Chris Mccandless Walk Into The Wild

He spent several months wandering the southwestern United States and even explored Mexico. This “experience . . . made him confident he could harvest enough food to survive an extended stay in the Alaska wilderness“ (Krakauer 162). Chris’s success near California influenced his decision to survive in Alaska. Although Chris may have been a little overconfident in his abilities, he was still able to gain some experience living in the wilderness alone. Chris’s journey to the Alaskan frontier was important to him.

“I believe Chris found absolution in the wild before he died” (Carine 262). It is clear that Chris McCandless and his younger sister Carine had an extremely close relationship with one another. Because of this, many were puzzled as to why McCandless would stop communications with his sister when he left on his pilgrimage across the country. In Chris’ case however, it was necessary for him to do so. If he continued writing to Carine his controlling and abusive parents would track him down.

Another one of the reasons Chris left was to pursue a life of adventure. Chris liked the wilderness he probably thought that it was peaceful and a spiritual enlightenment just a quiet place to reflect on life and think or not think at all. Life of adventure was where he can live life differently and explore the wilderness. This adventure made McCandless think about life in a different perspective and when he was in the woods he lived more traditionally, with no gadgets, no making his life simpler. “McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as

First of all, as a child, Chris never felt a connection to other people, which made him feel left out and different. In the book, Krakauer stated, “At long last, he was unencumbered, emancipated, from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence,” which proves that Chris felt like he didn’t belong in society, he was an outcast. Unlike most people, Chris didn’t find joy in buying or receiving things, he wasn’t a materialistic person. Instead, he enjoyed going outside, getting away from society, and being free in nature. He felt like he didn’t belong and that he didn’t have a place in this lifestyle, so he became determined to leave and go to Alaska. Wanting to go to Alaska, and actually going to Alaska, does not make a person a

For him, spending a year or two in the Alaskan wilderness was his way of doing that. In my opinion, Chris had every right to go into the Alaskan wilderness and Shaun Callarman had no business questioning Chris’ right to do so. Shaun Callarman talks about romantic silliness. “...going into Alaska with his romantic silliness” (Krakauer, 1997) At what point was Chris trying to be romantic? He was just trying to find himself and escape the life that brought him so much pain. He wasn’t on some grand quest for some romantic journey.

There is no question that Chris McCandless had reason for the courageous, difficult, or some may even call suicidal stunt he pulled. Throwing away your education, giving up your most precious possessions, and burning all the money in your wallet must have a purpose behind it. McCandless was the type of person who would rather give than receive and did not like having things done for him and demonstrated strong characteristics of being independent. Although, out of the thousands of reasons that could have drawn him to make this drastic decision I believe it was literary influences and his philosophical beliefs that impacted his choice the most.

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.

Chris is not selfish as most people would say, but he is confusing to understand. Chris had the right intentions when he left for his journey. He wanted to accomplish such a task all on his own, but it is that way that

As Krakauer states multiple times throughout the book, Chris really was an intelligent kid. He performed well in school, had a high GPA, and connected well with other students. Chris didn’t approach his expedition as someone who just wanted to test their abilities, or even as a reckless kid. From finding inspiration in his idols, he created an opportunity for himself to see the world as they did. “It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found. God it’s great to be alive!” (37). This quote from Chris’ journal portrays the purely optimistic nature that he carried with him, after his quest began. He compares it to ‘living to the fullest extent,’ which leads me to believe that he was feeling better than ever, despite his decline towards the end of his life. Perhaps he had truly become the person he had always wanted to be, during the most dangerous part of his life. The danger however, could have been avoided with a different sense of exploration. As opposed to setting his things on fire and burying them, he could have kept them. Or perhaps, planned an escape better, communicated better. He had the opportunity to tell his parents what he was doing, and had a possible backup for the types of situations he encountered, while still getting the rush and experience of the freedom in the wild. Moreover, his intelligence would lead you to believe he would consider another way out, that he would think about his actions in more depth than he did. This is exceptionally confusing when thinking about how long he survived before the issues arrived. “McCandless didn’t conform particularly well to the bush-casualty stereotype. Although he was rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry, and incautious to the point of foolhardiness, he wasn’t incompetent- he wouldn’t have lasted 113 days if he

What could it have granted Chris that staying in civilization couldn’t? According to Krakauer: “McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but, rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul.”(183) Krakauer theorizes that Chris had come into the wild seeking the meaning of life. While that sounds extremely cliche, someone who ventures into the wild comes to the inherent peace and tranquility of nature to ponder about the intricacies of life. Chris came into the wilderness to escape the evils of civilization. He wanted to experience living without the burden of material goods weighing him down. It can also be said that Chris came into nature seeking happiness. Rarely had he been happy, and it was only during family camping trips that were deemed happy times to Carine’s recollection. Chris desired to find meaning in his existence and what true happiness was. And in Chapter 16, it seemed like Chris had discovered that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others. A passage from Leo Tolstoy’s book highlights what he found is true happiness.(169) Chris desired a secluded, solitary lifestyle in the wild to find true happiness. Throughout his journey, he had met several people: Wayne Westerberg, Ronald Franz, Jan and Bob Burres, and Jim Gallien, all of whom Chris had affected in some way. It seemed

A) As stated in a letter that Chris wrote to Ron, he believes that pure happiness comes from experiencing new things. The way he was living was something he couldn’t accept any longer. He didn’t feel at home when he was home anymore. The only way to satisfy his want for new experiences was to venture into the wild. This want is also fed by the writings of his favorite authors including Tolstoy and Thoreau.

Many of his family and friends speculated that he wanted to leave to get away from his family. McCandless had said to his sister that he was going to, “...completely knock them out of my life. I’m going to divorce them as my parents once and for all...”, which makes it look like his reasoning for leaving was to leave his parents. But, it is also mentioned that Chris had previously gone on trips to places such as the Mojave Desert, and came back dehydrated and almost dead, but happier and prouder than he had ever been in his life. This relates back to the universal truth by everyone believed he was leaving to get away, but he was actually leaving in order to find

There are many definitions of crazy depending on every individual in this world. Some people such as Shaun Callerman would believe that Chris was only crazy in a way that lacked common sense. Although Callerman’s definition of crazy is accurate, crazy could be interpreted in many different ways. Chris was definitely crazy, both in Callerman’s definition and the other myriad definitions of the word. Chris was crazy with the definition of “unusual” and “out of the ordinary”.

I think he just wanted to pursue life in a different way. Chris was not seeing life the way anyone else was so he decided to brush off into the wild and be free on his own. Though he did not survive he was still a very bright, arrogant human being. Shaun Callarman states, “He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness.” Chris knew going into the wild that he did not have much survival skills but that did not stop him from doing what he wanted to do because he did not care about society and was just completely over everything which was why he made the move to the wilderness. This clearly shows us that Chris did not have much common sense. If he had better survival skills and common sense he probably would have known not to eat that poisonous berry. It was his dream to be in the wild and he decided to pursue it. I respect his decisions and i personally believe it was a good decision other than the fact of him dying. He made the infinitive decision to do all of this so why stop

Chris just had enough of being smothered and contradicted by his parents and society.For example Chris states, " I think I'm going to disappear for a while." He was done and just wanted to get away and set sail on his own. He wanted nothing from anyone, and wanted to live a happy life with the help of nobody. Although Chris had lived his life as he wanted, out in the wild he had a bit of sympathy for him self and rejection. For example Chris states, "Happiness only real when shared." His last thoughts were of him and all of his happy moment he shared with all the people he held close to him. He thought of all the moments he lived a happy life before he made the decision to set off on his own.Chris would take all the chances he had to take, with the chance to live off society and live off his own choices.