Chris Mccandless Quotes

As Chris ventures into the Alaskan wild he was able to find the happiness he was longing for. It was a type of happiness that he could only experience when he was with nature as seen throughout his life. As he laid in his death bed, he never spoke about any regrets he had,

The novel “Into the Wild”, by Jon Krakauer, is an excruciating story about a young man facing off against the dangers of nature. The main protagonist, Chris McCandless faced off against many internal and external obstacles that stood in his way of achieving his goal of successfully surviving on his own in the wilderness of North America. McCandless clashed with many lethal and perilous obstacles as he travelled all the way across the continent. The challenges he faced varied from surviving in the harsh wilderness, the difficulties of young manhood, and also the challenge of person versus society.

In the novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless takes a wild journey. Although some believe that his journey and thought process was noble and courageous, he was actually extremely fatuous throughout his journey. Many people that Chris met along the way made remarkable attempts at making him aware of the dangers that he would surely face in Alaska. Chris McCandless knowingly stepped into the treacherous wild without being prepared for what reality would throw his way.

The story of Chris McCandless has become a pop culture phenomenon. Many are fascinated by his desire to abandon his family and society and “walk into the wild” (Krakauer 69). Newscasts, magazine articles, movies, and books have tried to define what motivated him to give up everything for his Alaskan odyssey; however, the answers died with McCandless. People make assumptions about him without knowing his entire story. McCandless chose to do the unconventional, making people think he was either foolish or brave and determined, but ultimately he was selfish for doing what he did.

Seven billion people in the world, all with unique personalities, on this earth to serve a purpose in their own life, or someone else’s. Chris McCandless was a man with unique qualities, and served to please himself and coincedently others as well. In the book “Into the Wild” the author, Jon Krakauer, explains the adventures and mishaps Chris McCandless went through in his life. Krakauer admired Chris for his personality, and his ability to be determined and hardworking at everything he did. Chris McCandless was an admirable man, with his individual view on life, and the way he could touch a person’s life and impact them forever.

Besides his views on “mainstream American life” (52), Christopher McCandless had strong convictions of issues beyond America. Racial oppression and widespread hunger particularly fueled him and he made several attempts to make a difference for both issues. During high school he would talk to his friends about smuggling weapons into South Africa to end apartheid (113) and after he finished university, he donated the remaining $24,000 from his education fund to OXFAM America, a charity dedicated to fighting hunger (20). His desire to end those issues of racism and hunger may have diminished once he perceived how ambitious his desire really was. Perhaps it was the feeling of not making a difference in what he was truly passionate about that drove McCandless to run away and escape from essentially being insignificant. He was driven away from the comfort of his life by the discomforts of the world around him; McCandless was not happy with the state of both his local society and the distant world and decided he could only find solace by venturing out into the wilderness.

The search to find oneself can lead to you to strange places, such as the grand canyon and this search leads him to the wilds of Alaska. Mandy Hale in her book The Single Woman explains finding oneself means going, “ against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well beaten path.” Hale speaks of finding oneself means doing things that people may disapprove of. This is seen in the relationships between him and his parents. Chris cuts off contact

However, McCandless has “always been unsatisfied with life as most live it” (Into the Wild) and desired to “live more intensely and richly” (Into the Wild) and decided to act on his vision which vastly differentiates himself to the majority of individuals who were unwilling to take the

Chris’s passion for the wild began in his childhood. His father, Walt, would take him hiking every year since the age of eight. Theses backpacking trips ignited a longing for adventure that was unquenchable. In chapter five of Into The Wild, the author, Jon Krakauer writes, “McCandless was stirred by the austerity of this landscape, by its saline beauty. The desert sharpened the sweet ache of his longing, amplified it, gave shape to it in sere geology and clean slant of light.” Krakauer refers to Chris’s passion for nature to guide the reader toward a better understanding of his character. For someone who is not entranced by wilderness like McCandless was, it helps to understand how he became infatuated with it. Chris respected nature to such an extreme that when he was dying in the

Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, narrates the life of adventurer and free spirit Christopher McCandless, who died August 1992 in the Alaskan wilderness; however, his journey still remains relevant in today’s pop culture due to the unresolved controversy of whether he is a saintly role model or hubristic fool. Krakauer openly states that he “won’t claim to be an impartial biographer” (Author’s Note) due to the parallels he struck with McCandless, and provides a more idealistic approach to the biography. By having this biased point of view, Krakauer readily attracts many critics such as Craig Medred, who wrote the article The Beatification of Chris McCandless: From Thieving Poacher into Saint, which discredits Krakauer’s legitimacy and emphasizes McCandless’s narcissistic personality and naïve nature. He has also sparked many questions including why McCandless’s story is so significant, which writer Laura Moss tries to answer in Why Are We Still Talking about Chris McCandless?. While it is clear that McCandless’s story has affected every reader due to its many interpretations, two distinct sides form: the avid romantics and their counterpart, the pessimistic realists, which provokes the question of which argument is more valid.

Westerberg has never met anyone like McCandless, he was unique. Although McCandless had to move on and continue his journey, he left a stain of himself on every person he met along the way. Krakauer connects McCandless with other adventurers like him throughout chapters 8 and 9. He uses the rhetorical strategy of ethos in order to connect his credibility to the life of McCandless, as well as continuing with characterization. Krakauer gives his take on McCandless through the following quote, “McCandless didn’t conform particularly well to the bush-casualty stereotype.

Multiple accounts assumed McCandless was “entering the wilderness purposely ill-prepared…” and “hardly unique…almost a collective cliché” (Krakauer 71). Krakauer refutes this claim by displaying evidence supporting his argument while also acknowledging counter claims that McCandless was rash, foolhardy, but stressing he was definitely competent (85). Krakauer compares and contrasts the journeys of Rosellini, Waterman, and McCunn to that of McCandless defending that McCandless was not incapable or oblivious to survive in Alaska. Later parallels between McCandless and Ruess demonstrate their desires to become connected to nature and strong determination.

Chris Mccandless thought about life very deeply and lived by standards set in many of

Chris McCandless started his journey on April 1990, he had traveled from Atlanta, through the southern states of North America, down to Central America, and up to Alaska, leaving many views and impressions of himself along the way. Many from people that he had met and lived with for a week or so, others from Alaska with their own views. Most of the negative views had been from Alaskans, they had felt that McCandless was a reckless, ill-prepared, nut who got lucky. However the positive thoughts and views come from people he had actually met from his journey. Due to these views and impressions we come to our own conclusions of McCandless and what he is remembered for.

After graduating from college McCandless, the protagonist in Penn’s Into the Wild, donates all his savings to charity, burns all of the money he has and goes on a journey into the wilderness, removing himself from society. He suggests that the wild will kill the disciplines that have been instilled within him, what he refers to as: “the false being within” and being ‘poisoned by civilization’. He feels