Summary Of The Book ' Into The Wild '

Throughout his adolescent to young adult years it was very clear that Chris had an attachment to the wild. In chapter 11, as Walt reminisces about Chris and their family camp trips he reflects, “‘Chris loved those trips, the longer the better . . .’”(108). Even at a very young age, Chris had a fascination about living within

In 1990 Chris graduated from Emory University with a 3.7 GPA and had a degree in anthropology. He was and honors student at Emory University (Krakauer 20). This relates to his identity because Chris believes that education was key for him as a child and it is an important part in your life journey to receive a degree. However, some might say that Chris did not use his degree at all and is not wise for making that decision instead of getting a job based on his degree. Chris takes many adventures when he is on his journey such as when he goes kayaking in Mexico. Chris loves the outdoors and thought his bond with nature was strong (Krakauer 32-35). His adventures contribute to his identity because he believes that he should be at peace with nature and be able to live in the outdoors. However, some might say that he is a hypocrite because while in Alaska he killed a Moose (Krakauer 166). When Chris leaves his family he wants to go into Alaska and live a life of his own. All of his other stops are part of his journey as well. He goes into Mexico, The Detrital Wash, and he goes to Carthage (Krakauer 32, 62, 28-29). All of these actions contribute to his belief in independence. Chris believes that he should be able to live life how he wants and values his independence greatly throughout the book. Chris McCandless constructs identity along his journey through his values and

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.

Chris McCandless was a true adventurer. He went to his journeys mostly by foot and would not take any chance to cheat it. He bought an aluminum canoe at Arizona and paddled down the Colorado River, and nearly drowning in rough water in the Gulf of California. In his journal, he writes ."..It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found. God it's great to be alive! Thank you. Thank you" (pg37). His confession in his journal proved that he had no regrets of what he had done even though it almost cost him his life. He also turned down Wayne's offer to buy him an airplane ticket to

As far a Chris was concerned Christopher Johnson McCandless was dead. There was no more Chris as long as he was concerned his name was Alex and that was it. There was no college degree, no parents, no luxuries or free money. From now on he worked for everything he needed to survive and he started his new life bound for new territory.

(41) Though he possessed natural talent in many areas such as business, music, and sports, Chris had “little patience for learning the finer points” of any activity. This lack of patience applied to Chris’ survival skills as well. Before his Alaska adventure, Chris McCandless had spent the last two years after graduation traveling around and taking temporary jobs. On of his trips, Chris decided to take a canoe trip from America down into the Gulf of California and almost drowned when a storm came up.” (5) For nearly a month, McCandless subsisted on nothing but five pounds of rice and what marine life he could pull from the sea, an experience that would later convince him he could survive on similarly meager rations in the Alaska bush.” (36) Chris naively believed that the experience in Mexico and his travels in South Dakota and West Coast had taught him the “full repertoire of crucial skills”

For someone to have plans to survive in the harsh wilderness of the Alaskan frontier many have said that McCandless was completely un prepared as recalled in the first chapter of the book by Jim Gallien who picked up McCandless outside of Fairbanks Alaska and drove him to the stampede trail, the beginning of Chris’s journey into the wild. “He wasn’t carrying anywhere near as much food and gear as you’d be expecting a guy to be carrying for that kind of trip.” (Krakauer 4) Through the research that Krakauer completed we know that Chris was carrying only a ten-pound bag of rice and some paperback books along with other camping supplies. Jim

When writing in this book, Krakauer appeals to ethos by including several interviews with all the people that knew Chris. In chapter 2, Krakauer is interviewing Wayne Westerberg in Carthage, South Dakota. Westerberg was the first person Chris came into contact to when he left on his journey. After finding about Chris’s death, Westerberg told

It is false for Chris to be perceived as a hero because Chris could have helped a great amount of people with his wits and generosity, but he fled alternatively. His family always thought of him to be a caring young man with maturity beyond his age. He had the talents to be come a highly respected professional man who could help people in need. His mother told him that he would be in a much better position to help others if he “had some leverage first. Go to school, get a law degree and then you’ll have a real impact” (Krakauer 114). Becoming an established lawyer would have enabled him to help a countless amount of people. However his last two years took a turn from that potential but instead he seemed to have reflected the life of an angry child. Many of the letters, engravings and graffiti attributed to Chris on the road seemed like the emotional scrawling of teenagers. Exclamations such as “Jack London is king! (Krakauer 9), “All hail the dominant primordial beast, and Captain Ahab too!” (Krakauer 69) Do not sound like a bright young man in his 20s. Chris was a great student, completing Emory College with straight As and then without any notice, was gone. He donated his savings and “burned all his

Once deciding that he would not bring all the required equipment, it took many people scolding him before he even considered letting other people assist him. McCandless set out on the journey alone, and wanted to prove to himself that he could in fact make it alone in the wilderness. This is one of Chris’ critical faults. Too proud to admit defeat, Chris only lets others help him when in dire circumstances, eventually accepting clothes and other supplies from friends. At the end of his life, a very gaunt Chris finds it increasingly difficult to find game and records how butchering is “extremely difficult” (166). If Chris was adequately prepared for his trip, he would have taken th steps to learn these skills, and may not have resorted to the seeds that killed him. Another crucial mistake made by McCandless was not accounting for when he would not be able to get game. He went into the wild with a small bag of rice and the “heaviest item in his half-full backpack was his library” (162). While it is extremely difficult to read the last chapter of the book without feeling compassion and admiration for Chris, his death could have easily been prevented. His complacency towards “the Wild, the savage, frozen-hearted Northland Wild” proved to be his biggest mistake (9).

Chris is ambitious and motivated, after Chris excels academically he inspires himself to carry out the more difficult goal of surviving in the Alaskan wilderness with as little equipment as possible. When Chris leaves his life in Annandale after graduating Emory University he makes the decision to succeed on his own terms. Chris did not travel to

     Chris McCandless to me was a very intelligent but stubborn man. He didn’t care about how his family felt. All along his quest to the stampede trail Chris was kind to strangers and others but neglected the fact that his family back home worried about him. In the end Chris became at one with nature but realized that his surroundings (meaning family

With a backpack full of books, rice, and only the bare essentials, Chris sought out some form of enlightenment, understanding, and most importantly- independence. He wanted to be able to seek out the means of his own survival and he found his refuge in Fairbanks City bus

In the chapter one epigraph, Chris McCandless wrote a letter to Wayne Westerberg, Wayne hired Chris on as a grain worker, to apprise him of his triumph in arriving in Fairbanks, Alaska. Chris was very firm in his decision to live in the wild, and to adhere to his strict transcendentalistic rules, as he told Westerberg to return any mail he received to the sender. He also, in writing "If this adventure proves fatal and you don't ever hear from me again I want you to know you're a great man,” expressed the possibility of his not returning home.

Into the Wild (Hirsch, Vaughn and McCandless) is a 2007 film based on the true story of Christopher McCandless, a graduate of Emory University, and his search for a pure and natural freedom in Alaska. McCandless was very troubled by his father's young mistress and his mother's apparent acceptance of that situation (Hirsch, Vaughn and