Chris Mccandless: A Brief Essay

“In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possession, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter.” Although Christopher McCandless had a fairly wealthy family that pushed the importance of education in their household, he was very drawn to a life of adventure and would distance himself from his family’s life of luxury by going on summer long road trips by himself. The way Christopher behaved may seem crazy to most people but if you knew …show more content…
He felt his whole life turn, like a river suddenly reversing the direction of its flow , suddenly running uphill. These revelations struck at the core of Chris’ sense of identity. They made his entire childhood seem like fiction.” This furthermore proves that Chris’ father had done actions that weighed heavy emotionally on Chris and may have had a powerful influence on his decision to go on his expedition that would eventually lead to his lonesome death. Another factor that potentially influenced Chris to go into the wild would be the books, Chris had many literary influences. In my opinion, Chris used books as an escape from his home life and as a substitute for parents, he let the books influence the way he acted and how he thought of certain things. For example, he states, “I read somewhere... how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong... to measure yourself at least once.” This shows his belief and agreement about the importance of looking at yourself and the way you feel as an evaluation of who you are as a