Into the Wild argument essay
Into the Wild written by Jon Krakauer illustrates the life and death of Christopher McCandless, and his search for the true meaning in life. McCandless’ family was well-off and he graduated from Emory University with honors. Everything in McCandless’ life came easy, and because of this he wished to find what it meant to work for something. Through his perilous journey across the United States, McCandless found a way to inspire others everywhere he went. His independent and carefree mindset inspired other adventure seekers. Because McCandless desired to push the status-quo, he trades material wealth in order to find the richness in life.
Jon Krakauer found Christopher McCandless’ story while he was a writer for
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If in need of money, McCandless found a job. If in need of food, McCandless found something to eat on his own. Selfish men are greedy, however, Chris McCandless embodied love, and compassion and for that he cannot be seen as self-centered. Although McCandless was often reserved, he always shared his plans with other nomads and anyone who was willing to listen. His captivating personality drew people towards him. McCandless’ story caused people to follow their own dreams.
Freedom is not given, but is innate for every human being and everyone seeks it. Because we are free, we must respect the freedom of others. In America, if one wants to become an astronaut, there are no laws against it. If another wants to pursue a career in acting, there are no laws against it. If Chris McCandless wants to explore the Alaskan wilderness, there are no laws against it. Christopher McCandless, like many adults, simply used his rights and pursued happiness. Because McCandless did something that many fear, does not make him selfish, but instead makes him determined. Christopher McCandless was fearless. He did the unexpected, and his actions made him a hero. McCandless’ life encouraged many people, because he did what made him happy.
Some may argue that Christopher McCandless’ story was not inspiring. Many believe McCandless was selfish, because he abandoned
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
In Jon Krakauer's novel Into the Wild, the main character, Chris McCandless, seeks nature so that he can find a sense of belonging and the true meaning of who he is. However, it is the essence of nature that eventually takes his life away from him. At the end of his life, he is discovers his purpose and need of other people. After Chris McCandless death in Alaska, Krakauer wrote Into the Wild to reflect on the journey that McCandless makes. Krakauer protrays McCandless as a young man who is reckless, selfish, and arrogant, but at the same time, intelligent, determined, independent, and charismatic. Along with the irony that occurs in nature, these characteristics are the several factors that contribute to McCandless death.
The story of Chris McCandless has become a pop culture phenomenon. Many are fascinated by his desire to abandon his family and society and “walk into the wild” (Krakauer 69). Newscasts, magazine articles, movies, and books have tried to define what motivated him to give up everything for his Alaskan odyssey; however, the answers died with McCandless. People make assumptions about him without knowing his entire story. McCandless chose to do the unconventional, making people think he was either foolish or brave and determined, but ultimately he was selfish for doing what he did.
In the brighter spectrum of Mr. Chris McCandless, is his deep and intellectual personality, shining through on most every occasion with cynical value or an interesting opinion every now and then. In Chris’s deep scholarly thought he decides to give up many things for his own self righteousness in attemp to make himself free of any evil or distraction as well as anything that may hold him down. As a younger boy in high school he proved his good Samaritan self by spending weekends taking to the the streets, spending nights with prostitutes, the homeless, and the addicts, feeding them and experiencing a little of what they felt. As I mentioned before he gave up what he thought would ruin his dreams and soil his life, he rid his life of luxury and wealth along with long-term relationships with people. As one of the things that he had apparently given up was the desire of sex and all of it’s evils, and proclaimed that his need was much to great for something so petty. Truly I believe traveling as a child with his family engineered a mind set within Chris that made him feel as if familiarity was just a weight holding him down from the flight toward his dreams. He also thought that being lost in such a superficial and trivial society could help no one
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.
Besides his views on “mainstream American life” (52), Christopher McCandless had strong convictions of issues beyond America. Racial oppression and widespread hunger particularly fueled him and he made several attempts to make a difference for both issues. During high school he would talk to his friends about smuggling weapons into South Africa to end apartheid (113) and after he finished university, he donated the remaining $24,000 from his education fund to OXFAM America, a charity dedicated to fighting hunger (20). His desire to end those issues of racism and hunger may have diminished once he perceived how ambitious his desire really was. Perhaps it was the feeling of not making a difference in what he was truly passionate about that drove McCandless to run away and escape from essentially being insignificant. He was driven away from the comfort of his life by the discomforts of the world around him; McCandless was not happy with the state of both his local society and the distant world and decided he could only find solace by venturing out into the wilderness.
Chris McCandless is a person of great strength of mind that is not well used for he became arrogant in his life and stayed stubbornly away from new knowledge that could have helped him. While chris may have ended his life's story with his odyssey he is still one of the few people to actually follow their dreams all the way to their ends even if it meant
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
Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, describes the adventure of Christopher McCandless, a young man that ventured into the wilderness of Alaska hoping to find himself and the meaning of life. He undergoes his dangerous journey because he was persuade by of writers like Henry D. Thoreau, who believe it is was best to get farther away from the mainstreams of life. McCandless’ wild adventure was supposed to lead him towards personal growth but instead resulted in his death caused by his unpreparedness towards the atrocity nature.
In Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book, Into the Wild, we follow how humans love the wilderness, the strain of father son relationships, and for the majority of the book a young adult named Chris McCandless. We see mostly through Chris’ eyes just how much the wilderness can entice young adults as well as how important crushing news of one’s father can change your life. McCandless was an angry pseudo adult who couldn’t handle a sizeable change in his life. He was too stuck on it being his way that he rarely could bring himself to accept help and improve his ability to actually survive. However, there was some good about McCandless. His search for himself and the truth were great intentions despite the flawed approach.
Freedom and Nature. These are both things Chris McCandless longed to dwell in. He took his steps into becoming everying thing he had hoped. But were his dreams and aspirations worth the ‘’Betrayal” of everyone who had ever cared about him? Do we owe our families anything in the first place? By looking at McCandless’s actions and reasonings we can see that he is justified solely on his passion and courage. People would like to say that he was irresponsible, ignorant and careless in his actions. However, all he wanted was complete freedom. He didn’t have to be sorry for anyone just because he was letting his heart guide the way.
Into the Wild, written by John Krakauer tells of a young man named Chris McCandless who 1deserted his college degree and all his worldly possessions in favor of a primitive transient life in the wilderness. Krakauer first told the story of Chris in an article in Outside Magazine, but went on to write a thorough book, which encompasses his life in the hopes to explain what caused him to venture off alone into the wild. McCandless’ story soon became a national phenomenon, and had many people questioning why a “young man from a well-to-do East Coast family [would] hitchhike to Alaska” (Krakauer i). Chris comes from an affluent household and has parents that strived to create a desirable life for him and his sister. As Chris grows up, he
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.
The novel Into the Wild is a nonfiction novel published by Jon Krakauer who investigated the life and death of a free spirited individual named Christopher McCandless. McCandless was a recent Emory University graduate who sought to suck the marrow out of life through an independent experience in nature and purposely sought to this experience in the rawest form of supplies. He was found dead in August of 1992 in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness. For the sake of his journey, he purposely didn't bring an adequate amount of food or supplies. Consequently, those who read of his actions wonder what evoked him to live the way he
Chris McCandless died doing what he loved, but was it worth all of the pain and uncertainty he caused his family? Chris embarked on a journey through the Alaskan wilderness, which resulted in his demise. He cut ties with his family due to personal differences in opinion and travelled all around the country living off of the land for the most part. People have formed many different opinions of Chris McCandless, but its up to you to decide whether his actions were selfish or purposeful. In this Journal, I will be questioning the motives of McCandless, connecting with him, as well as evaluating the author.