Christopher McCandless’ Ride Into the Wild, a book by Jon Krakauer and a film by Sean Penn, is about the journey of Christopher McCandless. He was the son of wealthy parents, Billie and Walt McCandless, who graduates from Emory University as a top student and athlete. He also had a younger sister, Carine McCandless. However, instead of embarking on a more respected and profitable career, he chose to give his savings to charity, rid himself of his possessions, and set out on a journey into the Alaskan wilderness. Christopher McCandless was looking to find himself as to who he really was. In my opinion, I believe McCandless had found himself in many different ways. Like Krakauer said, McCandless wasn't incompetent, he had common sense. If he was incompetent and didn't have common …show more content…
He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness. 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" (Krakauer, J. (1997). Into the wild. New York: Anchor Books). In my opinion, I think many people should admire McCandless' courage because not many people would what he did. I'm not saying that people should leave their lives behind and go into the Alaskan wilderness. I'm saying they should go on adventures and journeys that they normally wouldn't go on. There are many things out in the world worth seeing, and I think that that is what McCandless also wanted to do. There aren't many people out there who go on adventures to see the world. The world is a fascinating place with lots of things to do and see, and not many people take advantage of that. If Chris didn't have common sense, then he probably wouldn't have gotten as far or lasted that long in the wild. Maybe what he did wasn't the best idea, but he was happy with his idea and with what he was
In Krakauer’s non-fiction novel Into The Wild, he tells the story of a young man named Chris McCandless and his crazy adventures all over North America. Chirs McCandless was a 22-year-old, who had just graduated from Emory University and decided to go off on this journey. Throughout the novel, Krakauer follows the trail that took, he meets with many different people who had interacted with McCandless and they tell him their stories. Krakauer also tells the stories of four other men who set out on similar adventures. The men who stuck out to me were Gene Rosellini and Evertt Ruess, two men with similar plans to those of McCandless.
I fully agree with callarmen that McCandless made a lot of mistakes, because he wasn’t prepared for the harsh wilderness of Alaska. McCandless wouldn’t even consider it. “Once Alex made up his mind about something there was no changing it” (P67) McCandless was intelligent he wasn’t playing crazy because know what he was doing in some of the things he did in his life when he was still alive “ You could tell right away that Alex was intelligent”...
In Into The wild, Krakauer narrates the last couple of journeys Mccandless had on his adventure to Alaska where he ultimately died. Mccandless Touched many people's lives through all of his journeys. Mccandless went on these journeys because he was confused in life when he figured out his dad had cheated on his mom. This changed Mccandless to the point he began to hate his parents. Mccandless had a lot of confidence in himself so he left on an adventure to find his identity.
He had the courage to give up every bit of money he had by getting “A pathetic little stack of ones and fives and twenties- and put a match on it”( Krakauer 29). No normal person would undergo this process but McCandless did which shows the courage he has in trusting the wilderness. Not only did he give up his possessions but he did infact have the courage to take on a new name he had given himself. “No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny”( Krakauer 23).
Krakauer also put some of McCandless’ journals and letters in the book. According to Shaun Callarmans analysis Chris McCandless had no business going to Alaska. Callarman thinks Chris McCandless is just plain crazy. Callarman doesn't admire his courage or noble ideas. Even though Shaun Callarman thinks Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant, also made mistakes because of his arrogance, I disagree with Callarmans analysis
When embarking on his journey, Chris was very unprepared. He didn’t fully prepare for the weather, didn’t plan taking money with him, and decided that taking a map was unnecessary.
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.
However, Jon Krakauer proves his argument that McCandless was not arrogant, foolish, antisocial, or crazy by giving examples of other young men who were similar to McCandless to show that his journey wasn’t unprecedented. He also proves that McCandless wasn’t antisocial because he developed personal relationships with Ronald Franz, Wayne Westerberg, and Jan Burres in such a short amount of time and explaining the many times that McCandless respected the Alaskan Bush. Krakauer admits that McCandless may have suffered from hubris; he was still a victim of circumstances. Krakauer proves that McCandless had an intrinsic motivation to discover and that he wasn’t alone because Krakauer too ventured into the Alaskan Bush when he was younger. The Alaskan Bush is a very difficult place to survive if one isn’t prepared for many challenges such as hunting for food or staying warm in the frost ridden
For this, McCandless should be admired for his views for allowing him to live his best life. In conclusion, McCandless is not a reckless individual who perishes due to arrogance. Instead, he is admirable because his ideals have allowed him to live with true happiness. He waits long years and even breaks his values temporarily in order to achieve his goals.
Chris McCandless abandoned the modern world and chose the wild because he believed that he could improve himself through living in the wild, and found the true happiness of the life. McCandless abandoned his wealthy family because of his complicated relationship with his father, and he was ashamed with his father’s adultery. Therefore, McCandless believed that human relationship was not the only thing that forms happiness, instead a man’s connection with the nature brings joy as well. He also believed the habitual lifestyle was not what people were meant to do, and people shouldn't have more possessions than what they need. For this reason, McCandless traveled with little effects.
We have all made mistakes, for some they are small mistakes that do not impact anyone. For others, they are of mammoth proportions and have a preponderant impact on how people think, or say about them. In the book Into the Wild it tells about the journey of Chris McCandless who died in the Alaskan wilderness. Chris McCandless was definitely one of these people who made a big mistake. People around the globe have mixed feelings about this twentieth century adventurer.
Into the wild, is a book by Jon Krakauer that later got turned into a film by Sean Penn, it follows the life of Christopher McCandless, who graduated from Emory University as a top student and athlete with wealthy pushing parents. Instead of continuing his life as a working man of society and taking his offers at top law schools, he decides to ultimately completely disconnect himself from society and instead tries to find his own meaning of life in the wild. Shaun Callarman says “ I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time.” and i really agree with him on that because even though he left his college a top student the way he wanted to completely disconnect himself the way he did was ignorant. Not only that In the movie it clearly shows that even though he didn't want to connect with people on his journey to alaska he did, I think that if he wouldn't have been so set on being alone and not being attached to others he wouldn't have died the way he did.
Into The Wild was a tremendous story which Shaun Callarman did not have many positive things to say about Chris McCandless, the main character. He went on this adventure to find out what life is all about in his own eyes. He wanted to see how different living in the wild really was compared to society because he was not satisfied with his living arrangements and household. Shaun’s quote says that he thinks “Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness.
At first glance, it would be normal to assume McCandless was not very educated: he didn’t have a stable job, he didn’t prepare for his journey by packing supplies, etc. Jon Krakaur delves into McCandless’ story and reveals that
Chris left to find answers in the wild because of his parents mistakes. When he was gone he wanted “ultimate freedom” and got exactly that. He wanted Individual over society because it would protect everyone. Chris has a very modest mindset, he knows what he wants and will do anything to get it. Both