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Is Chris Mccandless Crazy?

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"I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going to Alaska with his Romantic silliness. He made a lot of mistakes based on ignorance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy." This statement, made by Shaun Callarman, pertains to Chris McCandless’s trek into Alaska that ultimately led to death by starvation. Since the recovery of Chris’s body, there has been much speculation about the prevention of Chris’s death and the possible causes. Despite Callarman’s plea of craziness, there have been both eye-witness accounts showing that Chris was sane and prepared when leaving for the Alaskan wilderness, many natural …show more content…

As Callarman stated, “he (Chris) had no common sense.” What is the definition of common sense that Callarman is arguing against? Perhaps Callarman believed that Chris lacked the ability to perceive, understand, and judge a topic, issue, or subject. Evidence found in Chris’s journal, acquaintance 's accounts, and the preparation taken all conflict heavily with Callarman’s statement. Perhaps the most critical piece of evidence suggesting that Chris was not actually crazy, but was actually trying to prepare for the expedition can be found in an account by Gaylord Stuckey. Stuckey was one of the many people that Chris met and impacted when traveling up to Alaska. Stuckey decided to give the clean-shaven Chris McCandless a ride to Fairbanks, Alaska, despite policy stating against picking up hitchhikers on the trucking route. In the short three days of traveling together, Stuckey learned that Chris had wanted to “live off of the land” since childhood. The book Into the Wild gives a quote from Stuckey that explains one idea of Chris’s motive for the actions taken. “He wanted to prove himself that he could make it on his own, without anyone else’s help” (Krakauer 159). This quote from Stuckey gives an account from the weeks before …show more content…

The conclusion of craziness that Callarman suggests does not withstand the concrete evidence from scientific studies and analyzation of journal entries and testimonial accounts of Chris McCandless’s end stages of life. Although Shaun Callarman is correct that Chris made many mistakes based on ignorance and not enough education, that does not make guarantee craziness. The young man, Chris McCandless, was able to not only prepare for and record the journey of a lifetime but was also able to succeed in fulfilling the childhood dream of enduring the Alaskan

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