In the novel, Into the wild. John krakauer talks about Chris McCandles a genius that followed his dreams. Or others say an idiot that left his family and try to survive on his own in the wild. Chris McCandles lived for 113 days out in the wild with bits of supplies that he had at the moment. It’s crazy how he survived, which is impressive considering the circumstances. The point is that McCandles was smart, but many other people did not think he would be intelligent. In this essay It’s going to show you how what kind a person was McCandless and what led him and caused him to his death.
My valuable point is that Chris McCanldes was not prepared for his adventure. He went out into the wilderness with only a ten pound bag of rice,clothing for the weather conditions, boots that were not waterproof and a small 22 caliber rifle without a map or compass to help out into civilization in case of an emergency. Literally he was only 6 miles away from a ranger station, which could have helped him incase of an emergency. He was so close that he could have gone home if he really wanted, but decided on what he wanted to do in his life. Which was to live on his own and be away from civilization he was surrounded from where he was from.People would say that he was a brainless idiot because he went out with gear that was “ exceedingly minimal for the harsh conditions of the interior, which in April still lay buried under the winter snowpack” (krakauer 5). Others many believed that this makes him a bush-casualty stereotype, which means he is like any other idiotic that thought they could survive with out preparation or any prior knowledge of how to live in harsh conditions. Jon Krakauer, the author of the book Into The Wild, had claimed that McCandless was more of a traveler than a bush- casualty stereotype because of his journey. Krakauer then compares him to the paper monks that would risk their lives to find a new home since their land became crowded. Pretty sure that krakauer does not think that Chris McCandless was an idiot because he was the same when he was younger. Chris lost his life doing stupid things.
My second point is that Chris McCandless drove off to Alaska for his great adventure that he did not survive. Chris was just “ so enthralled by tales, however, that seemed to forget they were works of fiction” (krakauer44). Jack London's stories made chris to try and survive in the bush without being prepared for the conditions, instead that he did not need much to survive in the freezing, harsh conditions there. Living in that wilderness is a lot harder than most people would think. Not just getting bitten by bugs, also finding clean water, and weather conditions, it is also that the fact there are hundreds of different animals that live in the wild that would want to eat and kill you while alive or asleep. Lucky chris never really faced into that. Whether you were trying to improve that you were a man to escape civilizations, you need to be prepared for everything that you would face into the wild. Nothing will be easy to be on your own, chris could have have had anxiety or depression for being by himself.
Chris McCandless was a very smart, but was a self-absorbed person. This presented when Krakauer talked to Chris’s family members and said” He measured himself and those around him by an impossibly moral code” (krakauer123). Chris did this because he made himself to have more greatness in his life than most people, making it hopeless to please him no matter what the situation consisted of. This is shown throughout the book through his different background working, traveling, and communicating, from little did he socialized. This is a very important attribute of the personality of Chris McCandless. He thought of himself so that he did not expect to go to the wilderness and fail at what he thought was available to achieve. Nobody can go out into Alaskan bush and try to survive for a long time without being an expert to prepare for every possible situation. It would be very difficult, lucky he found a bus with more material that would help him be alive like the bed,chimney had made him warm and also a lighter to start a fire. The bad thing was that he was losing ammunition of his 22 rifle he had. That was a game changer to hunt for food. Chris handled to survive those 113 days because of his passion to survive and his skill to be alive in the wilderness. By saying active, he was able to hunt, gather and make food for himself. Chris McCandless may have survived if he had brought on a map of the area he was staying at to know where he was because there was a ranger station literally 6 miles away from his position that he could've have hiked to save his life. Chris didn’t really think he would’ve need any of those life saving supplies.
My last point brings up the idea of how his family talked about him after he had died. His father had said “ many people have told me that they admire chris for what he was trying to do. If he’d lived, i would agree with them” (Krakauer). This shows that chris's father was very disappointed in him because he didn’t tell him father where he was. Chris did not want his parents to know he was out on his adventure because he felt like it was being less discharging and it collapsed the purpose of losing himself just to find himself. His sister carine on the other hand was happily proud of chris because he followed his dreams. She talked about his past, relations with girls, and all of those good memories that she had of him. Carine also described him as a solitary person because he would be that guy to show his intelligence on certain subjects such as computer programming, which he took a class in college. His parents not accepting who he really was led to him wanting to be on his own in the wild. Family is an important thing in everyone's life. It helps them to work a sense of right and wrong by showing love, humility and love. Without an active loving family to support your own child, they will lose a sense of what is right and what is wrong, like traveling the country without any money. Maybe if his family would have loved and cared about him and accept him, he would not have starved or frozen to death in the wilderness of Alaska.
Whether or not Chris McCandless was either a complete idiot or an idealistic genius goes back and forth so much because of all the contradicting points as to why he lived and why he died. Chris acted like a snob and died like someone had no idea on what they were doing, but still survived for 113 days. He was not lacking person. He had a very genuine and heartfelt dream and he chased it to the max that he died doing what he wanted to do. Many people will give up on themselves or dreams of couple challenges they face. People are all guilty of that in one way or another. However, he was not prepared, Chris McCandless believed in things that were not true at all, he completely dismissed that fact that other people were just as intelligent as him, and he severed all ties and died in a wasteland. If chris would have had even the slightest bit of common sense he would have either not gone on his odyssey or had been more prepared for what was going to come.
Everybody has their own opinion on what kind of person Chris McCandless was. Why would he go into the wild with bits of supplies. We get it he survived, but imagine if he only had a map of where he was and what was near him to save his life. Chris McCandless family admired him and wanted to know where he was, wanted to know how he was doing. Mccandless had different characters in front of his friends and family. Being rude to other, also did not care what was going on in his life, like burning his money and not save it for emergencies. He wasn't a selfish person and didn't care about things in life. At the end of the day, it was his choice, what made him happy is what really mattered to Chris. It's his own life, he did what he wanted to fulfill his dreams to live in the wild. Chris McCandless or preferred name, Alexander Supertramp. An idiot, idealist genius or a person of not having common sense, these are all the things that he has known as I don't even what I would call him. It just seems like he's known as an idiot that went into the wild.