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How Did Chris Mccandless Go Into The Wild

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What could possibly be going through a young man’s mind, when he makes the decision to hitchhike to Alaska and live off of the land after just graduating from college? This is the question that many people have asked themselves after hearing about Chris McCandless’s story. Chris McCandless was a very smart yet simple man. He graduated with a degree from Emory University however that wasn’t quite enough to satisfy Chris, he needed something more. But why was “more” going into the wild with no knowledge on how to survive there, why did it take such a drastic measure for Chris, and why did he do it? I believe he did it to prove a point, and a point not only to his parents, but also to himself in order to test just how much he could handle, and …show more content…

His parents were very wealthy and materialistic, even offering to buy him a new car for his graduation which Chris refused. Chris was very angry at his parents, particularly his father for living a double life, and this toxic relationship could have been one of the main reason Chris decided to disappear into the wild. He even described in a letter written to his sister that he had to be “real careful not to accept any gifts from them in the future because they will think they have bought [Chris’s] respect,” (McCandless 21.) I never fully understood why Chris held the grudge with his parents that he did but my best guess would be that they were very hardworking people and never really took the time to understand Chris’s simplicity and accept that he was happy without to riches and the fancy cars, but with adventure and the rush he got in living life to the …show more content…

That’s why he went to Alaska because he wanted to test just how smart he was and in being able to finally be in charge of himself, just how well he could thrive from it. One example of this was how Chris could just abandon his car and burn money, however quit after working a job he wasn’t being paid for. It is difficult to believe that someone as smart as Chris was that he could be so careless and unprepared for a task as difficult as living off the land in Alaska. Which raises another question as to if he was really as coherent and aware of the challenges as we all thought he

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