Into The Wild Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer is a Biography about Chris McCandless a man who set off on a Journey or perhaps a suicide mission in May of 1990. With very little preparation and little to no training, Chris set off on this mission to live off the land in Alaska where it soon becomes clear that his decision to leave his hometown of Annandale, Virginia with no trace and his parents and 3 sisters behind was not at all Justifiable.
First and foremost Chris McCandless grew up in what is described by one of his siblings as a “toxic” household. His father, Walt was living a double life having children with one woman while still married to another and constantly jumping between these lives. This duplicity upset Chris and was one of the greatest factors of his decision to leave. While some may argue that this alone is enough for his disappearance to be justifiable, it's not. Chris may have not had the most healthy relationships but he
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Alaska is a place of extreme weather easily reaching into the negatives. So what did Chris do to prepare for this insane idea of living off the land in this mess? Chris brings with him a 10lb bag of rice, a guide of edible plants in the area, a camera, and a 22-caliber rifle. So Chris was not well prepared for this feat and while he was intelligent he was not a wilderness expert. Of course, Chris knew he could have prepared better but he stupidly turned down the people that tried to help him. Whenever Chris was offered help he turned it down. In chapter one Gallien tries to give Chris some stuff but he refuses. He refuses a plane ticket from Westerberg as well “Flying would be cheating. It would wreck the whole trip.” So Chris’s lack of preparation was a huge factor in his eventual death. If he had prepared more he might have been able to see his family again. What Chris did was not brave or courageous, it was just poor
He not only worried about the material things he was going to use to survive like his rifle and rice. But also educated himself with books. Chris was using logic, for example is there was no game in Alaska what was going to be his plan B? He would have no other choice but to eat plants, Berries, fruits? Chris needed to know what was edible so he wouldn't just go out to eat everything and commit suicide.
With all the information gathered, I believe that Chris made a mistake of going out into the Alaskan wilderness because he lacked supplies, didn't have enough knowledge of our natural survival, and he didn't have a map. One of the largest reasons Chris’s adventure turned fatal was because he lacked supplies like food. Hence
The food he gathered was not enough to sustain his life. But, it was the unhygienic conditions in which he stored the potato seeds and his personality that caused his death. Many have described Chris to be incompetent and stubborn. He thought he could survive the harsh Alaskan bush, because
Yes he could’ve been better prepared but at the end of the day it was his life. Chris truly lived to the fullest and that's all any of us hope for. He wasn’t just a dumb unprepared guy, he was a man who lived by his own rules regardless. Chris’s goodbye letter read “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!”
Regardless if Chris knew he was going to come out of the wilderness alive, he would have changed something he did wrong. He would have learned how to preserve meat and he would not have eaten the seeds. Everyone makes mistakes, but his was a big mistake that can’t be changed. Chris did not know he was going to die when he stepped foot into the Alaskan Frontier. One simple mistake can ruin your life and that plant is what ended Chris’s
Although Chris ended up dying alone he found everything that he was looking for by being surrounded by nature and pure isolation. He liked to live life on the edge which can be dangerous by yourself. Alaska is a very unforgiving place, it's a place where if you do not know what you're doing then it will kill you. Chris messed up big time by going out there by himself with no experience or advice from anyone. Chris had too much pride and was too stubborn to ask for help due to the fact he wanted to be
“Gallien offered to drive Alex all the way to Anchorage to buy him some nice gear, but Alex refused.” if Chris wouldn’t have been stubborn and accepted this offer, he might've had a much higher chance of surviving.
He was every headstrong, he didn’t like listing towards other people rather than himself or even considerate to other people's opinions. Chris was trying to pursue happiness which leads him towards this death by lack of supplies and lack of this understanding of his surroundings. Even though Chris did some things that are controversial to the readers. Chris inspires people to find their happiness, but many believe that he didn’t achieve it.
“He needed money to buy some new gear… I even pfferd to buy him a plane ticket to Fairbanks” (Page 6). This evidence shows Chris arrogance, because he was donating all his money (over 20k), giving away, then later on burning and burying his essentials he could have used throughout his journey because he didn't think he needed it, leading to his downfall. This reveals thoughout his journey, Chris was given opportunities to receive help and use his tools and money to his advantage, but he refuesed because of his independent nature and arrogance, not thinking he would need these vital supplies, and help from
And he ended up accomplishing what he wanted to do even though it resulted in the death of Chris. I think that it was right for Chris because it was what he wanted to do. In the book Chris is obviously very determined to go to Alaska in the way that he wanted to get there. Chris says “It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant memories, joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found.” This is from when Chris wrote the letter to Ron trying to convince him into living a different lifestyle of adventure.
I like how you emphasized this in the book to allow the readers to understand he traveled with barely anything and was starting from scratch. From this, a lot of people like to point out that he was unprepared, and if he had only had a map he would have been able to get out. Being prepared wasn't the point. In your book, you do a great job explaining that Chris didn’t want to prepare for the worst he just wanted to live. I have related to that in the sense that I just wanted to see how far I could go and what I could do alone without outside
He wanted to go in there without really anything so that he can make things that were in the nature. “Chris didn’t think twice about risking his own life…”(Carine McCandless 128). I absolutely think that this quote about Chris is very true because he was so into finding new adventures to take, to enjoy and be happy with
Chris seemed to become someone who was untrusting of others. I think this was caused by his parents. Chris never really saw eye to eye with his parents especially his father and after Chris learned of his father’s past double life his relationship with his parents had begun to deteriorate. A quote from his mother said “‘He seemed mad at us more often, and he became more withdrawn-no, that’s not the right word. Chris wasn’t ever withdrawn.
I think he just wanted to pursue life in a different way. Chris was not seeing life the way anyone else was, so he decided to brush off into the wild and be free on his own. Though he did not survive, he was still a very bright, arrogant human being. Shaun Callarman states, “He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness.” Chris knew going into the wild that he did not have much survival skills, but that did not stop him from doing what he wanted to do because he did not care about society and was just completely over everything which was why he made the move to the wilderness.
He wanted to ditch his old life so maybe he was trying to cut off ties to the world as well. If you take that the wrong way his death may seem like suicide suddenly, but from many other papers that is not implied. The majority think that it was just an unfortunate few events that led to his death. If Chris would have taken a few more resources his life possibly would have lasted longer than it did, and using his story wrote an inspiration book. But he died, so there’s no reason to play the game of “what-if” because it could go an infinite number of ways.