Even though he died nearly 25 years ago, Chris McCandless’ story does not have a clearly explained ending. In the novel Into the Wild, the author Jon Krakauer goes into depth trying to uncover McCandless’ motives for leaving his home in Annandale, Virginia and hitchhiking eventually to the Alaskan bush. Into the Wild tells McCandless’ travels throughout the US and eventually to his last days before he perishes in a bus in the Denali Borough in Alaska. In the beginning of the novel, Krakauer states that he has a bias that McCandless was a noble and honorable. Krakauer’s identification of Chris being inspirational and brave is correct. Throughout the novel McCandless goes through a series of situations that show that he is truly brave, honorable, and heroic. He is brave because he gave up most of his possessions and walked away from civilization, he is honorable because he chose what he wanted to do in life and stuck with it even when it was hard, and McCandless is heroic because he ended up dying while accomplishing an onerous goal.
McCandless is brave because he left his comfortable life with his parents and hitchhiked across the US. When a flash flood hit near his campsite in the Mojave, he left his car and belongings he saw it as an opportunity to “shed unnecessary baggage” (Krakauer 29). Also as he was leaving his camp site near the Mojave he took his “One hundred twenty-three dollars in legal tender”(29) and put a match to it. This is brave because instead of being materialistic he didn’t let the fact of leaving is possessions and burning his money affect him. McCandless is because throughout his adventures he runs into a few precarious situations, including the time when he was in the Great Desert and tells the story through his journal entries “Alex has one spare oar. He calms himself. If loses second oar dead. Finally through extreme effort and much cursing he manages to beach canoe on jetty and collapses exhausted on sand at sundown”(36). In this particular journal entry he is telling how he comes close to overturning his canoe in the river and almost dies. Alex is brave here because instead of panicking and trying to get to shore he calms himself and tries again with composure. Also, instead of leaving his isolation after he experiences a close call he stays out in the desert for another month. McCandless is honorable because he had a goal to detach himself from civilization and become completely self reliant. …show more content…
In his journal entries he says “TWO YEARS HE WALKS THE EARTH. NP PHONE, NO POOL, NO PETS, NO CIGARETTES. ULTIMATE FREEDOM. AM EXTREMIST. AN AESTHETIC VOYAGER WHOSE HOME IS THE ROAD”(163). Here McCandless in honorable because he accomplished his goal of becoming completely self reliant, he left so that he was “NO LONGER TO BE POISONED BY CIVILIZATION”(163). He wanted to completely isolate himself and he did, he “WALKS ALONE UPON THE LAND TO BECOME LOST IN THE WILD”(163). McCandless’ journey is honorable because he set out to conquer an unimaginable goal to most, with very little supplies and almost no training or experience to prepare himself for the Alaskan bush. McCandless is heroic because even when he knew he was dying he did not want to give up on his goal. McCandless was “fully aware when he entered the bush that he had given himself a perilously slim margin for error. He knew precisely what
McCandless is brave because he left his comfortable life with his parents and hitchhiked across the US. When a flash flood hit near his campsite in the Mojave, he left his car and belongings he saw it as an opportunity to “shed unnecessary baggage” (Krakauer 29). Also as he was leaving his camp site near the Mojave he took his “One hundred twenty-three dollars in legal tender”(29) and put a match to it. This is brave because instead of being materialistic he didn’t let the fact of leaving is possessions and burning his money affect him. McCandless is because throughout his adventures he runs into a few precarious situations, including the time when he was in the Great Desert and tells the story through his journal entries “Alex has one spare oar. He calms himself. If loses second oar dead. Finally through extreme effort and much cursing he manages to beach canoe on jetty and collapses exhausted on sand at sundown”(36). In this particular journal entry he is telling how he comes close to overturning his canoe in the river and almost dies. Alex is brave here because instead of panicking and trying to get to shore he calms himself and tries again with composure. Also, instead of leaving his isolation after he experiences a close call he stays out in the desert for another month. McCandless is honorable because he had a goal to detach himself from civilization and become completely self reliant. …show more content…
In his journal entries he says “TWO YEARS HE WALKS THE EARTH. NP PHONE, NO POOL, NO PETS, NO CIGARETTES. ULTIMATE FREEDOM. AM EXTREMIST. AN AESTHETIC VOYAGER WHOSE HOME IS THE ROAD”(163). Here McCandless in honorable because he accomplished his goal of becoming completely self reliant, he left so that he was “NO LONGER TO BE POISONED BY CIVILIZATION”(163). He wanted to completely isolate himself and he did, he “WALKS ALONE UPON THE LAND TO BECOME LOST IN THE WILD”(163). McCandless’ journey is honorable because he set out to conquer an unimaginable goal to most, with very little supplies and almost no training or experience to prepare himself for the Alaskan bush. McCandless is heroic because even when he knew he was dying he did not want to give up on his goal. McCandless was “fully aware when he entered the bush that he had given himself a perilously slim margin for error. He knew precisely what