a father figure of sorts to Chris, felt a sense of treachery from his heavenly father, and this was all due to Chris’ elusion of close relationships. “I decided I couldn’t believe in a God who would let something that terrible happen to a boy like Alex” (60). That was a father son conflict on more of a spiritual level in the book, and it is clear that Chris had such a large impact on Franz. His impact on Ronald Franz was so compelling, that he even offered to adopt Chris, only to be rejected, which was also an underhanded sort of betrayal on Chris’ part. Krakauer added this element to the book because once there is betrayal, the casualty is

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

The major contribution making it a fiction was the dad lived a double life. Chris found out when he visited his neighborhood (El Segundo) where he grew up the first six years of his life. There he pieced together the information about his father’s first marriage. Found out that Walt did split from his first wife and remarried, had Chris. Meanwhile, he continued his relationship with the first wife. When Jon Krakauer wrote that, “I’m going to completely knock them out of my life. I’m going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live” (64). Such a quote showed that Krakauer understood that McCandless hit the maximum point where he could not tolerate this “fake relationship” and would have a hard time forgiving his parents. This shaped Chris to be independent and closed off from sharing his feelings. On the other hand, relationship with his younger sister was a genuine one. As Carine described it, “He was always really nice to me” (110). When the parents would be quarreling, Chris would protect her, when they walked down the street, Chris would hold her hand. Even though he was the shortest in his class, he was strong. All these actions made them close and were able to count on each other. This relationship shaped Chris in a way maybe to see his potential in protecting others first and see if he can protect and survive

Chris McCandless came from a very different lifestyle compared to that of Perry Smith and the Clutters. He was obedient and listened to his parents for the most part. However, Krakauer viewed McCandless’s parents as too demanding and ultimately implies that part of his death was brought on by his parents. Chris’s relationship with his father was stressed at best and Krakauer equally “believe[s] we were similarly affected by the skewed relationships we had with our fathers. And I suspect we had similar intensity, a similar heedlessness, a similar agitation of the soul" (159). Chris was a highly opinionated and willful young man with little room for negotiation with his father sharing those same qualities. His criticism towards his parents eventually turned to outright anger, and after his father’s secret double life is revealed Chris begins viewing his father as a

While in an old family cabin, Chris McCandless finds out about his father’s previous relationship with another woman at the same time as his relationship with McCandless’ mother. Although this problem is painfully resolved without McCandless knowing, his discovery drives him to an irrational and immature reaction. Jon Krakauer said “he indicated that he was planning another extended trip”(95) after McCandless’s senior year in Emory. He then donated all of his money and disappeared, entirely out of contact with any, and all, family. McCandless reacts in a rash and immature fashion when he leaves. McCandless never spoke to his family about what he knew, nor did he try to find a way to cope with this information, he simply let it grow

this tore Chris apart but he also found out that “Walt fathered another son” on page 121 just two

     After Chris graduated high school he traveled the country and seldom kept in touch with his family. After being on the road for weeks Chris finally returned home, but within the next couple of days he would be

Chris McCandless got away from his materialistic parents. He went north to pursue a life of adventure and wanted to get disconnected with civilization. McCandless’s motivation for leaving was that he wanted to get away from the people, including his parents and pursue a life of adventure and not poisoned by civilization. So he

Given Walt’s need to exert control and Chris’s extravagantly independent nature, polarization was inevitable.” – Jon Krakauer on ‘Into the Wild’ Chris had an apathetic feeling with his family, he was not at ease, even less, with his father because Walt McCandless, father of Chris, was a very materialistic and controlling man, the opposite of what McCandless is; humble and an adventurer. Their two temperaments weren't compatible at all, which used to made them argue. As well, Billie and Walt had high expectations for Chris, wanted him to get involved in a law school and become perhaps a wealthy businessman. He was not very attached to his family except for his sister Carine, she was the one who knew Chris more than his own parents did. She said that once Chris told her “he would have to be real careful not to accept any gifts from them in the future because they will think they have bought [his] respect” McCandless had no interest about the material, he appreciated things in a different and unique way, living with his family was not favorable, it wasn’t easy to get the feeling of the real appreciation that he wanted around his

One reason I believe Chris’s adventure was ludicrous is because he left originally in part to get away from his family due to ongoing conflicts. Conflicts between family members is a natural process within a family and certainly is resolvable with attention and problem-solving the issue. In McCandless’s situation specifically, he developed anger most directly related to his father’s adultery from his past. As Krakauer writes, “Long after falling in love with Billie, long after she gave birth to Chris, Walt continued his

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,

124). He furthers this by describing how Chris’ parents sent a letter saying” You have completely dropped away from all who love and care about you. Whatever it is—whoever you’re with—do you think this is right?” (p. 124). According to Krakauer, Chris saw this “as meddling and referred to the letter as stupid when talked to Carine” (p. 124). At this point, Krakauer is clearly pointing out Chris’ flaws and how he seemingly didn’t enough about his family to bother contacting them for long periods of time. He builds upon this when mentioning how Chris went on trans-continental journeys through the Mojave Desert and various places multiple times without saying a word. He even goes as far as to describe how in July 1992, 2 years after Chris left Atlanta, his mother awoke one night with tears rolling down her cheeks screaming, “I don’t know how I’ll ever get over it. I wasn’t dreaming. I didn’t imagine it. I heard his voice! He was begging, ‘Mom! Help me!’” (p. 126). Krakauer could have deliberately left out such disheartening details that portrayed Chris in a negative manner, as someone who would make his mother suffer in such a way, but he included them in order to give the reader as much perspective on Chris as possible.