Christopher McCandless

Christopher McCandless: a Modern Day Transcendentalist Albert Einstein, a world known theoretical physicist once said, “The human spirit must prevail over technology.” Due to the demand of the ever increasing electronic world, individuals sometimes want to get away from the over-stimulated technology infused lifestyle we live in. Going back to the transcendentalist era of the early 1800s, Transcendentalism is a very formal word that describes a very simple idea. People have equal knowledge about…

Could you imagine leaving the world you know and just completely leaving it? From the movie Into the Wild at the age of twenty-one, Christopher McCandless, did just this. He left the life he knew completely behind and went on a journey to Alaska. Who also did a journey similar to this was the man who founded the Buddhist religion, named Siddhartha Gautama, who is now known as being Buddha. Both of these men viewed life differently than others, this made them both unique. The journey to Alaska…

Growing up as a kid Christopher McCandless had to deal with his cookie cutter family, and how his parents wanted people to see them. In Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, we see Christopher as he was in different parts of his life. We see him being an outsider feeding the homeless, forcing his way out of an accelerated program and failing physics because of disobeying lab guidelines. He rejected a new car from his parents because he believed it wasn’t a gift that it was just them trying to fix the…

Krakauer is a novel that depicts a story about a man name Christopher McCandless who ventured from place to place with the motive of reaching Alaska. In the novel, Chris was generalized as insane, crazy, or even relatable to other adventurists by different perspectives; and this constructs a controversial profile of his character since we will truly never understand who he was. However, I say otherwise. My viewpoint upon who Christopher McCandless “is” is that he is an individual who rejected…

June 1990: Christopher McCandless, an ambitious and smart young man, leaves home with a note to his parents saying that he will be spending the summer travelling in his Datsun. July 10th, 1990: McCandless’s car is abandoned after a flash flood traps it in Nevada. He goes on foot for the rest of the way. His car was discovered some years later and was used second-hand for years. July-August 1990: Hitchhikes from Nevada to Montana before meeting Wayne Westerberg and settles with him for some time…

Every novel has a character that changes throughout the story and with Christopher McCandless, his character changed over time. Before and after his death McCandless wanted to live a life far away from civilization and with the wild. McCandless purpose for living wild was to feel the freedom and the desire to do whatever he wished to do without no obligation of being stopped or judged. Chris McCandless romanticized living alone in the wild, but was severely underprepared to do this in Alaska.…

On April 27, 1992, Christopher Johnson McCandless wrote, “I now walk into the wild,” intending to leave behind the sins of society for the wilderness. Chris had to decide between his family and friends’ happiness and pursuing his own. McCandless chose to chase happiness, believing that self-reliance and appreciation of purity in nature were the only elements that would allow for it; thus, he embarked on his Alaskan odyssey, leaving without any word of his plans or communication along his journey…

story. He had a dream and he risked everything, up to and including his life, to achieve it. Life can be incredibly overwhelming at times and to be able to find the peace that Christopher found, even if that peace only lasts four months, would be nothing short of incredible. I want to live my life as Christopher McCandless did. I want to recognize my dreams and stop at nothing to achieve them. We…

In the novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Christopher McCandless is looked down upon, due to his lack of wisdom, maturity, and responsibility. McCandless ventured “into the wild” in order to follow his dream. Society criticized McCandless for being so foolish, but what they do not realize is that everyone has their own ambitions. McCandless will never be a hero in the eyes of society because they need to follow their own route to self-discovery. A hero is generally someone idealized for…

Christopher McCandless crafted his own ideologies by considering the thoughts and philosophies created by scholarly saints that he had idolized. Those three specific individuals were where McCandless had found his motivation to go on such a journey as through the wild. Henry David Thoreau, Jack London, and Leo Tolstoy all majorly impacted Chris McCandless and his rationality on life. These three writers inspired McCandless to set out on his long voyage to live in nature. I feel that Jack London…