In Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Christopher McCandless throws away his past life in search of happiness, which he hopes to achieve through pure and raw struggles without the presence of society, ideally in the brutal wilderness of Alaska. Due to his controversial and fatal actions, many people see him as a clueless idiot as shown in the statement from the question, while others perceive him to be an admirable/noble individual or hero. At first, I personally believed that his actions were outright idiotic, but learning more about McCandless has allowed me to see why others admire him and his actions. Even though I can see this relationship, I simply don't agree with his actions or his mind set. He jeopardizes his whole life and in the end, it will cost him.
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Krakauer interviews Carine McCandless, Chris's younger sister and she says, “I can’t seem to get through a day without crying… not once have I been able to make the twenty-minute drive from home to the shop without thinking about Chris and breaking down” (31). Here you can see the tremendous amount of pain he has brought to his loved ones, and this is his sister who he loved before leaving, let alone what his parents had to go through and felt as they were mostly guilty for the actions Chris took. Billie McCandless, Chris’ mother, is described by Krakauer, “As she studies the pictures, she breaks down from time to time, weeping as only a mother who has outlived a child can weep, betraying a sense of loss so huge and irreparable that the mind balks at taking its measure. Such bereavement, witnessed at close range, makes even the most eloquent apologia for high-risk activities ring fatuous and hollow” (132). Here, through Krakauer’s description, you can see the true pain Chris put his family through, the hard, cold pain of his loving mother. And for
Krakauer interviews Carine McCandless, Chris's younger sister and she says, “I can’t seem to get through a day without crying… not once have I been able to make the twenty-minute drive from home to the shop without thinking about Chris and breaking down” (31). Here you can see the tremendous amount of pain he has brought to his loved ones, and this is his sister who he loved before leaving, let alone what his parents had to go through and felt as they were mostly guilty for the actions Chris took. Billie McCandless, Chris’ mother, is described by Krakauer, “As she studies the pictures, she breaks down from time to time, weeping as only a mother who has outlived a child can weep, betraying a sense of loss so huge and irreparable that the mind balks at taking its measure. Such bereavement, witnessed at close range, makes even the most eloquent apologia for high-risk activities ring fatuous and hollow” (132). Here, through Krakauer’s description, you can see the true pain Chris put his family through, the hard, cold pain of his loving mother. And for