Living In The Wild Chris Mccandless Character Analysis

Decent Essays
Chris Mccandless was not searching for amusement or disrespectful of the land but a well educated seeker of a place where his morals and beliefs would not be challenged by anybody or anything claiming to have authority over him.The bush casualty stereotype does not apply to Mccandless as he was not in the slightest affiliated with the ideals and values of those whose arrogance overpowered their common sense which separates Chris Mccandless from the bush casualty stereotype as he took the time to learn how to live off the land by gaining experience in wild berry picking and preserving food valuable skills for living in the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Some words Chris said, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” He definitely threw caution to the wind when starting his journey, he had no plans for food and could have gone back to get some instead of sitting in the wild wondering if he was going to starve or not. Chris did ultimately do what he wanted which you could say is the right thing to do, but at the same time you have to think that he could have made a bigger impact if he would have made some compromises with his own thoughts. McCandless faced many issues and the issue of coming back into the society just to survive and apparently it was too hard for him to…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Money Matters: The Art of Corruption Growing up in modern America’s east coast, a highly a pressure ridden, materialistic pothole. In the investigative journalism piece Into the Wild by John Krakauer, the author goes into the detailed adventures, and experiences Chris Mccandless endured both on his trek to Alaska and the time in the wild. Chris Mccandless, on paper, had the perfect life, he was raised by a well-to-do family outside Washington D.C., graduated Emory University with no student debt, and a trust fund with $25,000. However, this ‘perfect life’ was a facade, Chris was disgusted by the consumerist society. Through exploring the concept of removing one’s self from the materialistic and corrupt modern society, Chris McCandless’ motives and decisions are justified in abandoning what seemed to be the ideal, privileged life.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many people have different opinions of why Jon Krakauer wrote a book about a man that he has no relation to. In the book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wild after giving up all his belongings to start his new life. Krakauer’s purpose for writing this book is to further explain Chris McCandless’s motive for his adventures in a way that the readers will understand it. Krakauer wants his readers to understand Chris’s motives as if he was not insane and had a reason for doing what he did. He gives stories from others who have gone into the wild, epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter, eyewitness testimony, letters from Chris and many other things to help understand Chris’s motive,…

    • 1474 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although the topics of terrorism and self-discovery through adventure are seemingly unrelated, the novels 102 Minutes and Into the Wild are proof that these ideas can be connected. These novels may be distinguishable by their overall topics, but they are actually very similar when considering style, diction, and overarching ideas. Both Into the Wild and 102 Minutes were written with a tone that is unemotional and informational. The level of vocabulary was typically not at a heightened level, although there are instances in which more difficult words are used. This relatively simple language use can probably be attributed to the authors’ desire for the audience to be made up of a variety of people.…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When thinking about Chris McCandless people tend to think differently of him. A majority would call him crazy and stupid for not supplying himself with more items to bring along to the Alaskan wilderness. There were others who think he was sane and was just trying to prove himself or to the world who he was and what he can do. Even Jon Krakauer mentions in his book that he didn’t know who Chris Mccandless really was, that it was hard to put a finger on it, but he knew he was sane to say the least and not an outcast. To me, I think that Chris was just a guy who had “radical” ideas-- an idealist with very progressive ideas-- and instead of pushing his thoughts to the side like most people.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For Example, Leo Tolstoy states “Life is a place of service, and in that service one has to suffer a great deal that is hard to bear, but more often to experience a great deal of joy.” (Leo). Leo is stating that in life you have to suffer a great deal, the suffering leads to a great deal of happiness in life. Chris viewed this as an inspiration, because he had suffered throughout his journey, even though he had a lot of obstacles he did not quit until he finally met his initial point, it is what made him happy. Leo also inspired Chris in many different ways, in which Chris showed in the movie Into the Wild.…

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 4 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Into the Wild Summer Reading 1. Was Chris McCandless’ death a “foolish, pointless, death” (71)? Did he lack “the requisite humility” to go into the wild (72)? Explain. While it appears reasonable to throw McCandless into the “cliché” of people who wandered into the wilderness without a clue of what’s to come, it is at the same time harsh to say that his death is worth no more than a killing on the street.…

    • 1232 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Foolish or Honorable? Chris McCandless’s journey outlined by the novel Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer supports that it is simple and indisputable to apprehend that McCandless was not a heroic figure, just one persuaded by inaccurate decisions. McCandless was not your average student, he had a very bright future ahead of him graduating with high honors from one of the country's most prestigious universities; Emory University, however, threw it all down the drain when he took an everlasting adventure hiking into the Alaskan bush unprepared and alone. Many perceive him to be a hero, leaving the social norms one is expected to carry out throughout life, but, many also view him as a fool who wasted all this god given talent, just to die a cold hearted death. What could persuade a human…

    • 1649 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel, Into the Wild, the author, Jon Krakauer attempts to remain unbiased, but reveals himself as positively biased toward Chris McCandless. Krakauer illustrates the journey McCandless goes through as he spontaneously abandons his life as a well-off college student to hitchhike to Alaska. After McCandless’s body was found, many people believe that he was naive and wasted his life; however, Krakauer does not. To demonstrate this, Krakauer compares his younger self to McCandless, views McCandless as a intelligent, unique individual and applauds McCandless’ reason behind his journey. When exploring McCandless’ background life, Krakauer explicitly points out similarities between himself and McCandless, seeing part of himself in McCandless.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are two different types of people in the world; one who says they’re going to do something and one who actually does it. In many cases people never do what they claim they’re going to do but in Chris McCandless story it was different. Chris McCandless wasn't your typical man, he was a man who believed that everyone should go out and experience the beautiful things in life. McCandless was a man who actually went out and pursued his dream of getting to Alaska, and lived his life the way he wanted to. He was a determined, stubborn, and intelligent man who left his life back at home to go into the wilderness and seek his ambition.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    ¨ The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun” (Krakauer 40), remarked Chris McCandless, the idealistic adventurer who embarked on a once in a lifetime expedition throughout the North American wilderness in Jon Krakauer 's novel, Into The Wild. Within the story, McCandless was both an ill-prepared greenhorn and an adventurer; with his free-spirited, nature-loving demeanor, he chose to leave the only place he had ever called home in favor of exploring the world and seizing the opportunities that awaited him, however along the way, his reckless nature and lack of experience resulted in unforeseen complications…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Deepan Patel December 9, 2016 Period: 2 ERWC Mr. Taylor Into the Wild Essay Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer, is about a young man from a rich family who hitchhiked to Alaska and walked all the way into the wilderness. Chris McCandless shows many personality traits. Chris is very intelligent in school, he is very strong willed, he is rebellious in his own ways, he doesn't like it when someone gives him advice or tells him what to do, and he is self involved, he is also very idealistic. He gets all these personality traits from his dad. He wanted to leave society and just be himself.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When one thinks of an adolescent becoming an adult in America, one may think of graduating high school and then college, and later starting a career. Chris McCandless, however, mainly refused this concept, and sought a different idea all together, one that primarily included living in the wilderness. Although his journey concluded in death, Chris McCandless, through rejecting the norms of American society, succeeded in his version of a fulfilling life. McCandless did so by persuading the people that he came across to acclimate to his ideals, being self reliant, and idealistic in his approach of an enriching and experienced-filled life. Chris McCandless’s view of a fulfilling was definitely not in accord with the classical version of being…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the book, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, the main character, Chris McCandless disappears into what it seems to be thin air, and nobody, not even people he met along the way of his journey and the people he was close with his whole life, knew where he went or why he did it. The author, Jon Krakauer interviews several people that have had a close interaction with Chris-- or as those who’ve met him along the way knew him as, Alexander Supertramp-- to try to figure out the reasoning behind Chris’s disappearance. Although, from reading the book, it seems that one of the reason that Chris McCandless went into the wild was because he wanted to prove to himself that he ,could be self-reliant or independent, and live completely opposite of how…

    • 1063 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chris McCandless died alone in the Alaskan wild while living completely off of the land. “Some readers admired the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals:” while “: others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity-and was undeserving of the considerable media attention he received” (Krakauer xi). These quotes represent the feelings of many who read Into The Wild, but most people ignore the important aspects of Chris McCandless’ personality and his self imposed purpose. McCandless was a kind, intelligent and free-spirited young man who may not have been completely prepared for his journey, he was able to accept death in the end, knowing that he lived a life that too…

    • 1329 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays