Craig Thompson's Blankets Essay

Some people lose hope if one bad thing happens to them, yet he can keep hope even after all this. If every human did this many would be doing better than they are

The poem sends a clear message to the reader that it is unacceptable

Jon Krakauer had the same experience as McCandless with his family and travel to Alaska, but Krakauer knew more about survival and had company in case of any danger. Krakauer compares, “as a young man, I was unlike Mccandless in many important regard… And I suspect we had a similar intensity, a similar heedlessness, a similar agitation of the soul” (55). Acknowledging McCandless’s background, Chris left society because, in Krakauer’s point of view, of the “agitation of the soul” and the “similar heedless” of society. McCandless didn’t agree with society’s standards that being successful meant having a well paid occupation, especially when McCandless’s parents enforced it onto him. McCandless truly did not want to uphold the wishes of his parents, for Chris to go to college and get high paying career, but it wasn’t what Chris really wanted, so he left all of his conflicts with his parents and his values or “agitation of the soul” to create a new identity as Alex Supertramp and live in the wild. In today’s modern world, humanity lives in an environment where people are controlled and dependent on others. Chris’s father is someone he despises because of his characteristic of being controlling. Walter becomes controlling over Chris, who pressured him into college. As a result, Chris has an “agitation of the soul” to become independent, and a “heedlessness” for society and had an “intensity” for

Little things in one’s childhood can affect them in the long run and affect the decisions you make. In the book, Into the Wild, the author Jon Krakauer, tries to make the valid point that Chris McCandless was a hero, a noble and inspirational character. In the book, Krakauer fails to persuade the reader into the belief of the role that Chris McCandless was a “hero.” Chris McCandless was the son of two wealthy parents, and had so much great things going for him with a chance to a good working job and great opportunities, but instead to pursue in those opportunities he decided to get rid of all his possessions, and give everything up, even his family, and went on the journey to Alaska.

Krakauer’s interview with Walt McCandless reveals that Chris’ disappearance into the wilderness had a negative effect on his family. Walt expresses his grief when he asks the rhetorical question “How is it… that a kid with so much compassion could cause his parents so much pain?” (104). Chris was portrayed by Krakauer as a caring person, and his decision to leave society was in part spurred by how selfish and greedy people appeared to be. When he abandoned his friends and family without any hint as to where he was going or why, he caused his parents great anguish to fulfill his own quest for purpose. It’s ironic that he displayed the very characteristic that he was supposedly trying to escape from. This question Walt poses is used by Krakauer to criticize Chris’ deeply selfish actions by showing the reader his parents’ point of view of his odyssey.

He was forced into one of the worst labor concentration camps and through it all he found and held on to the slightest bit of hope. For example, “ I no longer felt anything except for the lashes of the whip….He took his time with the lashes. Only the first one really hurt.” Even though the lashes hurt really bad all he could think about was his father, “ I was thinking of my father. He would be suffering more than I,” He wasn’t really focused on the fact that he just got beat. He had lost his faith and belief in God through this traumatic event; and even through this time, when he had little faith, he was resilient and pushed through. He pushed through even though he had no idea of the future. Even though he could have give up and died at any point during his time there, he decided to be resilient and to keep

They faced starvation which in some cases caused people to do unimaginable things for instance people fought and killed others for food. He soon lost his faith in God and the justice of God because of everything he had seen. Keep in mind, he is still young and after seeing the gas chambers and crematories. I could only imagine him being scarred for life, nobody should have to go through such trauma that they question God's existence . “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should i sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?” (Night, Pg.33). Seeing things that can’t be unseen changed him. He didn’t see himself the same anymore. His innocence was taken, he went from a normal healthy teen to a prisoner. His head was completely shaved, he was starved, and then dressed in striped

The poem begins with a painful memory from the speaker’s sixth grade classroom where he was slapped on the head and commanded to sit in the corner for not knowing the difference between

Although Chris McCandless’ controlling and toxic family environment was a major motive for his escape, his deep-seated internal battle was simply an irresistible impulse for discovery and liberty. Chris’ journey shows a new level of freedom; what true independence holds. He set out into nature alone without support of family or friends, searching for a path unlike those of most, and running from a barred cage of conventional living. Unsatisfied and somewhat angry with himself and his life of abundance in money, opportunity, and security, his preceding experiences and determined character lead him to an inevitable flee into no-mans land. Throughout the novel, Krakauer wants the reader to understand that there is more to Chris than his habit of criticising authority and defying society’s pressures. He needed more from himself, and more from life. He wasn’t an ordinary man, therefore could not live with an ordinary life. Krakauer demonstrates this by creating a complex persona for Chris that draws you in from the beginning.

“Confession” is a poem which opens with an artist contemplating the morality of drawing his subjects with all their “defects” in great detail. He continues on by describing the loving attention he gives to each flaw, “I pamper each pimple,hump,massage,each incrustation,” (lines 5-6). Most of the poem consists of Dinh taking the time to account each particularly flawed feature he has unashamedly depicted in his art. These “flaws” on his models do not simply include rashes and other visual defects, but awkward poses and age, “Impossibly old, extremely young - onto appalling heaps,” (lines 11-12). While the narrator in the beginning of the poem seems uncertain if these actions are just, by the end he seems more certain that nevertheless it simply came from a place of doting accuracy or as he claims, “just so I could render the human condition most accurately and movingly,” (lines 14-15).

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As time continues, the boy struggles with what to make of himself and his future. His musical aspirations begin to hold more weight in his decisions, but are still rather questionable. Whenever he seems to be making the steps to pave his future, he seems to continuously be redirected from his intended path. His inability to fully strive for a profession can be directly related to his inability to choose how he wants to be viewed, or rather who he wants to be viewed as, by society; he lacks the confidence to potentially make the “wrong decision.” The narrator becomes increasingly likely to make a career of music, and is greatly inspired by spirituals he hears at a church service. As he leaves to “settle down to work” (Johnson 133) , he witnesses a gruesome and cruel scene. A black man was to be hanged in town, but instead a white mob burns the black man alive. The narrator is terrified and scarred, committing to live his life as a white man. Shame is what the young boy now feels, for whether he lives as a white man, he is indeed a black man. Shame is responsible for the choice he made, because he wished not to be “identified with a people that could with impunity be treated worse than animals" (Johnson 139).

He turned to the streets, begging for scraps of food or clothing, trying to find some way to support himself. Those years of his life had seemed like a dark abyss in which he was trapped. He could see the sunlight above, but he had no way to reach it. He still remembered the looks of disgust and fear upon people’s faces as he crawled to them and begged for help. They would pull their children closer and cross the street as they neared him, or walk straight past him with their eyes fixed ahead, unfazed by his pleas. After some time, he lost hope. As the rich merchants and fine clothed women passed, he said nothing, curled up in a ball on filthy, tattered blankets, starved and cold, flea bitten and depressed. He had feared for a time that he was on the brink of insanity, and had taken to talking to the stones on the street to while away the lonely hours. He remembered hoping he would simply pass in his sleep during the night to escape his never-ending

Seven billion people in the world, all with unique personalities, on this earth to serve a purpose in their own life, or someone else’s. Chris McCandless was a man with unique qualities, and served to please himself and coincedently others as well. In the book “Into the Wild” the author, Jon Krakauer, explains the adventures and mishaps Chris McCandless went through in his life. Krakauer admired Chris for his personality, and his ability to be determined and hardworking at everything he did. Chris McCandless was an admirable man, with his individual view on life, and the way he could touch a person’s life and impact them forever.

In conclusion, Robert Frost uses the form of a sonnet to express his unique visuals of a lady who just lives life for what it has to offer day by day to her best advantages. Using visual and aural imagery to make us understand just how great life can