Chris Mccandless Comparison

In the biography Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer holds Chris McCandless in high esteem and shows this admiration by including narrative that shows what makes Chris Special. In the story, whenever Krakauer records people's experiences with Chris he always makes sure Chris is seen in a good light. When Chris was hitchhiking and picked up by a man named Jim Gallien, Jim thought that Chris was an idiot for not packing enough equipment and trying to go live in the woods. However, during the ride Chris peppers Jim with sensible questions making Jim realizes that Chris is not as much, “as a nutcase” as he thought. (Krakauer 5) Krakauer included how Chris was thinking on how to survive.

Jon Krakauer’s fascination in a young man’s life turns out to be more than an article of the boy’s adventure and the journey he set out for himself. Krakauer reflects on much larger subjects within the book based on his path while trying to understand Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless, a young man from an East Coast family, abandons everything set for him in his path. Donating twenty-four-thousand-dollar savings account to charity, burning the cash he had, leaving his car and possessions behind were all decisions Chris thought were right for him. His confident yet riskful choices led him to an independent life in the wild.

Krakauer justifies the actions of the young Chris McCandless, while exploring the many attributes and qualities that much of the audience overlooks in their evaluation of him and his journey into the Alaskan bush. He recognizes in writing the story of Chris McCandless that a majority of society already has a negative perception of McCandless, one built from misinformation and perhaps even fear. As best summarized by Romain Dial at the end of the account, “And I’m sure there are plenty of Alaskans who had a lot in common with McCandless... Which is why they’re so hard on him. Maybe McCandless reminded them too much of their former selves.”

Throughout Chapters Eight and Nine, Krakauer describes and begins to develop the other infamous four explorers stories whom Chris McCandless's story is similar to theirs. Krakauer also notices the lack of sympathy that the Alaskans felt for McCandless when they knew about his death. Many of them felt that he was a foolish child, who arrogantly wondered alone in the wilderness with no shelter or food to keep him alive. Krakauer made his own beliefs clear, that McCandless shared some characteristics and behaviors with these four adventurers, the only one who is truly like him is Everett Ruess, the other three men were a little similar because Carl McCunn was more naive, John Waterman was actually mentally insane and Gene Rosellini was a good

Each man had his own goals and purpose for taking upon himself that certain project to accomplish. The purpose of McCandless's journey was he wanted to make it to Alaska without taking anything from anyone. Chris wanted to live off the land and not take short cuts by flying places or in his words anything that was considered “cheating.” Krakauer stated, “Chris McCandless intended to invent a new life for himself, one which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience. ”(4)

Throughout Krakauer's account of Chris McCandless’ life, we see Chris’s innate need to be his own person and to be one with nature.  We discover his want to be away from a big government and from America’s imposing societal structure. Through his love of nature and want for individualism, Chris McCandless is a modern day Transcendentalist.     Individualism is one of the fundamental ideas of Transcendentalism, throughout the book we see Chris leave behind  his old life, to start a new. One thing that Transcendentalist believe is that money can lead people astray from the true meanings of life.

Krakauer also put some of McCandless’ journals and letters in the book. According to Shaun Callarmans analysis Chris McCandless had no business going to Alaska. Callarman thinks Chris McCandless is just plain crazy. Callarman doesn't admire his courage or noble ideas. Even though Shaun Callarman thinks Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant, also made mistakes because of his arrogance, I disagree with Callarmans analysis

In Into The wild, Krakauer narrates the last couple of journeys Mccandless had on his adventure to Alaska where he ultimately died. Mccandless Touched many people's lives through all of his journeys. Mccandless went on these journeys because he was confused in life when he figured out his dad had cheated on his mom. This changed Mccandless to the point he began to hate his parents. Mccandless had a lot of confidence in himself so he left on an adventure to find his identity.

Cyanne Hall Mrs. Quassy English 4P 22 February, 2016 Into the Wild Essay One day in July of 1990, Chris McCandless severed all contact with his family and set out West and started his two year long journey that would ultimately end with his untimely death in the frozen, unforgiving landscape of Alaska. McCandless was like us, the only difference, he went for his dreams. Although criticizers of Krakauer and McCandless believe Chris was mentally ill, McCandless suffered through emotional damage from family problems and was easily influenced in his vulnerable state through literature. How can someone throw away so much and want nothing in return except the wild? The more I read into McCandless the more I saw why the wild interested him

At his spiritual core, it is extremely noble and honorable that Chris’s stuck to his ideals as a human, and discovered himself and true happiness; no matter how his journey ended. Throughout this book, despite it being told in a non-linear narrative, we see how the ultimate goal for Chris is “... to go to Alaska and embark on an ‘ultimate adventure’” (Krakauer, 51). In a society where so many people compromise their morals, bend their will for society, and commit atrocious actions in the pursuit of wealth, it is refreshing to see someone so committed to going the opposite way in the pursuit of self discovery and what makes one happy.

However, Jon Krakauer proves his argument that McCandless was not arrogant, foolish, antisocial, or crazy by giving examples of other young men who were similar to McCandless to show that his journey wasn’t unprecedented. He also proves that McCandless wasn’t antisocial because he developed personal relationships with Ronald Franz, Wayne Westerberg, and Jan Burres in such a short amount of time and explaining the many times that McCandless respected the Alaskan Bush. Krakauer admits that McCandless may have suffered from hubris; he was still a victim of circumstances. Krakauer proves that McCandless had an intrinsic motivation to discover and that he wasn’t alone because Krakauer too ventured into the Alaskan Bush when he was younger. The Alaskan Bush is a very difficult place to survive if one isn’t prepared for many challenges such as hunting for food or staying warm in the frost ridden

As each chapter come’s there is an account from Chris’ diary to accompany it. Along with this is some type of quote/ inspirational passage which lets us in on what is to come in the chapter ahead. Krakauer is able to maintain this structure throughout the whole book and through this we are able to pick apart the journey of Chris McCandless to construct our own opinions about his mysterious persona. The structure Krakauer creates for us in Into the Wild is significant to our understanding of Chris and his journey as it sheds insight onto his life from many different

Krakauer made the life of Chris McCandless an extremely educational and shocking book. It is extraordinary how you can transform the life of a young person into such a decent book with a huge differ in the information and enchanting advice about the adventure of that man in the wild. McCandless was youthful person who settled on a decision which horribly and lethally for him, it did not work out. Also, there was no plot or a story because there was nobody to fault. “In 1992, however, there were no more blank spots on the map-not in Alaska, not anywhere.

All the while Krakauer early on gave the reader his opinion about McCandless expressing “McCandless was something else-although precisely what is hard to say. A pilgrim, perhaps” (pg. 85). The author reveals his views almost halfway into the book. This

McCandless, a compassionate young man who stole the hearts of everyone he met, possesses a thirst for adventure. Numerous individuals have misinterpreted McCandless as a reckless idiot who had squandered his life away; however, after deep scrutiny of Jon Krakauer’s work, McCandless is better characterized as a non conformed sensation seeker. Furthermore, McCandless could distinct with his virtuous actions he had perpetrated throughout his non conformed life. McCandless should be acknowledged for his non conformed lifestyle, adamant state of mind, and charismatic personality. To commence, McCandless is contemplated as a sensation seeker due to his idiosyncratic strives towards a non conformed life.