Chris McCandless wasn’t a crazy person, he sought an honest life with ultimate freedom in the wild. Chris lived his life with meaning and sought true honesty and freedom in the wilderness. Chris McCandless was not crazy, he was a very sensitive boy who didn’t fit well into capitalist society, he thought of himself as a cosmopolitan. Chris lived a meaningful life and sought happiness through living honestly and freely. Chris wrote in his journal and listed off his essential basics in life. “Positivism, the insurpassable joy of the life aesthetic, absolute truth and honesty, reality, independence” (McCandless 168) this quote shoes just how much Chris valued living freely and honestly. Chris’ yearning for truth shows his emotional pain from his
As Chris ventures into the Alaskan wild he was able to find the happiness he was longing for. It was a type of happiness that he could only experience when he was with nature as seen throughout his life. As he laid in his death bed, he never spoke about any regrets he had,
Until, when he finally decided that it was time to escape society, and start living independently, to find out exactly who he was. “Hey, Guys! This is the last communication you shall receive from me. I now walk out to live amongst the wild. Take care, it was great knowing you. ALEXANDER” (Krakauer, 69). The day Chris said those words he was finally living his own life, instead of the life his parents gave him. He was proud to walk out of the life he didn’t want anymore and live the life that he always wanted to live. Besides Chris living his own life instead of his parents, he also lived to find his inner self.
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
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 just a victim of his own obsession. The novel "Into The Wild" written by John Krakauer revealed the life of a young bright man named Chris McCandless who turned up dead in Alaska in summer 1992. In the novel, John Krakauer approached carefully McCandless's life without putting too much authorial judgment to the readers. Although Chris McCandless remained an elusive figure throughout the novel, I can see Chris McCandless as a dreamy young idealist who tries to follow his dream but failed because of his innocent mistake which prove to be fatal and irreversible. Still, Chris McCandless's courage and passion was something that we should all be proud of.
In the novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer; people think that Chris McCandless is crazy, but I think he’s just searching for himself before he can live his own life. Callarman stated that “ He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness.” Long, C. (n.d.). I disagree with this because he’s not ignorant. He also mentioned that he doesn’t want to admire him for his courage nor his noble ideas, but people should be he took a risk to try and find his own person.
“One of his last acts was to take a picture of himself, standing near the bus under the high Alaska sky, one hand holding his final note toward the camera lens, the other raised in a brave, beatific farewell. His face is horribly emaciated, almost skeletal. But if he pitied himself in those last difficult hours— because he was so young, because he was alone, because his body had betrayed him and his will had let him down—it’s not apparent from the photograph. He is smiling in the picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God.”
In the book Into the Wild the main character, Chris Mccandless, made a rational decision to exclude himself from human society because he believed that going beyond what his parents and society wanted he would live a happier life. Chris wanted to leave society and venture into the wilderness to find the true meaning of who he was. Chris Mccandless was neither crazy or ignorant to live off in the wild where there was no people or anything to interact with but nature. Chris wanted to find his inner self and not only was he a role model for kids all across the country but he also followed his dream. Even though it was selfish of him to leave his family, Chris Mccandless is not crazy because he followed his dream, lived his life the way he wanted to, and went into the wild to find who he truly was.
When you see yourself living out your dream, the thought of what you're most passionate about pulls you in. Passions in one's life change based on what had affected that person. Dreams are defined to change. However, the benefits of these thoughts is that they belong to you and only you. Not one person's opinions matter but your own. Chris McCandless simply was living out his own ideal life, the way he wanted; not to the idea of his parents, his friends or of society. McCandless wanted to escape society and civilization which he felt was tying him down, while also trying to discover himself. McCandless is not by any means a wacko. He was simply defying society and its ideal expectation it holds upon us as a whole.
Not only did Chris McCandless sacrifice so much for the future that he wanted, but he remained focus on his goal and he never ever regretted a minute of it. Even close to his death he was always smiling in the pictures he took and he never looked for a way out. He came into the wild and learned to be one with it. He respected it and learned from it all while staying at his peak of happiness. Chris McCandless’ did not necessarily have a bad life, but it was clear that he was not always happy. When he was truly happiest, he was alone. His disapproval of modern day society is evident throughout the book; “I told him ‘Man, you gotta have money to get along in this world’ but he wouldn’t take it” (46). He realized he needed to be separated from these people and live on his own. He decided to change his course for the future into an isolated lifestyle all without notice to the people that loved him. He was set up for a great life, but he ended it all to follow his dreams and fulfill his purpose. Not
If One were to read “Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer One would initially believe that McCandless is insane, there are ways to prove this wrong. There are ways that One could justify that he is insane, yet there are also many ways to demonstrate that he is not insane. One thing that demonstrates how McCandless is not insane is that he cared for anyone who helped him along his long journey. McCandless frequently shows further care and compassion for those who helped him than he does his own parents. Another point that shows how McCandless is not insane is that he has a decent amount of common sense. His common sense is clear evidence that he is not completely insane. Also, one final point that gives proof of how Chris McCandless is not insane
In the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer writes about Christopher McCandless, a young man who drops everything in his life to go travel throughout the states and end up in Alaska to find the truth to his questions. But did Chris find the truth he desperately desired? Some would say that McCandless did, other would say that he has wasted his time and was being ignorant and stupid. I agree with the author, Jon Krakauer, that Christopher McCandless was not a crazy lunatic, a sociopath, or an outcast because he had made lots of friends while traveling, but there were times when Chris was incompetent, even though he managed to stay alive for quite awhile. Christopher McCandless had a pretty normal childhood.
He desired to find his authenticity and, like many philosophers before him, went into the wild. Emerson states, “In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages” (“Nature” 1). It is no wonder that Chris went looking for wholeness in the wilderness. He too thrived in the wild in ways that he never could have back home. In a letter to his friend Ron, Chris writes: “You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships.
If I were to relate sources to the quote that describes Chris, which we were suppose to analyze, I'd say that he achieved his own personal happiness. He did it through doing things that he liked and felt what was right. He didn't give a thought about the consequences of his actions, he just did what made him happy. Even if it meant that he would loose his life later, it was a price that he would pay to achieve his own form of true happiness, " A life to live and not forget".
In the novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, he makes the argument that some believed that Chris McCandless was mentally ill or insane, which Mr. Krakauer argues against. He states that the idea of living in the wild and leaving society was not only an idea that was devised over a century before that but was also attempted by others many years earlier usually resulting in disappearances or death. Another point that Mr. Krakauer points out, though not directly, is that Chris was very organized and did not go into an area without the proper knowledge that hed need to know in order to survive. Another source is in a “TED talk” where Chris’ sister, Carine, states more about Chris’ personal life which points to the idea that Chris was running from