The Pursuit Of Happiness Essay

“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” ―Maya Angelou. Jon Krakauer’s true story titled Into the Wild is about a man who decides to throw away his old life and escape the rules of conventional society. Twenty-two-year-old Chris McCandless came from a well-to-do family in Virginia and, without warning, abandons everything. He changes his name, loses contact with his family, gives away his car and all his money, and begins a two-year long journey hitchhiking to Alaska where he eventually dies of starvation. Although it may seem as though Chris McCandless is immature or reckless, he is actually rather admirable for his ideals because they allow him to live a life he is happy with.

In this essay “Living in Two Worlds” written by Marcus Mabry, I will analyse his split life by examining how his new life is affect poverty, finding a balance and self reliance. The harsh reality is many of his family members were struggling to make ends meet while he was living a modest life because of the scholarship he had received in ninth grade. This affects him from truly enjoying this experiencing considering that during the day his life was satisfying but when he got home this completely changed when he was forced with his reality of living with poverty. As a result of this “Most students who travel between the universe of poverty and affluence during breaks experience similar conditions, as well as the guilt, the helplessness and, sometimes, the embarrassment associated with them. ”(Mabry 100) The previous quote highlights why it

Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that protests culture and society. Toward the end of Chris McCandless’s life he started to show many signs of a transcendentalist. Unlike Thoreau Chris was not in it for his love of nature, but to free himself from a corrupt world and a bitter society. "So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future." (Krakauer p. 57)

“So many people live in unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation” (57). Chris McCandless was determined to not be one of those men, he strived for a life in solitude, away from the demands of society. For that reason he went on an epic transcendental experience that took him from Mexico to Alaska. Along the way, he met and made an impact on peoples’ lives, people like Wayne Westenberg and Ronald Franz. Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild discusses Chris’s journey, and makes the reader question Chris’s reasons for going out into the wild. In the novel, Chris did some dangerous things, such as kayaking across a country and not taking nearly enough supplies, he insisted it was all part of the journey though.

The line between rational and irrational thought is often blurred for some more than others. Usually when we cross this line into irrational thought our brain will let us know that what we are doing isn’t within reason. While many believe that Christopher McCandless was crazy and his ideas were ludicrous; I believe that he saw the line between rational and irrational thought very clearly, and that all though some of his ideas may have seemed crazy to some, he carried them out in sane body and mind. Chris was an extremist, a radical youth with different ways of thinking, and often we as a society tend to identify someone as crazy when we cannot comprehend the reasoning behind why a person would do something. Chris was not crazy, but he was

Intelligent beyond one's years but seemingly native or blatantly argagent when applying this vast knowledge to one's self to the point of impending self destruction, this seems to go bounds beyond ignorance but as the phrase states “ Ignorance is bliss ”. Chris McCandless was a young intelligent man and is the main character of the story “ Into The Wild “ by Jon Krakauer. Chris, who called the untamed life his home from the moment he graduated from college, a man whose body and soul seemed to be ever wandering and only ever sated when on the road, in the wild, or thriving in danger the definition of wanderlust. He was a man who made large impacts on all of the lives he touched, with his combination of; intellect, self love, happiness of life, taking hold of his life, and naive fragileness he made bonds with all of the lives he touched in a very short amount

In the book, “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer, there is a man by the name of Chris McCandless who leaves everything behind and lives a whole other life on his journey to Alaska. McCandless’ family has no idea he has left and with his tragic meeting with death everyone is concerned to know why he chose to leave. The primary motives to which Chris McCandless went into the wild was due to his emotional damage with family, his risk-taking tendencies and his way of pushing his capabilities to the extreme limit.

Chris McCandless may first be described as a rebel and his inclination to abstain from the family he was brought up with. Krakauer says that he 'believed that wealth was shameful, corrupting, and inherently evil '. Despite that, Chris always liked money. Chris was also a very independent person who had a strong relationship with nature. Chris was also the kind of kid to always get good grades, without even trying to. I think Chris McCandless felt unfufilled in his life of privilege, and wanted to go out and experience life how he wanted to for awhile, and live freely. Chris may even still be alive today, had he been more prepared.

In what might have been Christopher McCandless also known as Alexander Supertrams, last contact with humanity, he says, “If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again I want you to know you are a great man. I now walk into the wild” (3 Krakauer). Nothing could stop him from reaching Alaska and going into the wild. For 112 days he survived in the hazardous and unforgiving tundra of Alaska. People see him as a hero, a brave explorer, and an imaginative man who learned to veer off of material possessions and find himself. Not everyone shares this view of Chris. Many people see him as a senseless and unprepared young man looking for an adventure he could not handle; however, I see Christopher McCandless as an insightful man who goes on a journey to figure life out, something not many people can do.

The pursuit of happiness is defined as “the fundamental right mentioned in the Declaration of Independence to freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes you happy.” The ability to find happiness is a right guaranteed to all citizens in the United States, yet many countries do not possess the same rights as America and instead are plagued by corruption. Procuring contentment is a difficult journey for all people, but those who do not have access to knowledge will find it to be a much more daunting task. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag’s struggle to find joy under an oppressive regime required him to challenge his knowledge in a way he never truly had before. Happiness is analyzed constantly in the real world as well, and the philosophers and scientists who study it consistently link it to knowledge, as shown in the articles by Main, Socrates and in the article about Individualism. By gaining knowledge, a person can find a true sense of happiness due to the fact that contentment is found through intellectual freedom, the capacity to view the world on a deeper level, and the ability to make empowered choices.

I do think we are in control of our own happiness because I think the human controls how we feel on a day to day bases because of the actions we do so really I do think we control our own happiness just how we control our actions.

The purpose of this essay is to pick apart Mill’s essay and to give my own personal opinion about happiness. Stuart believed that you could achieve happiness by helping others achieve happiness and by finding things that you enjoy in life. I believe the key to happiness is helping other people achieve their happiness, do things that you enjoy doing, and looking at things in the brightest way possible.

he movie titled “The Pursuit of Happyness”, there was a problematic family living in San Francisco in 1981. The main character, Chris Gardner worked as a salesman invested his entire life savings in portable bone density scanner to support his family including his wife Linda and a five years old son Christopher. However, Chris’ business was not doing well and his wife was forced to work. Day after day, Linda was suffering and she always quarrelled with Chris and blamed him for didn’t play the role as a responsible father and a good husband. Luckily, this was not the end for Chris. One day, he met his turning point, Jay Twistle, a manager from Dean Witter. He offered Chris with a stockbroker at the end of a six-month unpaid training period.

Think of some favorite memories or objects: the first love, favorite pet, favorite foods, or maybe even a good

In the movie titled “The Pursuit of Happyness”, there was a problematic family living in San Francisco in 1981. The main character, Chris Gardner worked as a salesman invested his entire life savings in portable bone density scanner to support his family including his wife Linda and a five years old son Christopher. However, Chris’ business is not doing well and his wife was forced to work. Day after day, Linda was suffering and she always quarrelled with Chris and blamed him didn’t play the role as a responsible father and a good husband. Luckily, this was not the end for Chris. One day, he met his turning point, Jay Twistle, a manager from Dean Witter. He offered Chris with a stockbroker at the end of a six-month unpaid training period. During that