Sitting across from a petite Chinese woman, a reparative therapist my mother found for me, I confided in her that I did not see any point to my existence. I explained to her that according to my church and family my purpose on this terrestrial ball was to serve God and that instead my “lifestyle” was serving Satan. Pouring out my heart, I told her that I did not want to live anymore if just being alive sentenced me to hell. She candidly responded, “Well enjoy your life the way you want and then go to hell.” Heart-broken I smiled, said thank-you, and left her office. Later that night, I went to the garage and tried to hang myself. Soon after, I began a journey to search for the meaning of my existence.
The following year in my AP English class we read two books that helped me ponder the meaning of my existence: Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, and The Stranger by Albert Camus. At Siddharth’s lowest point while he is contemplating suicide he is spiritually awaken, reaches Nirvana, and realizes that the meaning of his existence is to be one with the universe recognizing the sacredness in everything. This Buddhistic philosophy teaches that the primary purpose of life is to end suffering. This can be accomplished by rejecting worldly pleasures (money, friends, etc.) and following the Eightfold Path to find eternal joy. This philosophy was extremely similar to my Christian aesthetic upbringing of rejecting worldly pleasures (t.v., parties, dancing etc.) and seeking eternal salvation.
What is it that we find crazy about those who have the courage to do what we won’t? In the compelling novel “Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer the character and intelligence of the youth in men is questioned. Through the pieced together 200 page novel we are introduced to Christopher Johnson McCandless also known as “Alex Supertramp”. A ripe 24 years of age he chose to question our reality and his meaning of life that is given to us by hitchhiking across America to the Alaskan wilderness, where after four months in the last frontier he is found dead. Krakauer throughout the novel shows that although some admire what McCandless did, others found his final journey “reckless” and “crazy”. Krakauer goes to explain this claim through interviews of those who have encountered McCandless on his adventure and through those who got to know his story.
“Happiness is only real, when shared.” - Jon Krakauer Into the wild. Jon Krakauer, the author of Into the Wild told the story of Chris McCandless. Chris escaped reality and went to go live off the land in Alaska, hoping to live a simpler life. In the novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless shared a similar philosophy with Jack London, as they both have a strong passion for Alaska, they both appreciated they beauty of nature, and both wanted to be reborn.
Here Siddhartha is demonstrating that he is the only one that matters when it comes to thoughts of who he is, and only his opinion of himself matters. Acceptance and the ability to look into himself will lead to that road of happiness. Also, to be minimalistic as to if there is nothing to be needed then it is not. This is something many people should take into consideration as to stay away from being materialistic.
In the short story "The Guest" by Albert Camus, Daru's predicament goes hand in hand with France's difficulties and Camus' self-appreciation. In the short story “The Guest” we are introduced to see Daru’s concern to attend the political situation in the French North
Susan Wolf addresses these questions an aim to bring out the distinctive characteristics of the reasons and motives that give our lives meaning. Wolf claims that "meaningful lives are laws of active engagement and projects of worth" (Wolf, 206). Suggesting that when a person is actively engaged in anything they feel alive and life is more worth living. Nevertheless, Wolf explains that neither religion or science is sufficient for leading a meaningful life, claiming that a life of passion could corrupt the pursuit of happiness if you decide to dedicate your life to how you feel. Suggesting that working toward some goal that is substantial than yourself, can be hard work if you don 't have any passion or connection to it. According to Wolf, the subjective element is necessary for a meaningful life and arises from active engagement in some activity that one loves. In addition, the passive attachment to objectively valuable things are not sufficient for meaning. The feeling of fulfillment originates when “one is doing what one loves, or when one is engaging in activities by which one is gripped or excited” (Wolf, 207).
Camus’ Siddhartha and Herman Hesse’s The Stranger have recurring experiences of solitude. Whether it be physical or mental, solitude plays a major role in allowing each protagonist reach a point of enlightenment. Through solitude, each protagonist goes through rebirth, their lowest point, and awakening, revealing things about themselves in the process. Although the two protagonists reach enlightenment in the end, the two have very different outlooks, Meursault is a reserved person who goes with the flow while Siddhartha is the opposite. The two works show that no matter what the initial outlook on life is, points of solitude are key to reaching a point of enlightenment in the end.
Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, narrates the life of adventurer and free spirit Christopher McCandless, who died August 1992 in the Alaskan wilderness; however, his journey still remains relevant in today’s pop culture due to the unresolved controversy of whether he is a saintly role model or hubristic fool. Krakauer openly states that he “won’t claim to be an impartial biographer” (Author’s Note) due to the parallels he struck with McCandless, and provides a more idealistic approach to the biography. By having this biased point of view, Krakauer readily attracts many critics such as Craig Medred, who wrote the article The Beatification of Chris McCandless: From Thieving Poacher into Saint, which discredits Krakauer’s legitimacy and emphasizes McCandless’s narcissistic personality and naïve nature. He has also sparked many questions including why McCandless’s story is so significant, which writer Laura Moss tries to answer in Why Are We Still Talking about Chris McCandless?. While it is clear that McCandless’s story has affected every reader due to its many interpretations, two distinct sides form: the avid romantics and their counterpart, the pessimistic realists, which provokes the question of which argument is more valid.
After that Chris continued to canoe and got caught by the US officers when he was trying to get back into the US from Mexico. So he spent a night in jail.
“All happy families are happy in the same way, but all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way” (Tolstoy). Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer tells a story about a young man called Christopher McCandless who comes from a well-off family who then out of the blue deserts everything to journey on an “Alaskan Odyssey”. There isn’t a sane man who donates all his money, leaves everything and everyone he loves, and changes his identity to “Alexander Supertramp” to venture on a journey that makes him face starvation, poverty, and death. Krakauer describes Chris’s family as the dysfunctional family in which spares Chris’s parents and focuses more on what he did rather than why he did what he sought out to do by leaving. However, the answer lies in his relationship with his family. His negative relationship with his family members, mostly his parents, is what drove him to produce unexplainable behaviors that lead him to run away from society and in the end cost him his life.
In April 1992, a twenty-four-year-old man walked into the Alaskan wilderness alone, only for his decomposed body to be found in August of that same year. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. Some people thought he was crazy but others who looked deeper into his past, such as Jon Krakauer and I, found that there were elements of emotional trauma and adolescent defiance that led to his sense of narcissism and avoidance behavior. Through a better understanding of Chris’s family dynamic, we can start to understand Chris’s behavior, and perhaps our own. In the novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, we see the authoritarian parent personified in Walt McCandless and the long term effects that such a parenting style has on his son, Christopher Johnson McCandless.
Camus published “L'Etranger” or “The Stranger” during World War II, and it became one of his most discussed works in Europe (Rhein). The popularity of Camus’ work can be attributed to the overall feelings in Europe brought by the havoc of war that had left the lands marred. Many people throughout Europe were hurt by the war and began to question the point of life amidst such destruction. This resonates with the modern audience as well because “The Stranger” continues to play on themes that can be seen in the horrifying occurrences that fill the media today (Rhein). Many atrocities allow a modern audience to relate to the events of WWII, such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Haitian earthquake, which leave many questioning
Christopher McCandless may be one of the most intriguing characters in nonfiction literature. In Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless gives up all of his worldly possessions in order to move to Alaska and travel alone into the wilderness. Chris seemed to lead a very privileged life, as he came from a fairly well off family. Chris was intelligent, having graduated from Emory University with a degree in anthropology and history. There is much ambiguity as to why Chris suddenly decides to leave his family behind and travel by himself -- although it is clear that Chris’s initial belief was that the best way to live life was alone, surrounded by nature. The overarching question is whether Chris intentionally tried to kill himself when he traveled alone into the heart of Alaska. Those who believe he did contend that he did not make enough of an effort to extract himself from the negative situations in which he found himself. They argue that Chris felt that he was betrayed by his father, and that he tries to kill himself in order to get away from his family as a whole. Yet Chris McCandless did not in fact have a death wish, and his death was the result of his miscalculating how difficult living in the wild would actually be. This resulted from Chris’s excessive pride. His main motivation to go into the wild was to run far away from his family -- who by blinding him, indirectly caused him to miscalculate.
A person’s heritage and cultural identity may be lost when moving to a new country where the culture is different and other cultures are not easily accepted. In the short story “Hindus”, Bharati Mukherjee uses setting, characters and the plot to discuss what it is like to lose your cultural identity while being a visible minority in America. Mukherjee uses the plot to describe the events that take place in the main characters life that lead her to realize how different the culture and life is in the America’s. She also uses the characters as a way of demonstrating how moving away from one’s culture and heritage can change a person’s perspective and ways of thinking. Mukerjee also uses setting in her story to identity the physical differences in culture between living in India and America. Alike the setting and characters, the plot helps describe the loss of culture with a sequence of events.
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is about a man's journey to find inner peace and happiness. He first decides to try to seek peace by following the Samanas, holy men. Then he seeks happiness through material things and pleasures of the body. After this path fails to provide him with the peace for which he searches, he follows Buddha but soon realizes that Buddha's teaching will not lead him to his goal. Siddhartha finally finds peace when Vasudeva, the ferryman, teaches him to listen to the river.
In the novel, The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault the protagonist, becomes drawn into a “senseless” murder that has to face the absurdity of life and because of his actions, Meursault is presented as a danger due to his lack of “morality” to society. Meursault who is not able to take control of his life but respond to what life offers him believes in the simplicity of life. He tries to understand the living through logic and objectivity, which ultimately turns futile, as he himself cannot maintain proper control over his thoughts and emotions. From the interactions between Marie, to the murder of the Arab, and the meeting with the Chaplain, Meursault overcomes his indifferent views to form an opinion about what life really means. The central theme presented by Camus is how the threat of mortality becomes a catalyst for understanding the significance of life.