Into The Wild: Courage to Search For True Happiness

Venturing off into nature can help find a sense of true meaning of who someone is and belonging in life. However, it is the environment nature that unfortunately takes his life. Towards the end of his life, McCandless discovers what he never realized before. He realizes his purpose and need of other people. After the death of Chris McCandless in Alaska, Krakauer took it upon himself that he wanted to let the world know about who Chris McCanldess was and write a book of his life. Krakauer portrays McCandless with a variety of characteristics. He characterizes Chris as a young man who is arrogant, selfish, and reckless. But at the same time charismatic, determined, intelligent, and independent. Although Chris McCandless was foolish and unprepared, but was also a good minded intellectual. Chris was intelligent but an impractical man. He was a unique young man, but he was also arrogant, which caused him to unfortunately be led to his death. Krakauer is accurate in describing Chris as selfish because he left his family behind without any communication on his departing. He left his family to go start a new one with a new alias and no track of his old life. He met other people along the way in his trio and introduced himself to them as Alex Supertramp. However, while Chris was on his trip to Alaska, he was unprepared which ultimately caused him to have his life taken away from him at a very young age of 24 years old. Christopher McCandless died August 1, 1992 in Stampede Trail.

“Because he lacked a good map, the cable spanning the river also remained incognito.”(174) John Krakauer describes how McCandless decisions had a major impact on his life. Some argue that his life depended on his determination, while others argue that McCandless was not prepared. Krakauer implies that Chris could have survived if he had made smarter decisions. John Krakauer's argument is important because it describes various factors that lead to the tragedy of Chris McCandless. Krakauer gets the audience thinking if McCandless personality played a role in his death. They audience can also wonder if his stubbornness was enough to impact his decision making. Krakauer believes that McCandless just gave up and felt unmotivated to keep going. He lost his drive to keep on going with his journey and the loss of motivation led him to his death. It is pretty strange to say because Chris was not the type of person to give up on a task he’s been working on for so long. Chris was a hardworking man who always finishes any task that was dealt to him. Especially with the trip on going to Alaska, which is what he wanted to do ever since he left his family behind.

People can see Chris McCandless as a foolish young man who left his life behind. Others can see Chris as being admirable. Chris lived his life the way he wanted, not what his parents set him out to be. He wanted to break free from society because he thought it was bland. He wanted to follow his dream of going into the wild and surviving. He portrayed a new life for himself and was able to sustain himself in the wild for two years. Unlike many people who sob about their classic 9-5 job, Chris lived his life the way he wanted to. He ultimately achieved the happiness and purpose that he was seeking during his lengthy quest. If it weren't for the toxic mold on the wild potato seeds he ate, Chris McCandless would live to tell his tales and would be admired. “Some readers admired the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideas. Others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist, who perished out of arrogance and stupidity. He was under serving of the considerable media attention he received” (Author's Note). Krakauer describes how many people shared different views on Chris’s death. Some people argue that McCandless had a good enough reason to go into the wild, while others have various reasons to be against McCandless. Krakauer implies that individuals have a distinct view on Chris’s death. Krakauer's argument is important because it implies how the audience has different views on McCandless. He suggests that Chris influenced some individuals positively and negatively. Krakauer also believes that McCandless changed many people’s perspective of life or attitude towards life.