Chris Mccandless Journey

Chris McCandless was an exceptional young man who lived life by the beat of his own drum but all that changed when his young life was cut short. Though his life ended, his story lives on forever. Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild is Chris McCandless’ living legacy; the book examines McCandless’ life as well as revealing his struggles with his parents, his adventures with the people he meets, and the hardships he faces in Alaska. Chris McCandless lived life as a modern day nomad; he would hitch hike all around the country to escape from the mundane. Some would consider his controversial lifestyle as naïve and stupid while others admire his idealism and passion for life. Chris’ life was ultimately a success. Even though
at times he exercised bad judgment and rejected the help others offered, he accomplished his goal and came to an important conclusion. McCandless’ uses this final trip to relieve himself of any frustrations he has with society and himself—almost a religious a experience, some would say. Chris came to the Alaskan wilderness to find life, but ironically turned out to be his ultimate demise. Krakauer reveals McCandless’ deep love and compassion for others. Growing up, it was clear that Chris was a very compassionate child. One Christmas Chris’ sister, Carine, got a dog from their parents. Although the dog belonged to Carine, Chris treated him as though he were his dog. The two were thick as thieves. Carine even said that if Chris would have brought the dog on his trip then maybe Chris would still be alive because Chris would never put their dog in a dangerous situation. Chris grew from a compassionate child into a semi-radical college student. In college he took courses about injustices against people from Third World countries and often spoke out against corruption all over the world whether it be politics to animal rights. He would sometimes go as far as bashing politics in the Emory Wheel, “He lampooned Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden, called the resignation of Attorney General Edwin Meese, lambasted Bible-thumpers of the Christian right, urged vigilance against the Soviet threat, castigated the Japanese for hunting whales, and defended Jesse Jackson as a viable presidential candidate.” (123)* One thing that really got under Chris’ skin was the fact that people were still going hungry and dying from things like malnutrition. His mother remembers him speaking about how incredibly baffled he was about “how people could possibly be allowed to go hungry, especially in America” (113)*
Not only did Chris love people, but people reciprocated the love back.
Chris made people feel so comfortable around him that whenever he was traveling and needed a place to stay it was almost guaranteed that someone would offer him a place to stay. He had a very magnetic personality, from what the book describes. People were pulled by his charming personality ever since he was young “as an eight-year-old, he grew vegetables behind the house in Annadale and then sold them door-to-door around the neighborhood…. ‘by the time he came home, the wagon would be empty, and he’d have a bunch of money in his hand.’” (116)* On his journeys Chris met countless people and all of those people were touched by Chris in one way or another. Each person he met became apart of his surrogate family. Jan Burres and her husband spoke so fondly of McCandless and were very keen on hearing from him. Another person that McCandless touched was Ronald Franz, an elderly man who lost his family in an accident. He fell so in love with McCandless that he even offered to “adopt him, if [Chris] would be [his] grandson.” (55)* Anyone that came into contact with Chris could see his blatant
charm.
Though Chris genuinely cared for others he also had another side; a more reserved side.
In high school he was quite outgoing, most people only had nice things to say about him. Though there were some people who saw Chris’ darker side. One of cross country teammates recalls that Chris would get extremely upset when he would do poorly at a meet. He never showed his anger but instead just kept it inside. There would be times were Chris would just keep to himself. His sister remembers, “he was very to himself. He wasn’t antisocial—he always had friends, and everybody liked him—but he could go off and entertain himself for hours. He didn’t need tots or friends. He could be alone without being lonely.” (107)* In college he became more introverted. He began to live a more ascetic lifestyle and stopped contacting his friends. One of his college friends recalls that he went to visit Chris and to see how he was doing but when he stepped into his apartment he was shocked to see that his apartment was very bare. It only had a mattress and a few milk crates. Chris was going through somewhat of a crisis during this point of his life. The revelation of his father’s affair surfaced and he increasingly grew more and more upset with how society
operated. It were situations such as those that drove Chris into the wild. He looked at the Alaskan wilderness as something like a sanctuary to find himself, answers, and maybe even God. For the most part I feel that Chris found what he was looking for. He realized what the genuine meaning of happiness was, “Happiness only real when shared” (189)* I feel that if he would have come out of the wilderness he would have came out a better man for himself, his friends, and most importantly his family. I feel that Chris did the right thing but it was just a shame that it had to end that way. Life can become so chaotic that sometimes it would be nice to run away from it all. I have actually learned that with the stresses of college and the fast pace of life, things can quickly spiral out of control. For most people, our lives now have become so consumed with work, work, and more work that people forget the true essence of life. People go to work and kill themselves little by little for some jobs that are not even worth it, Christopher McCandless saw this and decided to do what most people only dream of. Just recently I had a similar break through like Chris and decided to get lost in San Francisco. It was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had-- I remembered what it was like to be happy again and to not worry about anything. I gained great insight about myself and life even if my trip “into the wild” was only for one day.