Chris Mccandless Criticism

In the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless starts a new life for himself in the values he thought were worthwhile and pursued the ideals that he felt were important. McCandless distanced himself from his family, invented a new name, and created a new life as Alexander Supertramp. His irrational actions brought Chris McCandless many criticisims, however it is these actions of self reliance that helped to test his independence.
We are always in the same routine everyday and look for help around us from society that we start to conform. In the letter Chris wrote to Ron Franz saying, “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future” (Krakauer 56). He went into the wild so he did not have to conform to society and he wanted to live the life of not having to worry about the everyday things. Emerson writes, “a conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members” (Emerson, Self Reliance). What Emerson means
Emerson advocates self-reliance as a starting point or a way to be, instead of a goal to reach, “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace like the triumph of principles” (Self reliance Emerson). This quote is clearly reflected in Chris’ actions, “He needed his solitude at times, but he wasn’t a hermit. He did a lot of socializing. Sometimes I think it was like he was storing up company for the times when he knew nobody would be around” (Krakauer 45). This shows that Chris valued self-reliance the way Emerson did – he needed to be his own person, with his own vision and way of thinking so that others would not inadvertently influence him along the