The American Wilderness Coalition is a non-profit organization that was formed in 1935 by a group of environmentalists. It is also known as The Wilderness Society. The coalition’s goal is to “Support the efforts of wilderness advocates and organizations nationwide that are working to protect America’s last remaining wild places. As of 2014 this group had more than 500,000 members and supporters.
Hitchhiking with strangers, little money or resources, struggling to find a meal, having no companionship, and fighting for your life; this all comes with a life on the road. It can seem strange to hear or read many tales of people who have chosen to leave their families, jobs, and lives to live an unconventional life of recluse. People who abandon their life of privilege only to vanish into the wilderness’ sometimes never to be heard from again. Jon Krakauer’s book Into the Wild illustrates the true story of Chris McCandless and many others who chose to live on the periphery of societal bounds and in turn endured harsh consequences. While it is important to explore
Award winning journalist and author, Jon Krakauer, in his book, Into the Wild, analyzes the life of Chris McCandless as well as the events that ensued his death. Krakauer’s purpose is to inform the reader about how and why Chris McCandless decided to embark on a journey into the wilderness of Alaska. He adopts an empathetic tone in order to impart to his readers that Chris McCandless was a very misunderstood young adult.
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.
There is never a quote or story that embodies a person completely. However, when it comes to Chris McCandless, John Haines’ quote comes close to capturing his story. Haines writes how nature was always apart of him and the more he learned about it the more he yearned for the outdoors. He wrote about wanting to take a path into the unknown and not look back. Haines ended his passage with, “Let the rest of mankind find me if it could.” One cannot help but think about Chris McCandless when reading Haines’ words. Chris too, had a longing for adventure since adolescence, his views on the world got more extreme the more he learned, and he never looked back even when people were looking for him.
Throughout his journey, McCandless met several people who genuinely wanted to help and befriend him. However, he was so committed to his Alaskan Odyssey that he felt like human relationships were just a distraction, not a necessity. One of these people, Ronald Franz, enjoyed McCandless’ company so much that he wanted to adopt him. McCandless reacted to this proposition by pursuing a job offer and discreetly slipping out of Franz’s life. Once the job offer proved to be a fluke, McCandless desperately called Franz and asked for a ride. By asking for help in the form of a car, McCandless demonstrates that his journey was beginning to challenge his beliefs. Although McCandless was initially against materialism, he was beginning to realize that it was also beneficial to his journey. By abandoning his old beliefs, McCandless demonstrates that exploring nature is an experience that can significantly change one’s beliefs.
Chris McCandless, the subject of Jon Krakauer's“Into The Wild,” whose off-the-grid Alaskan adventure ended in starvation is a hero and an idealist whose sense of independence and adventure inspires us to reach for our dreams. McCandless was a courageous man. He wanted to live a life that was completely different than the one his parents lead. And wanted to submerge himself in the world that we live in and be sequestered from people who take it for granted. However, most students see McCandless as a foolish vagabond whose story should be wrong and not an inspiration, arguing that too many people underrate the dangers of nature. Coming to Alaska and dying because of their ignorance.Chris McCandless followed through with his goals and never
In his work “Into The Wild”, Jon Krakauer writes about a young man who escaped on an expedition to invent a new life for himself. However, the reasons why he decides to partake on such journey raises many questions because Christopher McCandless lives a life of valuable possessions which his rejection of his economic class to disperse in a cultural background of nature steers Krakauer decision to report his story. Krakauer believes that a young man with a great amount of opportunities must have a logical reasons to abandon all the achievements and most importantly his family to live in the Wilderness. Although, Krakauer intends to portray McCandless as a genius of his choices and ethical to his ideas, as the book unfolds Krakauer
Imagine being stuck in the wild, on the verge of dying from either starvation or freezing to death. There are not enough resources, not enough food, all you have left is to hope. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, is a story written of a man named Chris McCandless who overall did not like his life. He thought society corrupted his dreams that he previously set, and he wanted to get away from all of societies norms. Chris wanted to achieve his dream, he wanted a “thrill” in his life, so, Chris decided to go out into the wild and be a free man. In the process he left behind his family who worried everyday having no notion of his whereabouts. Chris was without a doubt , a very controversial/confusing person. People who have heard his story have reason to believe that he was a foolish, stupid kid who got lost into the wild and got himself killed. However, due to Chris' grit, his ability to look deep inside himself to bring out the real him, and his love of nature are all exceptional. Chris' journey into the threatening Alaskan wilderness was not one of stupidity, but one of self determination and courageousness.
In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer depicts a teenager named Christopher McCandless, who is unsatisfied with the values emphasized by our currently materialistic society. Although many of us today may evaluate his behavior as eccentric and absurd, we must not hastily make judgements about his behavior with our conventional way reasoning. To dive deeply into Christopher’s cognitive process we can analyze a letter written by him to Ronald Franz. In this letter Christopher’s values are laid bare for us to see. Christopher is a person who enjoys living on the edge and despises reactionary and complacent thinking, and he is shown to highly emphasizes the importance of adventure,
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
The term “wilderness” provokes the assumption of a nonhuman place; a remote area closed off from the sophistication of society that lacks human life. Depending on its location, wilderness can either be visualized as a dark, cold, and isolated place, or a sanctuary home to diverse wildlife. However, it is generally understood to be a landfill populated by dead trees and muddy waters to which no human wants to explore. It is a place of complete naturalness; untouched and unscathed by civilization. But three authors target these assumptions by proposing possible solutions to the protection or stewardship of wilderness. William Cronon author of “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting back to the Wrong Nature” explains that wilderness is not a pristine sanctuary where the last remnant of an untouched and endangered nature lies, rather, it is contaminated by civilization and
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.