Into the Wild - Five Paragraph Essay

A Unique Man The novel Into the Wild, written by author Jon Krakauer, takes place in the western portion of the United States during the late 1980s, early 1990s. Chris McCandless grew up in Washington D.C. and attended college at Emory University. He did not live an ordinary life by choice. He abandoned his opportunities after graduation and decided to travel out west for his own enjoyment and self-discovery. Chris McCandless is very different from an ordinary person because he explores life to the fullest and does not believe in society’s perception of what a person’s life should be. Chris McCandless did not need materialistic items to make his life more enjoyable; he only needed Mother Nature and his own motivation. For example, Chris does not want a new or better car because he is perfectly content with the Datsun, an old car passed down to him by his parents. His parents wanted to buy him a new car; however, he disagreed and became upset at the idea of having a new car in his possession. Chris’s perspective on the situation is that the Datsun is still in very good condition, therefore there is no reason to replace it with a more advanced car. Additionally, Chris donates over $24,000 to Oxfam International, a poverty eradication charity. The money that he donated to Oxfam International was originally given to him by his parents. However, Chris believed that this money was just a distraction and in order to make a point that he did not need the extra money and that he was satisfied with his life, he decided to donate it. Furthermore, before Chris began his adventurous journey for Alaska, he burned the rest of his money that he owned into ashes. He thought that money was just a distraction for what you could accomplish. One thing that Chris realized was that in life money is not everything, and happiness and tranquility cannot always be bought. The same thing goes for materialistic objects which are considered a distraction and unnecessary in the overall