Christopher Mccandless Argument Essay

Improved Essays
I agree with Krakauer that Christopher McCandless wasn’t a crazy person, a sociopath, or an outcast because he got along with people easily, but he did seem some-what incompetent, even though he managed to survive for over one hundred days in the wild. McCandless was the type of person that anyone could relate to. The author, Jon Krakauer describes the final years of the boy. Krakauer reveals the untold truth about McCandless. Several decisions, conversations, logical thinking, and thrill of excitement prove the sincere down to earth person people know as Christopher McCandless. Chris McCandless made a lot of decisions and a lot of thinking. He wanted to get away from modern day society, and didn’t want to be found. One of his greatest and smartest decision was changing his name to Alexander Supertramp. During his journey to Alaska, he got caught up in a flashflood, damaging his precious yellow Datsun, which he admired. Instead of trying to repair the car, which could’ve been a big burden, he abandons his Datsun. He also needed some money after burning all of it, so he applied to a local fast food …show more content…
He often met a lot of people across the United States. There were few he built relationships with that lasted a long time. “It was a very hard thing for me to do. I was sad to be leaving him,” page 53. This quote from Ronald Franz proves that Chris has an effect on Mr. Franz. The bond between the two was so great, Franz asked to adopt Chris. Franz wasn’t Chris’s only admirer, Jan Burres was also fond of Chris. Jan and Chris hit it off real easily. Their friendship was inseparable. Jan really liked Chris and his personality. Once, Chris made it to Alaska, he sent Jan Burres a postcard, his last one. “This is the last communication you shall receive from me. I now walk out to live amongst the wild. Take care, it was great knowing you,” page 69. This shows the great bond the two had because Chris never really kept in touch with

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Jon Krakauer Reflection

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The author, Jon Krakauer portrays this story by having many interviews with people that encountered Chris McCandless’s presence along his journey to Alaska. By interviewing these people Jon Krakauer is giving the readers real life evidence of what these people thought about Chris and his journey. The way he structured this book really interested me and gave me the feeling that I was actually reliving Chris’s journey. The passages in italics at the beginning of each chapter set the tone for the whole chapter and really had me wondering what the chapter would be about. It really confused to me as to why Jon Krakauer did not start the book off in chronological order, but instead somewhere near the end of Chris’s journey.…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Despite the fact that in all of Chris important friendships he had managed to develop a significant and deep relationship, where he both cared for others, and others estimated him as well, it is clear that Chris focus on leaving meant that he felt he had to sever from others in order to be truly successful in his quest of going to Alaska and living independently.…

    • 131 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    McCandless was hardly unique.” This type of reproval outlines the doleful truth of the story of Chris McCandless. He was not a special case. Chris’ story of his avoidable death was glorified by the media. Into The Wild is not a following of fairy tale ending.…

    • 1649 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Westerberg had only just met Chris and straight away gave him a job and place to stay. After hearing about Chris’ death “… I only spent a few hours in Alex’s company, it amazes me how much I am bothered by his death.” (67) Chris pushed people away that were trying to help him even take him in as their own.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although McCandless chose to abandon his comfortable life and live as a hitchhiker, he exuded intelligence throughout his journey. Krakauer tries to look past the stereotypical remarks made about McCandless and view him as an individual, going the extra mile to undercover what really happened. Moreover, Krakauer illustrates that McCandless was different from normal hitchhikers “It would be easy to stereotype Christopher McCandless as another boy who felt too much, a loopy young man who read too many books and lacked even a modicum of common sense. But the stereotype isn't a good fit.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The quest to find himself again ultimately led to his untimely demise, but what caused the sudden disappearance of Chris from his family's’ lives. What caused the Chris to so heartlessly ignore his family and their emotions, while…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chris’s family and friends gave him a lot, but Chris left them and made very little contact with them even though they did a lot for him and he wanted to go to Alaska and did not tell his parents till later what or where he was going. Chris sent letters to all his friends and family member about how it was gonna be the last time you see me and he said where he was gonna be(Krakauer 68-69). Chris’s sister,Carine McCandless, was very close the Chris and was a big impact in his life. Carine and Chris were both high achievers and they both had fun competing with each other and were good friends(Krakauer 127-131).…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He went back into society multiple times and made numerous different friends that obviously showed he was lonely if one reason he was living in the wild was to get away from man’s judgment like krakauer said, "McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well—relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it” (55). It did not help that he never wrote his family to tell them his well-being like McCandless said “Happiness is only real when shared” (189). With him not writing to them at all, he probably left himself constantly wondering if they were worried about him and how they were doing with him being gone related to “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” (33). Chris goes crazy from always wondering about his family that he just completely left…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chris McCandless had a very unique response to life and society, even though he was a highly intelligent person. He was different than other people and what conducted him to his death was not an act of stupidity. Believing in ideals that were thought out to be just irrational but to him it was the way a person should live, without the corruption of material things. He pursued his plans extremely different than what the average person would but, that does not mean he was delirious to do what he did. Leaving his family was a choice he had to make and nobody else would do it for him…

    • 1149 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He doesn’t care about what other people think, just as long as he achieves what he is after. For example he left his parents house to go live in the Alaskan wilderness. “McCandless, in his fashion, merely took risk-taking to its logical extreme. He has a need to test himself in ways, as he was fond of saying, “that mattered”. He possessed grand – some would say grandiose – spiritual ambitions” (Krakauer 182).…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In countless instances, Chris expressed his distaste for the conformity of a society, as he saw with his own family, in which one’s life is a routine that consists of waking up, going to work, coming home to family, going to sleep, and repeating it for the rest of one’s life. McCandless set out into the world after college not to appreciate nature specifically, but the experiences of the world, as he described, “’It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found.’” (27) Chris strived for a daily sense of adventure, an escape from the limitations of community, as Andy, a high school friend of McCandless, explained, “[Chris] was born into the wrong century. He was looking for more adventure and freedom than today’s society gives people.” (119) Another aspect that was unpractical of Chris, that led to his unfortunate death in Alaska, was his seclusion and his desire to be alone.…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (199). In his final moments, he expresses his true feeling about his long journey by praising his God along with everyone else in his life. This shows his deep respect to God for his fulfilling and adventurous life. Chris knows that God had a large part in making his life so fulfilling, and therefore…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A young, reckless boy who went into the wilderness fully aware that the outcome could be fatal. Chris McCandless was a self-centered individual who irrationally ventured off on his “life-changing journey”. His low levels of preparedness and illogical way of thinking ultimately…

    • 1232 Words
    • 5 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
  • Improved Essays

    Being engulfed by loneliness made him realize that what he was looking for was what he had abandoned, human connection. Similarly, two days before Chris died, he noted that “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” (189). Throughout his journey, Chris was a proponent for living life in isolation. He was an advocate of this because of the disingenuous relationship he felt he had with his father. He then disregarded the importance of developing meaningful relationships with people, and eventually, entirely disregarded having people in his life.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays