Chris Mccandless's Suicide In Into The Wild

In the wilderness of Alaska, temperatures can drop down to thirty degrees below zero. Christopher McCandless lived in these conditions for four months after traveling through North America for almost two years. It can be seen in the novel, Into the Wild, that during his journey he had many brushes with death and burned bridges with people who deeply cared for him. For those reasons and many more, people assert Chris McCandless was unprepared, careless, and selfish on his personal journey across the United States, culminating in his death in Alaska.

As Chris breathed his last breath, he was finally able to find his inner happiness through the Alaskan wilderness. In chapter 18, Krakauer notes about Chris’ final photo of himself, describing Chris as, “[he] was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God,” (199). The way he was described in this picture shows that Chris has in fact found the happiness that he was looking for and was able to leave this earth in peace. Then again, in chapter 18, the last words of Chris McCandless wrote, “I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD.GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL,”(199). Although he was in severe pain, from starvation, he was still able to find the bright side of things. He was able to die in the one place that he had desired to be at.

Everyone personally wants something different. Chris wanted to be able to survive for as long as he could without utilizing the help of any human soul. He learned and studied how to butcher northern animals, which berries and mushrooms were safe, and how to survive in the harsh Alaskan cold; however, sometimes the limitations on specific goals needed to be taken into consideration. Believing that there was nothing he could not do, he may have had too much confidence, which could possibly be a bad thing. He exclaims to Jim Gallien, a truck driver giving him a lift just before he walks into the wilderness, "'I won't run into anything I can't deal with on my own'" (6). His inability to see the restrictions of what he cannot do may have eventually led to his death. In his defense, he was not on a suicide mission; he was prepared not to make it out alive. Chris knew the risks he was taking but saw it as a personal challenge that needed to be

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

In nature, Chris focused only on himself and survival, rather than his troubles at home, the needs of others, or the standards of society. In a way, he was forced to go into the outdoors because of these poor relationships and inner conflicts within himself. Although Chris sought nature to help him, it destroyed him. He never returned from Alaska to put into practice what he had finally learned about himself and his need for others. Nature and his plan had worked against him, since, he eventually died of starvation.

He took the road that no one would ever imagine doing and he changed the lives of all the people he met. Chris found his purpose in life in the wild. He had always believed in living life to the fullest and he believed that “If you want something in this life, reach out and grab it.” “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon…” Chris McCandless spent a lot of time looking for something entirely different from what he already had and while he found true happiness it eventually lead to his demise. The purpose that Chris was looking for in life was happiness with others. He didn’t like staying in one place for too long and when he found the beauty in Alaska it wasn’t the same. He wrote in his journal “Happiness only real when shared.” By the time Christopher McCandless found the true meaning and purpose in his life it was already too late. There was no way Chris was going to be able to make it out alive of the Stampede Trail. The last note Chris wrote said, “I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!” Chris died happy and at peace with his life in the place he enjoyed the most. Chris McCandless died knowing what truly mattered in life, sharing your happiness with

There are quite a few debates on how McCandless was responsible for his own death. I think the main one has to be that he simply did not know what he was getting himself into and that he had a specific kind of advantaged pride that led him to accept as true that he could “study up” on palatable plants and by dressing game, in order to survive in the wild. In the first chapter, the author interviews Jim Gallien, the gentleman who gave McCandless a ride to the trail that marked the beginning of his trip. Gallien noticed that Chris brought only a bag of rice for his food, and his gun was too small to hunt big game such as elk and moose. Even though he didn’t have a compass, or even a good map, McCandless could not be persuaded out of his adventure.

On the other hand, for those he did care about, he left a positive impact on their lives. Chris was raised in an environment where“...hideous domestic violence hidden behind a mask of prosperity and propriety” (Mcalpin). While some believe that going to Alaska was a way to take revenge on his parents, it is hard to imagine those actions taken by Chris who is someone independent and holds neoteric ideals. It is more presumable to suppose that Chris just wanted to cut off ties to those he thinks contravenes with his ideals and ambitions. On the other hand, for everyone he met on the journey, he built a positive relationship; he maintained those relationships up until his death, even telling Wayne, “‘Till then I’ll always think of you as a friend” (Krakauer 33). He consistently sent postcards and shared his current status and new thoughts to Ron, Wayne, and Jan Burres. In his long letter to Ron detailing his pilgrimage, he gave heartfelt thanks and sincere hopes to see him again, writing “Ron, I really enjoy all the help you have given me and the times that we spent together….But providing that I get through this Alaskan Deal in one piece you will be hearing from me again in the future” (Krakauer 56). What makes this letter so special is the fact that Chris

Chris McCandless was possessed by a nomadic existence and was trying to share his principle of life to his friend by telling that the truth about life was to explore the nature. Chris McCandless's last letter to Wayne revealed his true passion of nature. "This is the last you shall hear from me...I now walk into the wild"(pg 69). Some people concluded that it was Chris McCandless's suicide letter. However, in my opinion, Chris McCandless was just a victim of his own ego, pride and confidence that made him to neglect basic precautions that keep one person alive. He was controlled by his own delusions and that made him eager to test himself into strenuousness which proved fatal to him.

He underestimates the terrain and climate, and, “…came into the country with insufficient provisions, and he lacked certain pieces of equipment deemed essential by many Alaskans…” (180 Krakauer). Chris lacked the necessities, so it made his survival rate drop. Information is key in the wilderness, which, “not only did McCandless die because he was stupid, one Alaskan correspondent observed, but ‘the scope of his self-styled adventure was so small as to a ring pathetic-squatting in a wrecked bus a few miles out of Healy, potting jays and squirrels, mistaking a caribou for a moose (pretty hard to do)…only one word for the guy: incompetent’” (177 Krakauer). Chris lacked the knowledge needed to survive the Alaskan frontier, which dropped his survival rate.

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.

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.

Ever since he was little, he dreamed of living in the wild and finding himself. The wild gave him exultation because he was living out his dream. Many people cannot understand why Chris would give up all of his credential to live in the wild. They call him crazy and they can’t see what benefits his journey would have brought him. They don’t understand that he was challenging himself. Of course Chris took things to an extreme, but what he was doing was not wrong in any way, shape, or form. He wasn’t hurting anyone, he knew the risks that he was taking, he had a good head on his shoulders, and he researched the plant life of Alaska, and carried a rifle with him. Chris was trying his best to live as simply as he could. He wanted to be one with nature, and be able to appreciate every aspect of it. Although Chris’s journey did bring him exultation, it also brought him melancholy. His journey into the wild took a serious toll on his body both physically and mentally. As his physical state began to diminish as a result of the lack of food, he mentally started to diminish as well as he became somewhat depressed. He was felt trapped. He was sick and exhausted and didn’t have the resources to find a way out which did lead to his death. Even though his journey did lead to melancholy and his death, I don’t believe that Chris ever would have regretted his decision to go in to the

Chris didn’t even have boots going into Alaska until one of his friends gave him a pair of boots. Since Chris was unprepared that lead to his death. Sometimes Chris broke the law he didn’t harm no one but you just can’t break the law. In chapter Chris says “F*ck their stupid rules” (McCandless pg 6). This is not to be admire because Chris was not ready for the wild with no supplies or even a map he didn’t know what he was doing. If Chris had a map of Alaska maybe he would have lived and found himself a different route around the river.

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.