The Mccandless Journey

From the book “Into The Wild,” Jon Krakauer, a inventive author, talks about the journey of the main character in the story, originally know as Christopher Johnson McCandless, but changed his name to Alex. McCandless was tired of his life in modern society wanted to be free away from people, his parents, and the Government. McCandless lived a decent life with many things to be proud off, but he decided to leave and give everything he had away, or dispose of it. He then set himself to travel across the United States, to Alaska with little resources and no money. McCandless was heavily influenced by Thoreau’s ideas in the writing’s, “Civil Disobedience” and “Walden”. This influence changed his whole life and tried to follow in Thoreau’s footsteps.
McCandless gave everything away to challenge Thoreau's ideas. In the article “Excerpt from Walden,” Henry David Thoreau, one of McCandless influential writers said “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately to front only the essentials facts of life, and see I could not learn what is had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had to not lived.” This quote from Thoreau connects to the story

Santana 2 because McCandless wished to live away from modern society, his parents, big Government and wanted to live freely. In other words, both McCandless and Thoreau wanted to live a simple life of the grid. For example, in the book “Into The Wild,” McCandless disposed of everything he had and burned all of his money because he felt that all of the things he had was used and made by other people and Government, which he was strongly against. In my opinion, I think McCandless did go far enough by getting rid of everything and burning his money to get away from his personal life to live off the land. On the other side, I think living off the land is a great adventurous and exciting exercise, but there’s no need to leave everything behind and dispose of everything you’ve worked hard for.
McCandless didn’t want to accept help during his long journey to Alaska, but ended up getting help from others and went back into the city.
McCandless goal was not to get help from anyone during his journey across the United States, to Alaska. However, he did end up getting help from different individuals during his journey. For example, in the book “Into The Wild,” In the beginning of his journey, McCandless was offered help from Jim Gallien, a union electrician who offered a ride to Alex and offered to drop him off wherever he wanted. In which Alex accepted. Gallien asked then went to ask Alex if he had a hunting license since he McCandless was carrying a .22 rifle, in which McCandless responded “Hell no, Alex replied, “How I feed myself is none of the government’s business. Fuck their stupid rules.” This quote goes back to
McCandless

Santana 3 wanting to rebel against the government.
Like in the article “Excerpt from “Civil Disobedience,” by H.D. Thoreau, “The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more if the government had not sometimes got in its way.” I can relate to the McCandless view towards the American government always infringing people’s rights. like for example, I went hunting and fishing with my family members in a public area, in which we were fine because we needed both permits to fish and hunt for food. That personal experience made me dislike big government for the fact that back in the days when my grandfather was around, he didn’t need permits to hunt, shoot, or fish in public
areas.
McCandless ambitions to challenge Thoreau’s ideas was a success but resulted in his death. In the book, “Into The Wild,” the Romans said, “Sure, he screwed up,” Romans answers, “but I admire what he was trying to do. Even though McCandless didn’t do everything Thoreau suggested, like living off the land, not getting help from anyone or accepting things. McCandless did fail in that aspect but did it to be able to survive and accomplish his goal to make it to Alaska. In reality, McCandless journey would have never been successful without the help of the other individual who's helped him with rides, jobs, food, guidance, supplies, and support. In my personal opinion, McCandless sacrificed everything to live free on his own, that’s something not many individuals like me is willing to do, nor have the guts to experiment or explore. McCandless death shows his dedication and loyalty to Thoreau’s ideas and his promises were mostly fulfilled because he achieved making it to Alaska.
Santana 4 From Thoreau’s writings, “Walden” and “Civil Disobedience,” McCandless was radicalized by Thoreau's ideas, which resulted in McCandless leaving everything behind to try to challenge Theories ideas. McCandless did in fact flip-flop while challenging Thoreau’s ideas and did, in fact, get help from others and took things to survive during his long journey. I do give McCandless credit for trying everything and not giving up on his journey, it showed his dedication and loyalty to achieve his goal which was making it to Alaska. McCandless death should, in fact, be a sacrifice to Thoreau’s ideas. McCandless wasn’t perfect of what he did, but at least have admired what he was trying to do and died for it to prove his point.