Jon Krakauer in the book, Into The Wild(1996) investigates a young man named Christopher McCandless that went missing in the Alaskan wilderness. Krakauer talks about his investigation by writing about where McCandless traveled and who he talked to before he went missing. Krakauer talks about McCandless and the mistakes that he made during his travels. The main reason for McCandless’s death was because of how stubborn and reckless he was. First off, Chris was not prepared for his journey in Alaska. In Alaska, Chris told many people that he was going to try and survive in the Alaskan wilderness. Many people that met Chris told him that he was not prepared to go there, and even offered him Gear. “He had no ax, no bug dope, no snow shoes, no compass.” Jim Gallien, an electrician, gave McCandless a ride to Fairbanks and tried to scare McCandless away by telling him stories and suggesting that he buy more gear. He even offers Chris a ride so Jim can buy gear for him. “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. …show more content…
Before going to Alaska, he did other things to make him feel like he was already there. “He arranged all of his paper currency in a pile of sand… and put a match to it.” He most likely did this because he wanted that feeling that he was unhinged to society and more in tune with nature, which would allow him to only use his intelligence and skills to survive.” Most people, if put into his position, would keep the money as a last resort. He also did many things that could've gotten him killed. “A year ago down in Mexico’ he” told Gallien “I was out on the ocean in a canoe, and I almost drowned when a storm came up.” Considering that he couldn’t make it back to shore before the storm hit, he was most likely far from the
In the Novel “Into the Wild” written by Jon Krakauer a student by the name of Chris McCandless graduates for Emory University and plans to go on a journey since he is done with college. Chris gets all of his college funds and donates them to the Oxfam organization, which is an organization that helps stop poverty and hunger in the United States. When he starts his journey he ceases talking to anyone including his family because he doesn’t want them to stop him and think he is a psychopath. Chris McCandless wants to go on a journey to a trail in Alaska. While hitchhiking to Alaska he ditches all his belongings and his car because of a flash flood.
Besides now having essentials to make it though his journey, he buried and burned his possessions for the thrill of it. “$20,000 in this account- he donated the entire sum to the Oxford Famine Relief Fund.” (Page 5). “McCandless was exhilarated, so much so that he decided to bury most of his worldly possessions- burned his last remaining cash.” (Page 5).
He did successfully survive in Alaska for two months; however, he was horribly unprepared. He did not have any prior experience of living in the wild for an extended period of time and did not know what he would face in Alaska. He brought only ten pounds of rice for a two-month trek and did not even think of bringing hiking boots, an absolute necessity for walking around in Alaska during the
He was determined” (Krakauer 6). Chris was so dedicated to going off to the wild, he had Gallien convinced to let him go. But not only had Chris convinced Jim Gallien of his dedication, but Wayne Westerberg also. Reflecting back, Westerberg said, “You could tell right away Alex was intelligent. He read a lot.
Nick Allen Mr. Reynolds English 11 7 June 2023 The Fame that was Deserved Was Chris’s decision to leave his family and go live in the wild a good decision? Some may say Chris was not smart for making this decision but, others argue that the decision was in his best interest to be happy and live the life he wants. To achieve his goal of happiness he wanted to venture into the wilderness of Alaska and live a life of self-reliance. There were many parts of the book that showed the reasons why Chris decided to leave his family and go into the wilderness. One reason is that Chris was searching for a sense of purpose that he was missing in his life.
Chris McCandless was in his early 20’s, he was the kind of that guy that wanted to learn and experience life without all of the material things. He wanted to be independent from his parents and friends so Chris did something that would be insane for most of us humans but to him, it wasn’t. He went into the wild of Alaska for months, in fact, McCandless even thought he could make it out alive at the end of his journey. As a matter of fact, he was known as being a risk taker and enjoyed being out and about in the nature side of the world. Many would believe that Chris McCandless went into the wild to purposely kill himself; however, I myself believe that McCandless did not do it purposely.
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
Too Much Independence Can Be Deadly Christopher McCandless was a young man whose adventurous spirit, stubborn independence, and ambition ultimately led to his demise. Jon Krakauer wrote about McCandless’ final journey in his 1996 nonfiction novel Into the Wild. Throughout the novel we come to learn all about Christopher McCandless. We learn what he was like as a child, and about the home he grew up in.
After college, he decided to travel the country in his car, and his main goal was to visit Alaska. He ends up traveling the country on foot while hitchhiking,
It would honestly be a difficult task to tackle to totally change your life! Chris was just an independent man who was free to do whatever he desired. Franz was also floating in the same boat, he lived alone. Chris also did not have anything in his way of achieving his destination, and that is exactly what Chris took advantage of. He made it to the Alaskan Wilderness, even though his time there had a tragic ending he still made it.
For centuries humankind has been drawn to nature. Ancient civilizations saw nature as divine, the Greek and Roman gods all reflect some aspect of the natural world. Even today, people leave civilization to live in nature. Chris McCandless’s journey, leaving civilization behind, contained within the book Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, reflects this. There are countless television shows, books, songs, poems and art that reflect Earth’s natural appeal.
In the novel, Into the Wild, author Jon Krakauer presents the journey and life story of Christopher McCandless, a twenty-two-year-old adventurer from Annandale, Virginia. Chris McCandless, also known by the alias Alexander Supertramp, abandoned his former life in the suburbs of Virginia and traveled into the Alaskan wilderness in an attempt to escape the materialistic ideals of society. After one hundred and thirteen days in the wilderness, McCandless passes away due to starvation. Along with his decomposing body, cryptic messages from his diary are found indicating that he was gradually perishing. Throughout the novel, Krakauer admits to seeing himself in McCandless’ actions.
Taking a journey into an unknown state can cause many problems, but with no map or proper equipment, more problems arise. In the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris wanted to escape reality/society but he went into the adventure blindsided and unprepared. He did many things and didn’t think of his family and friends back home. When Chris left his whole life behind, he did some questionable things that made him a reckless and arrogant person by not being prepared, throwing his life away, and made arrogant errors that caused his death that could have been prevented.
He made a lot of mistakes based on arrogance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy,” shows that Shaun believes Chris had no common sense in his doing for leaving society for the wild. I agree with Callarman’s position of thinking “ he had no common sense” and that he was “bright and Ignorant” because Chris thinks he did not have much to offer in his society, ditched all his possessions to take a trip into the Alaskan Wilderness and did not have much common sense or survival skills. Chris McCandless was very courageous for ditching all his possessions to take a trip in the wilderness.
Based on a real story, Into the Wild can make us think from different perspectives about what the main character Christopher McCandless did. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a dramatic but also remarkable story from a young, newly graduated, college student that escaped for a long wild journey but never came back. As time passes throughout the book, the reader may notice how the main character interacts with society and nature, finally McCandless dies in the wild but even though he was struggling for survival he died happy. Some people never get out of their comfort zone, others are tired of it and retire from their comfort zone to have different experiences in life, some are good enough or some are terrible.