Looking forward a new exciting day filled with wonder, his spirit slowly withered into dust as he realized that life wasn’t what he thought it would be. From the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless, a person living in the upper class family with many materialistic possessions, has graduated from Emory University as an elite athlete and with high honors. However, instead of taking a step forward to get a successful career, he takes a step back and abandoned the luxurious lifestyle to run away into the wilderness. After donating all his money to charity and burning his leftover money, McCandless had left all his loved ones without a trace and set off to his Alaskan journey away from society. He has embraced his fresh and new life into the wilderness, but soon later realized that the new life would be short lived. By going into the wilderness, Chris McCandless, a hero and pathfinder, searched for freedom away from society, searched for spiritual enlightenment, and didn’t die in vain. Living in society, McCandless wanted to cut the strings that made him feel like a puppet. He couldn’t truly be free if he had no control over his life as he was confined into a mundane life. A life of day in day out, working non stop on schoolwork indoors without being able to fully experience the vast world of mystery and phenomenons. McCandless’ spirit was caged and he felt a need to break away from all the rules that society had created. Unlike others, McCandless was a person filled with self-determination and he found freedom to be a crucial aspect of living. By going into the wilderness, he tore down his cage and escaped the corrupted society. Even though going into the wilderness wasn’t a great idea, “his spirit is soaring”(37). By starving in the wilderness, not only was he losing weight, he was also losing all the weight that society had built on him. All the extensions of downward force that were pulling
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At home, McCandless didn’t meet eye to eye with his parents or with anybody. He was a thinker, but his voice and philosophy didn’t reach out to anybody, and he started have a sense of despair. He became more isolated and “he chose instead to make a secret of his dark knowledge and express his rage obliquely, in silence and sullen withdrawal”(123). Being isolated and raging in silence, McCandless may have questioned if he was happy with circumstances as for now and what is happiness exactly. McCandless believed that “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 conservatism”(56). By living under protection all the time is preventing some people to find their true happiness, and McCandless wanted to rid himself from all the protection. Chris escaped into the wild in order to get a better understanding of happiness and experience it for himself of what it was like living without protection. In the wilderness by himself, McCandless was able to refresh his mind from all the anger he may have had towards society, and been able to think clearly. At the end of the book, Chris highlighted “Happiness only real when shared” which revealed that Chris did realized what real and genuine happiness was
At home, McCandless didn’t meet eye to eye with his parents or with anybody. He was a thinker, but his voice and philosophy didn’t reach out to anybody, and he started have a sense of despair. He became more isolated and “he chose instead to make a secret of his dark knowledge and express his rage obliquely, in silence and sullen withdrawal”(123). Being isolated and raging in silence, McCandless may have questioned if he was happy with circumstances as for now and what is happiness exactly. McCandless believed that “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 conservatism”(56). By living under protection all the time is preventing some people to find their true happiness, and McCandless wanted to rid himself from all the protection. Chris escaped into the wild in order to get a better understanding of happiness and experience it for himself of what it was like living without protection. In the wilderness by himself, McCandless was able to refresh his mind from all the anger he may have had towards society, and been able to think clearly. At the end of the book, Chris highlighted “Happiness only real when shared” which revealed that Chris did realized what real and genuine happiness was