Into The Wild A few people of the society may think that Christopher McCandless was insane for his actions and the consequences never came to his mind. I believe that Christopher McCandless traveled into the Alaskan wilderness for a variety of reasons, but the evidence shows two main ones. Although McCandless was able to survive for just about 4 months in the Alaskan wilderness, it is only acceptable to claim that his philosophical beliefs and his bad rebellion of youth and risk-taking tendencies was the cause of his departure. McCandless was was known for showing the signs of being a Transcendentalist at his last days. Connecting your spirit to nature is something that Transcendentalist believe in doing. I think what McCandless did was inspired …show more content…
One of the had to be by his outrageous rebellion of youth & his risk-taking tendencies. In Krakauer's text “Into The Wild” McCandless was offered new gear, Krakauer stated “Gallien, a union worker who was the last person to see McCandless, offered to drive Alex, McCandless, all the way to Anchorage, buy him some decent gear… ‘No thanks anyway,’ Alex replied.” (Krakauer 6). McCandless showed his philosophical believes and took a risk in this action because instead of getting free gear that would help him, he declined the offer. I feel like if Christopher McCandless took the offer from Gallien that he might have at least lived a longer life instead of dying so young at the age of …show more content…
He felt that he could live by himself in the wilderness without them, which didn't workout that way. In Krakauer's novel he mentions McCandless “wanted to prove to himself that he could make it own his own, without anybody else’s help.” (Krakauer 159) which shows how rebellious McCandless really was. I think if he wasn’t so rebellious and had different philosophical views that he wouldn’t have made the actions he did to go into the Alaskan wilderness and would've lived a normal
This led to his death in the Alaskan wild. Many people offered to give him things, such as Ronald Franz who wanted to adopt McCandless, but not once did McCandless say “I need your help”(Krakauer 198) until a few days before his death but no one was there. It was at this point that he realized he needed someone there because his life depended on it. He knew the impact he had on his parents and those that drove him along his journey. If McCandless realized this prior to putting himself in danger, he would have lived a longer life devoted to others more than himself.
Although numerous may argue that McCandless’s family problems served as primary motivation for his journey, there is more evidence showing that it was the literature he read while he was in college. Various events led Chris McCandless up to the start of his journey into the wilderness, but it was literature that served as the primary reason. That being unusual, McCandless lived according to “I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life” (Krakauer 15). McCandless wanted to go out and explore for himself a life in which he got a glimpse of in the literature he read.
A trait simply described as the overestimation of oneself can be a quintessential element in understanding a character’s downfall. People such as Chris McCandless, Oedipus and Tiger Woods are key examples when trying to relate, understand, and analyze what we know today as “Hubris”. The connections that can be made between each of these characters describe the very nature of how a hero will ultimately meet their bane as a result of being blinded by their own flaws. The death of Chris McCandless was an extremely controversial subject that involved many different people. The justification of his death can be argued in a way .
McCandless based many of his actions on things he read by his role models. He developed an ideal society on the teachings of authors like Estwick Evans. Estwick Evans says, “I wished to acquire the...virtues of savage life; to divest myself of the...imperfections of civilization...and to find...more correct views of human nature” (Krakauer 157). McCandless, therefore, rebels against society in order to enjoy the savage life. Chris
“We need the tonic of wildness... At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because it is unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature” -Henry David Thoreau, Walden. In Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, a biographical account of Chris McCandless’s life, after graduating from college, 22-year-old McCandless decides to cut all ties from his family and hitchhike across America and live as simply as possible.
Into the wild “Some people feel like they don’t deserve love. They walk away quietly into empty spaces, trying to close the gaps of the past” (John Krakauer). Do you think feeling some type of way should give you the right just to leave everyone? I believe that McCandless is dumb for leaving his family and friends without a warning. Having them worried sick for him without knowing anything of where he is.
Have you ever had the choice to live in nature? In the book, “Into the Wild” by John Krakauer, a boy named Chris McCandless goes on a journey to get away from society. He journeys out into nature to respect his own beliefs and live freely. Chris McCandless is a transcendentalist due to his beliefs in self-reliance, living in nature, and non-conformity. Chris McCandless, a transcendentalist belief in self-reliance.
Chris went off after he graduated college and “lived off the land”. Chris would travel to the coast of Mexico, the plains of Kansas, and the dunes of Nevada. Chris went on a final expedition to Alaska that cost him everything. In the following paragraphs I will fully detail how Chris was reckless, selfish, and naive. I will also explore how Chris tied his life to the beliefs of transcendentalism.
Into the Wild Essay Most people go into the wilderness to go camping for a week or less than a week, then leave. Some stay for more than a week. Chris McCandless was in the wild for at least one hundred days. “ I’ve decided to live this life for some time to come. The freedom and the beauty of it is too good to pass up.”(pg.92)
What really drove Chris McCandless into the wild? I believe the top three of the countless reasons that drove McCandless into the wild was the emotional damage from his parents, rebellion of the youth & risk taking tendencies, and his hubris and detestation against authority and/or someone telling him what to do. Some may believe that Chris McCandless went into the wild because of his literary heroes Leo Tolstoy, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau , and Jack London but the real reason he left everything was because of those reasons. In this essay I will elaborate on why I believe those are the reasons that drove McCandless into the wild.
Jon Krakauer writes, “McCandless Didn’t conform particularly well to the bush-casualty stereotype. Although he was rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry, and incautious to the point of foolhardiness, he wasn’t incompetent - he wouldn’t have lasted 113 days if he were. And he wasn’t a nutcase, he wasn’t a sociopath, he wasn’t and outcast. McCandless was something else - although precisely what is hard to say. A pilgrim perhaps.”
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.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a Unitarian Minister that left his home to find an entirely new meaning to life, which is exactly what Chris McCandless did as well. Emerson’s belief was that everyone should do what they consider is correct, and not listen to others opinions but their own. In the biography Into the Wild, McCandless demonstrates qualities that convey transcendentalism. He left his entire life behind to go into the wilderness and find a more valuable meaning of life that didn’t involve any materialistic items. Furthermore he wanted to travel on his own without the help of other people, which demonstrates that he relied on only himself to accomplish the dangers of the wild.
Chris McCandless was smart, a straight A student, got accepted into Emory University, and decided to not apply his knowledge when he went into the wilderness of Alaska in 1992. Into the Wild, a biography written by Jon Krakauer, is about Chris’s story of after he graduated high school and went into the wild. Right after he went to high school, he traveled the country in his yellow datsun, met amazing people, and came back to finish college. After finishing college with a degree, he went hitchhiking across the country again and went into the alaskan wilderness, without ever coming back alive. Chris McCandless went into the wild unprepared with any good materials, he did not have a very good knowledge of what he was actually doing, and he left