Category: Chris McCandless

Jon Krakauer, an author, wrote a book called ‘Into the Wild’, it portrays Chris McCandless, a young man who went on an adventure into nature, inexperienced and foolishly to find his true identity and dignity. Chris McCandless wants to evade and fled the claustrophobic confines of Society and his family. He has a grudge toward his family, except his sister, which prompted him the desire to vanish. Nature, the wild, is a place where he believes he can find his true self and his proper status in society. Due to McCandless’s complicated personality, some believe he is a brainless person who was too dense and deceived by his pride to recognize that his journey was an end to his life. Others believe he is heroic by showing his bravery, self-direction, and strength, to tear away from social criteria and live the life he needed to live ideally of the one other people expected him to. Although some may see Chris McCandless as a person who died for nothing, he followed what he had believed in and should be admired rather than criticized.

Chris is admirable in his courage for following his dream, but it also means he is free to do whatever he wants as he sees it, he did so by getting rid of all unnecessary items on his journey to Alaska. In chapter twelve, it explains how Chris’s decision to leave “shortly thereafter, he donated the balance of his bank account to OXFAM, loaded up his car, and vanished from their lives” (Krakauer 125). This quote shows Chris’s noble idea to distribute his money because he found he had no need for it. McCandless’ actions made it clear that he cares and helps people on his journey and never asked for anything in return from them. Chris was a hard worker, a loving brother, and a great friend. In the end, Chris fulfilled duties that he wasn’t required to fulfill. Also, he became independent at a young age and was open to life on the road. People today see that as more of a failure in life than anything else. Chris saw it as a pure way of living and it made him become a better person.

Another honorable note is Chris’s courage to not follow the rules by an authority figure. When Chris was working at McDonald’s to earn money, his supervisor told him he has to wear socks because it was a policy to wear appropriate footwear at all times. “Chris would follow the rule, but as soon as his shift was over, bang!- the first thing he would do is take off his socks” (Krakauer 40). Chris did not want to defy the rules or create an uproar, but he would make it known that he did not like to follow them. He did not like being told what to do and when to do it, and this made it difficult for him to lead a normal life in society.

Although Chris McCandless has many actions that someone can admire about him, he still made some judgments that were not all that courageous. In chapter twelve, Chris’s parents explain something about his personality that shows his other side. McCandless was caring and kind to everyone he met. He would be dependable and helps them as much as he could. But McCandless was obsessed with nature and the injustices in the world. They devoured him. As he grew older, he became more conscious of the injustices in the world until he reached his breaking point and left on his trip. “He could be generous and caring to a fault, but he had a darker side as well characterized by monomania, impatience, and unwavering self-absorption, qualities that seemed to intensify through his college years” (Krakauer 120). This quote reveals that Chris might have been courageous but he had self-qualities that would say differently all the time. McCandless was a good person, but he had his faults just like everyone else.

Chris McCandless followed what he had believed while on his journey and people should admire rather than criticize him. Though McCandless may have made some bad judgments calls in his life. But he helped the less fortunate, while many wouldn’t. He handed out burgers, donated money to OXFAM, there were many opportunities when people offered to help him, but he persisted in doing it on his own to pursue his personal goal. I think that Chris McCandless accomplished some pretty amazing things, and though he may be called selfish or cruel, he did what made him happy and took a chance most people aren’t willing to take. This is why he should be admired.

To me, transcendentalism explores the pursuit of endless happiness and adventure. After observing the actions and beliefs of the infamous Chris McCandless, I can connect through our shared urge and fantasy of traveling isolated in the innocent, tranquil wilderness. After years of elongated education to please society, McCandless felt as if his true path to success was exploring the great outdoors, rather than acquiring a surplus of capital and acceptance from others. McCandless’ freedom and contentedness as described in the novel ‘Into the Wild’ is reflected in my own appreciation for the beauty of solitude in nature and finding peace of mind through an infrequent path. Alike many transcendentalist authors and explorers, I’ve found happiness in nature and exploring the unknown. Throughout my life, I’ve traveled to many parts of the world and have found that my happiest self is hiking to a mountaintop or camping in the woods. Being the son, grandson etc… of many college educated, smart and financially successful people, I’ve been expected to excel in my classes, acquire a college degree and live successfully through money.

The notorious wanderer McCandless states: “We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living”. By writing this, McCandless believes that unorthodox living is a silenced passion among many living a routine life. Through my own personal strains to live up to my parents born expectations, the stark opposite of developing a lifestyle of worriless adventure and childlike immunity to society’s norms is one of my concealed aspirations in life.

The years McCandless spent working to achieve so called ‘success’ was spent in partial, fabricated joy. Unsatisfied with his standing after graduating college, working and preparing to live a life reflected of the average American, the itch for adventure lingered in McCandless up until he found the relief from dropping all of his past assets and traveling the west. “No phone. No pool. No pets. No cigarettes. Ultimate freedom… No longer to be poisoned by civilization, he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild” (McCandless, 73). Chris found that his true success was not in paper certificates and a healthy bank account, but in human experience in the wilderness of America. “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation…nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit” (McCandless, 113).

In like manner, I too agree with his eccentric opinions about the toxicity of routine, as when I am most peaceful overlooking tasks and finding harmony in the land. Leaving your old life behind is intimidating to most, but McCandless decided to live a risky life of adventure and curiosity in exchange for finding joy wandering. Granting that our shared passion for adventure in the primitive wilderness defines our true happiness, my journey of enchantment in the nature is quite less extreme than Chris McCandless. Civilization is both a shared sickness for both Chris and I, which is one reason I admire his courage to step outside his known world and start a native life. The times I feel as if my current state or path is tainted with grief, I turn to the simplicity of nature, similar to McCandless. While the challenges McCandless faced during his expedition were stark differences from my personal ones, the freedom we share while in the solitude of traceless nature is visible.

Overall, my own love for the wild and pure fascination with the unexpected is comparable to the transcendentalist Chris McCandless. He found happiness not from money and education, but from wandering and meeting new people on his adventures. He felt free, which was something he or I have never truly felt with the restraints of society’s expectations. Our conjoined wanderlust for the happiness found in nature is how I identify with transcendentalism.

While only from 1830 to 1860, the literary movement, Transcendentalism, continued to have a profound impact on American culture. Transcendentalism was founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who is best known for his essay, Self-Reliance. In his essay, Self-Reliance, Emerson states: “Society everywhere is in a conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.” He makes a strong statement favoring the individual and against the possible benefits of society. To support his friend, Emerson invited his friend, Henry David Thoreau, to live on his property near Walden Pond. Thoreau said “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” In Thoreau’s opinion, there is no other place for him to go other than nature to learn about essential living. He then goes on about his intentions of living “deliberately” by explaining that he wants “to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.” so basically he wants to live life to the fullest before he dies. It is common to give these two men the credit for bringing Transcendentalism to the American public through their writings which focused on: nonconformity, self-reliance, free thought, and the importance of nature. In both Death of Innocent and At Walden a unifying argument is that you don’t need to have a ton of money, a big house, or much to be happy. This shared perspective is significant because the world believes we need material to be happy, yet some have broken that barrier and have sought out the simple, essential living life. Throughout they learn what self-reliance means. Though both Death of Innocent and At Walden explore self-reliance, their treatment of the topic is different. This difference is significant because Emerson believes self-reliance is how someone can find their true self. Thoreau argues that people should break free from the laws that are not considered “acceptable”. These ideas are also significant because to a transcendentalist, large cities that are busy and complex and have societies that get in the way of actual essential living, self-reliance, and natural and spiritual connections that can be found in nature.

In the magazine article, Death of an Innocent, Jon Krakauer informs us about Chris McCandless’ decision to spend a couple of months in the Alaskan wilderness to test his abilities and also to be able to find true happiness. Krauker talks about his own mountain climbing experience with Chris’ expedition to Alaska explaining that he understands why Chris took the many risks that he did. He additionally explains that he and Chris both took on unnecessary risks by having no way to seek help. Krakauer also explains that McCandless had a strong need to recognize the deeper, natural means of life through experiencing living completely on his own near no civilization. Krakauer additionally says that after some time, Chris wrote that it was time for him to let go, as he was at his weakest point, and other factors that drove him to his end and ultimately to his “final and greatest adventure” Krakauer’s wrote this article to inform why somebody so young, would give up everything he had for things much more simple. Krauker has a sympathetic tone acknowledging that he sees himself in Chris’ and understands why Chris wanted a life alone in the Alaskan wilderness.

He supports this idea by first growing his food, He ate wild berries apples, and sometimes fish. He had a system in which he had to work only a little at a time for his upkeep, and reserved a lot of time for reading, exploring, thinking, observing, and writing. He says “For more than five years I maintained myself thus solely by the labor of my hands, and I found that by working about six weeks in a year, I could meet all the expenses of living. The whole of my winters, as well as most of my summers, I had free and clear time for study.” (Walden, 69) Towards the end of the text he eventually returned to civilization.

In the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau, Thoreau lived in isolation by Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. He built a small cabin on land owned by way of his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson and became almost self-reliant, It was his intention at Walden Pond to live truly and have time to contemplate, walk in the woods, write, and commune with nature. As he explained, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.” Thoreau was a transcendentalist, american naturalist, and philosopher and is best known for his book Walden, a book about simple and essential living. He was an advocate for civil liberties as well. Henry David Thoreau’s purpose was to determine what was basic to human survival, and then to live as simply as possible. to find truer and deeper meanings of things, to let go of everything expected of you, and to just live simply and free. Just like Chris McCandless did, he dropped everything to be completely on his own, “ultimate freedom” he called it. He establishes a sympathetic tone toward Chris and his transcendentalist views. The relationship between the audience and Thoreau is that some of the audience may have the same views and have thought about what he did, but Thoreau shares his journey and personal experiences of what it is actually like to live simply and free. This work is significant because it challenges people to look deeper into life, and instead of focusing on money or materialistic things, to find themselves, to live free and simply and to break the barrier of what you think is expected of you, and do what you feel is necessary to your true meanings.

At the same time, I believe you can find your true self, or test yourself to see if you can fully depend on only yourself, not having much, that ultimate freedom could bring you happiness and could lead you to discover great things but I also believe that you could find yourself and true happiness or deeper meanings of things anywhere, not just in the wild. I believe that things that deep come from within and are different for everybody. Some may move to a different country, or across the world as easily uncover what life is about there as somebody could in the wilderness.

Ultimately, what is at stake here is the risk of not being able to come back from such an intense journey. Like Chris McCandless, he only survived up to a point, but he lived and loved his life to the fullest and did whatever he could to feel as if he was fulfilling his life. Another thing at stake for self-realization journeys like these is how it could affect the people around you because you could never see them again if you dedicate your life to the wild and depend on self-reliance, but all in all, seeking what Thoreau and Chris were seeking takes a lot, and they were willing to give up what they had.

While only from 1830 to 1860, the literary movement, Transcendentalism, continued to have a profound impact on American culture. Transcendentalism was founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who is best known for his essay, Self-Reliance. In his essay, Self-Reliance, Emerson states: “Society everywhere is in a conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.” He makes a strong statement favoring the individual and against the possible benefits of society. To support his friend, Emerson invited his friend, Henry David Thoreau, to live on his property near Walden Pond. Thoreau said “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” In Thoreau’s opinion, there is no other place for him to go other than nature to learn about essential living. He then goes on about his intentions of living “deliberately” by explaining that he wants “to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.” so basically he wants to live life to the fullest before he dies. It is common to give these two men the credit for bringing Transcendentalism to the American public through their writings which focused on: nonconformity, self-reliance, free thought, and the importance of nature. In both Death of Innocent and At Walden a unifying argument is that you don’t need to have a ton of money, a big house, or much to be happy. This shared perspective is significant because the world believes we need material to be happy, yet some have broken that barrier and have sought out the simple, essential living life. Throughout they learn what self-reliance means. Though both Death of Innocent and At Walden explore self-reliance, their treatment of the topic is different. This difference is significant because Emerson believes self-reliance is how someone can find their true self. Thoreau argues that people should break free from the laws that are not considered “acceptable”. These ideas are also significant because to a transcendentalist, large cities that are busy and complex and have societies that get in the way of actual essential living, self-reliance, and natural and spiritual connections that can be found in nature.

In the magazine article, Death of an Innocent, Jon Krakauer informs us about Chris McCandless’ decision to spend a couple of months in the Alaskan wilderness to test his abilities and also to be able to find true happiness. Krauker talks about his own mountain climbing experience with Chris’ expedition to Alaska explaining that he understands why Chris took the many risks that he did. He additionally explains that he and Chris both took on unnecessary risks by having no way to seek help. Krakauer also explains that McCandless had a strong need to recognize the deeper, natural means of life through experiencing living completely on his own near no civilization. Krakauer additionally says that after some time, Chris wrote that it was time for him to let go, as he was at his weakest point, and other factors that drove him to his end and ultimately to his “final and greatest adventure” Krakauer’s wrote this article to inform why somebody so young, would give up everything he had for things much more simple. Krauker has a sympathetic tone acknowledging that he sees himself in Chris’ and understands why Chris wanted a life alone in the Alaskan wilderness.

He supports this idea by first growing his food, He ate wild berries apples, and sometimes fish. He had a system in which he had to work only a little at a time for his upkeep, and reserved a lot of time for reading, exploring, thinking, observing, and writing. He says “For more than five years I maintained myself thus solely by the labor of my hands, and I found that by working about six weeks in a year, I could meet all the expenses of living. The whole of my winters, as well as most of my summers, I had free and clear time for study.” (Walden, 69) Towards the end of the text he eventually returned to civilization.

In the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau, Thoreau lived in isolation by Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. He built a small cabin on land owned by way of his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson and became almost self-reliant, It was his intention at Walden Pond to live truly and have time to contemplate, walk in the woods, write, and commune with nature. As he explained, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.” Thoreau was a transcendentalist, american naturalist, and philosopher and is best known for his book Walden, a book about simple and essential living. He was an advocate for civil liberties as well. Henry David Thoreau’s purpose was to determine what was basic to human survival, and then to live as simply as possible. to find truer and deeper meanings of things, to let go of everything expected of you, and to just live simply and free. Just like Chris McCandless did, he dropped everything to be completely on his own, “ultimate freedom” he called it. He establishes a sympathetic tone toward Chris and his transcendentalist views. The relationship between the audience and Thoreau is that some of the audience may have the same views and have thought about what he did, but Thoreau shares his journey and personal experiences of what it is actually like to live simply and free. This work is significant because it challenges people to look deeper into life, and instead of focusing on money or materialistic things, to find themselves, to live free and simply and to break the barrier of what you think is expected of you, and do what you feel is necessary to your true meanings.

At the same time, I believe you can find your true self, or test yourself to see if you can fully depend on only yourself, not having much, that ultimate freedom could bring you happiness and could lead you to discover great things but I also believe that you could find yourself and true happiness or deeper meanings of things anywhere, not just in the wild. I believe that things that deep come from within and are different for everybody. Some may move to a different country, or across the world as easily uncover what life is about there as somebody could in the wilderness.

Ultimately, what is at stake here is the risk of not being able to come back from such an intense journey. Like Chris McCandless, he only survived up to a point, but he lived and loved his life to the fullest and did whatever he could to feel as if he was fulfilling his life. Another thing at stake for self-realization journeys like these is how it could affect the people around you because you could never see them again if you dedicate your life to the wild and depend on self-reliance, but all in all, seeking what Thoreau and Chris were seeking takes a lot, and they were willing to give up what they had.