Discussion Topic

Characterization of Chris McCandless in Into the Wild

Summary:

Chris McCandless, the central figure in Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, is portrayed as a complex character with both admirable and flawed traits. His interactions with individuals like Ron Franz and Wayne Westerberg reveal his intelligence, idealism, and determination, but also his arrogance and reluctance to form deep personal relationships. McCandless's profound impact on Franz led the latter to adopt a nomadic lifestyle and question his faith. Westerberg admired Chris's work ethic and integrity, despite his obstinate nature. Overall, Chris is depicted as someone seeking self-discovery, often at the expense of practicality and interpersonal connections.

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What impact did Chris McCandless have on Ron Franz in Into the Wild?

In Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, Krakauer recounts the tale of Christopher Johnson McCandless.  McCandless, who often used the alias Alexander Supertramp, died in the Alaskan wilderness at the age of twenty-four after spending two years traveling the United States and having no contact with his family.  During the time McCandless spent as a "leather tramp," he met many people who helped him in various ways; however, McCandless seemed to feel little sense of obligation or desire to return those kindnesses.

Ronald Franz, whose wife and son had been killed in an automobile accident caused by a drunk drive years earlier, developed such an attachment to McCandless that he wanted to make the young man part of his family.

At one point Franz dared to make a special request of McCandless.  "My mother was an only child," he explains.  "So was my father.  And I was their only child.  Now that my own boy's dead, I'm the end of the line.  When I'm gone, my family will be finished, gone forever.  So I asked Alex if I could adopt him, if he would be my grandson."

McCandless, uncomfortable with the request, dodged the question:  "We'll talk about it when I get back from Alaska, Ron."

Franz did not realize that McCandless, who had told him his name was Alex McCandless, actually had family of his own who anxiously awaited word from him and even hired private detectives to find him. The eighty-one-year-old man received a letter from McCandless in April of 1992, in which McCandless advised him to make drastic changes to his life.

If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy...Don't settle down and sit in one place.  Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon...Ron, I really do hope that as soon as you can you will get out of Salton City, put a little camper on the back of your pickup, and start seeing some of the great work that God has done here in the American West...And you must do it economy style, no motels, do your own cooking, as a general rule spend as little as possible...

Franz actually followed the twenty-four-year-old's advice and lived at the campsite used by McCandless for eight months; he stayed at the campsite until he learned of the death of his young friend (hitchhikers told him).

Franz, who had maintained a strong Christian faith until he realized that McCandless was dead, became an atheist due only to the fact that God had "let something that terrible happen to a boy like Alex."  Franz also resumed drinking, which he had not done since overcoming the alcoholism that had consumed him after the deaths of his wife and son.  In short, both the life and death of Chris McCandless impacted Ronald Franz in profound ways.

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In Into the Wild, what does Ronald Franz reveal about Chris McCandless's character?

In Into the Wild, journalist Jon Krakauer pieces together the experiences of various people who met Christopher McCandless to paint a fuller picture of his character and his journey to Alaska. Ronald Franz, an elderly man living in Salton City, is one of these people. There are a few different ways Ronald Franz reveals the character of Christopher McCandless; you can decide which area to focus on.

In chapter 6, through Franz, we see McCandless as an intelligent, well-groomed young man. “He seemed extremely intelligent,” Franz states. Franz immediately recognizes that the young man, who introduces himself as Alex, is not the average hitchhiker. McCandless confirms this by telling Franz, “I have a college education. I’m not destitute. I’m living like this by choice.”

Despite his privileged upbringing, McCandless is accepting of people whom the rest of society treats with mistrust. Franz sees McCandless as “too nice a kid to be living ... with those nudists and drunks and dope smokers” at Oh-My-God Hot Springs; yet in his letter to Franz, after he’d left Salton City, McCandless defends the group of campers at the hot springs, saying that Franz doesn’t truly understand them.

Another characteristic we see in McCandless, through his interaction with Franz, is his confidence. At age twenty-four, McCandless feels free to lecture a man in his eighties, despite the fact that McCandless was benefitting greatly from Franz’s generosity. In his letter to Franz, McCandless encourages him to adopt a radical lifestyle, criticizing what McCandless sees as “a life of security, conformity, and conservatism.”

During his time with Franz, McCandless also shows himself to be artistically gifted. Franz is a leatherworker and teaches the skill to McCandless. McCandless’s first project is a tooled leather belt that tells the story of his wanderings in images. Krakauer writes: “Executed with remarkable skill and creativity, this belt is as astonishing as any artifact Chris McCandless left behind.”

A final element of McCandless’s character that Franz reveals is his seemingly conflicted approach to personal relationships. Franz, a lonely man whose own family was killed in a tragic accident, is partly drawn to McCandless because the young man stirs his “long-dormant paternal impulses.” Readers have to wonder if McCandless also formed such a strong bond with the older man out of his own longing for family. Is this longing for a father figure the reason that McCandless accepts, and even at times asks, for help from Franz? Whatever the case, McCandless’s ability to connect deeply and quickly with people is striking. Although the two met only briefly, the news of McCandless’s death grieves Franz to the point that he denies his faith and becomes an atheist.

Despite creating remarkable personal attachments like his friendship with Franz, McCandless shows discomfort with this level of intimacy. When Franz asks to adopt McCandless, McCandless “dodged the question.” In a letter to Franz, McCandless states strongly: “You are wrong if you think joy emanates only or principally from personal relationships.” Does this statement ease McCandless’s guilt at leaving the old man? Perhaps. It is certainly a clear reflection of McCandless’s belief—one that ultimately changes—about the path to joy.

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In Into the Wild, what does Ronald Franz reveal about Chris McCandless's character?

It's largely a matter of opinion, but I would argue that Ronald inadvertently reveals something fundamentally self-centered about Chris's character.

It's clear that Chris is someone who no longer wishes to form any kind of relationship with anyone, that he's so determined to drop out of mainstream society that he's almost scared of developing emotional attachments to another living soul. This would explain why Chris appears so spooked by Ron's suggestion that he adopt him. Having broken free of family relations back home, the last thing he wants is to establish a substitute family elsewhere.

But it's the manner in which Chris turns down Ron's suggestion that provides a key to his character. He doesn't simply decline it politely; he treats Ron to a lecture on how Ron, too, needs to break free from mainstream society if he's to live an authentic life. Chris seems unable or unwilling to take into consideration Ron's age or the precise circumstances of his life situation. Instead, he blithely assumes that Ron can follow in his, Chris's, footsteps and just take off into the wilderness without a moment's thought.

Speaking personally, this episode leaves a rather unpleasant taste in the mouth, as it appears to show Chris as something of a fanatic. And fanatics, in whichever walk of life you find them, are very dangerous people indeed.

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In Into the Wild, what does Ronald Franz reveal about Chris McCandless's character?

Chapter Six is the section of this novel that deals with the relationship between Franz and Chris McCandless. You would do well to re-read it and pay particular attention to how Ronald Franz's account adds to our understanding of Chris and what drove him. In particular, while Franz is obviously impressed by Chris's intelligence and ability to survive, it is also interesting to note the unresolved anger that is so much a big part of Chris's character. Note the following quote:

Not infrequently during their visits, Franz recalls, McCandless's face would darken with anger and he'd fulminate about his parents or politicians or the endemic idiocy of mainstream American life. Worried about alienating the boy, Franz said little during such outbursts and let him rant.

It is clear that so much of what drove Chris to do what he did was his very real sense of frustration and anger with his parents and American life as a whole. He chose to reject mainstream life largely because of this.

Another factor that is made explicit in this chapter is the way that Chris McCandless deliberately avoided any kind of relationship that would ensnare him and keep him back from doing what he wanted to do. Note the comment that Krakauer makes after Alex gives a non-commital response to Franz's offer to adopt Alex:

McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well--relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it.

This is of course Krakauer's own opinion, but it clearly indicates the way in which Chris McCandless tried to keep himself aloof from human bonds and relationships. These are the two most important elements that we learn about Chris's character from his relationship with Ronald Franz.

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How does Wayne Westerberg describe Christopher McCandless in "Into The Wild"?

Jon Krakauer's initial 1993 article in Outside magazine on Chris McCandless's death became one of the most read and commented on stories in the history of that publication. Many readers contended that Chris was an arrogant fool who deserved to die for going unprepared into the wilderness. Others defended him. Because of the strong reaction to the article, Krakauer wrote Into the Wild.

Krakauer, as he says in his book, identified strongly with Chris and wanted to tell a sympathetic story. His narrative is meant to persuade the reader that Chris was a person of character and not a fool. Westerberg's memories of Chris help support that argument.

Westerberg's memories of Chris are fond and largely exemplary. He praised Chris in ways likely to appeal to a wide range of readers: Chris was hard-working, had integrity, did not use women, and was personable. Westerberg's descriptions of Chris are convincing because they don't show him to be perfect or a saint: Chris was self-willed, did not get along with his father, and could have a cold streak. They also track very closely to other people who Chris met and made friends with on the road, such as Jan Burres and Ron Franz. Like them, Westerberg found Chris to be an intense, likable idealist to whom he was deeply drawn.

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How does Wayne Westerberg describe Christopher McCandless in "Into The Wild"?

Wayne describes Chris as short, lean, and wiry. He hypothesizes that Chris may have had a trace of Greek or Chippewa blood in his heritage. Wayne also relates that Chris was near-sighted and that he was gifted with sensitive good looks.

According to Wayne, Chris was also a hard worker who could be trusted to perform the dirtiest jobs at the grain elevator. Chris worked with diligence at every task he was given, and he was respected by the other laborers for his thoroughness and integrity. Wayne relates that his young friend fit in well in Carthage; Chris was the kind of young man who appreciated Carthage's small town coziness, its modest respectability, and its working-class ethics.

In the book, Wayne also describes Chris as an obstinate young man who lived by a set of extremely rigid principles. Wayne deduces (rightly) that it was probably Chris's uncompromising personality that caused an irreparable rift to develop between him and his father, Walt.

Wayne relates that Chris was also a very idealistic young man: he prized chastity and moral purity in the same way Tolstoy and Thoreau did. As a result, Chris did not take relationships with women lightly. Wayne reports that Chris might well have been celibate during the entire time he knew him. Chris's idealism led him to be obsessed with the wilderness. In the spirit of John Muir and Thoreau, Chris sought communion and union with nature. He sought the wild in the same way that some men sought women.

In all, Wayne describes Chris as a peerless young man who charmed everyone he interacted with in Carthage.

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How does Wayne Westerberg describe Christopher McCandless in "Into The Wild"?

Wayne Westerberg is a combine crew foreman and grain elevator owner in South Dakota who took Chris McCandless in during Chris's travels. In exchange for work, Wayne fed and housed Chris, and became fond of him as a hard worker, respectful and conscientious, and very intelligent:

"He was the hardest worker I've ever seen... if he started a job, he'd finish it... He read a lot. Used a lot of big words. I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking... he always had to know the absolute right answer before he could go on to the next thing."
(Krakauer, Into the Wild, Amazon.com)

A common interpretation of their relationship is that Chris saw Wayne as a father-figure and more in touch with his personal ideals than his own family. After their initial meeting, Chris stayed in touch with Wayne with occasional postcards and letters. One-and-a-half years later, Chris returned to South Dakota and stayed with Wayne for over a month, saving money for his ultimately fatal trip to the wild-lands of Alaska. Wayne was one of the principal witnesses who identified Chris's body, and worked with Chris's family and Sean Penn on the film Into the Wild, which he sees as a faithful and compassionate tribute to Chris's life and ideals.

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What type of person is Chris McCandless in Into the Wild?

Chris McCandless is a loner that lives by his own set of rules.  He feels that his business is his business.  He is not a fan of government that's for sure.  

“Hell, no,” Alex scoffed. “How I feed myself is none of the government’s business. Fuck their stupid rules.”

For further evidence you could use the part where Krakauer discovered that Chris usually filled in his tax information with a fake name and address.  

Chris is incredibly focused on himself and his goals.  That's not to say that he doesn't care for other people.  He does.  The text clearly indicates that Chris made some deep friendships throughout his two year wandering adventure.  The problem is that Chris only stayed around those people when it was good and convenient for Chris.  At one point, Westerberg asked Chris to stick around and help him with a harvest.  Westerberg was really short handed that year and really needed the help.  Chris didn't even consider it, because it would ruin his own plans.  

“I even offered to buy him a plane ticket to Fairbanks, which would have let him work an extra ten days and still get to Alaska by the end of April, but he said, ‘No, I want to hitch north. Flying would be cheating. It would wreck the whole trip.’”

On the whole, I feel that Chris is a very selfish person.  He cares for himself above all others.  As for his family values, I feel that Chris looked for ways to intentionally hurt his mom and dad through his lack of communication with them. 

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How is Chris McCandless rebellious in Into the Wild?

Chris McCandless rebelled against his parent's values, which he believed were tied up in materialism. His parents, Walt and Bille, were successful business owners, but Chris refused receive gifts from them. We learn that

Chris had only recently upbraided Walt and Billie for expressing their desire to buy him a new car as a graduation present and offering to pay for law school if there wasn’t enough money left in his college fund to cover it.

He also refused to give them presents, though he did give his mother candy and flowers for Mother's Day soon after he graduated from college. He wrote to his sister,

I’m going to have to be real careful not to accept any gifts from them in the future because they will think they have bought my respect.

The above quote crystallizes Chris's rebellious rejection of the American Dream: most young people would appreciate being in a position to receive cars and law-school educations from their parents.

Instead, Chris sees his father's materialism as a way his father hypocritically glosses over his failures as a parent and a human being. Chris is particularly shocked to find out that his father had another family—Chris's half-siblings—about whom Chris knew nothing while growing up.

Not wanting to be like his father, Chris leaves home without telling anyone where he is going and doesn't stay in touch with any of his family members. He rebels by living as simply as possible.

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How is Chris McCandless rebellious in Into the Wild?

I don't think that Chris McCandless is a true rebel.  He socially distances himself from others, because he prefers to be alone, but I don't think that he is a rebel.  He's an all around nice guy, which is evidenced by the number of the people that deeply cared for him.  It was few people by his own choosing, but they all genuinely liked Chris.  If he was some kind of hardened rebel, he wouldn't have been so well liked.  

However, Chris does have his moments where he displays rebel tendencies.  Chapter 1 has a good example.  Chris is hitchhiking his way to the Alaskan interior, and Jim Gallien picks him up.  At one point in the ensuing conversation, Jim asks Chris if he has a hunting license.  Chris (Alex at this point) responds with a terse sentence.  

“Hell, no,” Alex scoffed. “How I feed myself is none of the government’s business. Fuck their stupid rules.”

Because Krakauer put that in the first chapter, I initially thought that Chris was a definite rebel of sorts.  A few chapters later, the reader learns that Chris would even intentionally put down false information on his tax documents.  Not just false information about his earnings, but fake names and birth dates.  Chris flat out doesn't want the government involved in any part of his life.  So in that light, he is a strong rebel. 

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What is Christopher McCandless's worldview in Into the Wild?

Keep in mind that McCandless isn't the writer of this book, and Krakauer was unable to interview the real-life McCandless to ask this type of question. The McCandless that Krakauer paints is Krakauer's interpretation of the man, and that interpretation is absolutely influenced by his own experiences which Krakauer spends a significant amount of time discussing in one of the chapters. Sean Penn's interpretation of McCandless's worldview, as illustrated in the film, differs quite a bit from Krakauer's portrayal; therefore, different readers are likely to answer this question quite differently.

McCandless seemed to revere men that spent time alone, time contemplating existence, and time in nature. A man like Thoreau was heroic in McCandless's mind, and McCandless sought to emulate that worldview and lifestyle. This is one reason why McCandless spent so much time alone and on the road. It allowed him to be beholden to nobody. It's not that he was anti-social—he was quite good in groups according to people Krakauer interviewed; however, group conformity never sat well with McCandless. Even his elementary school teacher realized early on that McCandless was an independent soul, and that points to his worldview of doing and pursuing what made him happy. That is something that Thoreau could have gotten behind.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

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What is Christopher McCandless's worldview in Into the Wild?

Chris McCandless was inspired by the writings of Thoreau, Emerson, Tolstoy, and Jack London to live a non-sedentary existence and experience the natural world without the comforts and amenities of modern society. Chris McCandless completely rejected mainstream American culture by donating his life savings to the OXFAM charity, burning the rest of his cash, and exploring the southwest before eventually heading out on his "great Alaskan odyssey." Chris's worldview is best summarized in his letter to Ron Franz, where he encourages the old man to make a radical change in his life by selling his home and adopting a nomadic lifestyle. In his letter, Chris also writes,

The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun (Krakauer, 40).

Chris believed that security, conformity, and conservatism impair a man's natural adventurous spirit, which is why he chose to leave his old life and opportunities behind to travel and experience the natural world. Chris hoped to test his intelligence and abilities in the Alaskan wilderness, where he ended up hiking down the Stampede Trail and inhabiting an abandoned bus along the Teklanika River. During his time spent in the wild, Chris rarely expounded upon his living conditions but seemed to thrive until he accidentally ate poisonous seeds and starved to death. Chris enjoyed becoming one with nature as he lived off the land and hunted to survive. He also valued the time he spent by himself and never seemed to crave a relationship during his adventures. Overall, Chris was a passionate, eager young man, who was inspired to live a non-sedentary life and experience the natural world as originally intended for man.

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In Into the Wild, what can we learn from Chris McCandless' story?

Of course this question is going to receive a range of different responses, and I think it is testament to the incredible re-telling of the story of Chris McCandless in this novel that it is able to evoke so many different responses. My own feelings about the story of Chris McCandless are ones of sadness at the tragedy and the waste of his life. I feel very attracted to his personality and the way that he lived what he believed so defiantly, even up until his death, and I must admit that I admire the way he met his death as described in the last chapter of this account before the epilogue:

He is smiling in this picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God.

However, apart from the enlightenment that Chris himself received, I find it tragic that his death was so unnecessary and completely avoidable. I also think it was such a waste of a young life that could have done so much to impact the world. The force of his personality is obvious. The lesson that I take from this novel therefore is never to let your own personal ideology or system of beliefs lead you into such dangerous situations without taking measures to ensure your safety. There is a sense in which the arrogance of Chris borders on stupidity, because his life could so easily have been saved.

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In Into the Wild, what can we learn from Chris McCandless' story?

Christopher McCandless's story is perhaps on of the great episodes of tragic heroism of our generation.  The lesson living within his legacy is difficult to articulate - He was at once a great prophet of the ills our society perpetuates, brilliant young intellectual and tallented writer, and at the same time a naieve young wayward soul.  Of the many angles taken to debate McCandless's validity as a free spirit versus an irrational young man, I have always felt more drawn to his passion for a life less ordinary.  Some would argue that McCandless was "insane" for risking his life in so many ways, ultimately paying the gravest price for adventure.  I would argue that he had to live the way he chose in order to cultivate such a passion - that passion lives on far beyond his final resting place, and is in fact immortalized in a way by Krakauer and Penn - but I also believe that the lesson in his story comes from a life lived on extreme margins so that we can know his passion without having to repeat his risks.

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What points from Into the Wild portray Chris McCandless as a hero?

In arguing that Chris McCandless is a hero, you could draw on the tradition of the tragic hero from ancient Greek drama. As in the works of Euripides, Sophocles, et al., we're presented here with a fundamentally decent man brought low by a tragic flaw, in this case an excessive idealism which severely undermined his capacity for judgment.

Chris headed out into the wilderness with a whole bunch of romantic preconceptions in his mind about living an authentic, self-sufficient life. But this ultimately prevented him from living any kind of life, authentic or otherwise. Pointing out where Chris went wrong like this in no way contradicts any attempt to portray him as a hero. It simply gives a more rounded, human portrait, the kind that one would expect to see in a Greek tragedy.

Yes, Chris was heroic in that he abandoned a comfortable, middle-class existence to lead what he thought would be a more authentic existence. He was also heroic in following his heart and doing his own thing instead of blindly going along with what everyone else was doing. But in the end, he too was blinded by the shining light of his own romantic idealism. And it was this overriding characteristic of his, heroic though it may have been, which eventually led to his tragic demise.

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What points from Into the Wild portray Chris McCandless as a hero?

When writing an argument in favor of McCandless, be prepared to meet a crossfire of opinions regarding the topic. Therefore, to argue that McCandless is a "hero", you should have both the evidence to support your statement and evidence that can debunk any counterargument coming your way.

Let's start with the latter.

Counterargument

The story of McCandless has been under fire for some years now, with people from all backgrounds and fields expressing either agreement or disagreement about Krakauer making the man into some sort of legend.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, 2007 Craig Medred wrote:

"Into the Wild” is a misrepresentation, a sham, a fraud. [...] Krakauer took a poor misfortunate prone to paranoia, someone who left a note talking about his desire to kill the “false being within,” someone who managed to starve to death in a deserted bus not far off the George Parks Highway, and made the guy into a celebrity.

Opinions such as these are neither to be condoned, nor condemned. All points of view on the matter have been justified by those who have postulated them, and each point is valid within its own parameters.

This being said, prior to defending McCandless, be ready to expect criticism. For this reason, you should refer to writer Ronald Hamilton's paper which defends McCandless's defense mechanisms and establishes that the man died from neither being unprepared nor ignorant about his project.

Hamilton was the first to make a thorough study debunking the myth that McCandless was an "unprepared fool" who died "not far off the...highway."

Therefore, for any argument in favor of McCandless as a hero, it is very important to cite Hamilton's “The Silent Fire: ODAP and the Death of Christopher McCandless" as a way to fight back any point of view trying to downplay your theory based on the way that he died.

Argument

Now that you have your "bases covered" on McCandless's possible cause of death, let's focus on his life. The best pointers that would indicate that McCandless was a hero in his own right, or that he could be a heroic figure to many who still follow his cult, are the following:

  • McCandless is a visionary

Very few people have neither the gumption nor the opportunity to shift entirely from their comfort zones and enter a zone of complete chaos for survival. He does this because he has an inner call which helps him visualize something much higher than himself. He is willing to undergo a complete external and internal shift for the sake of this vision. This is indeed something heroic on its own.

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security[..]which may appear to give one peace of mind, but [...]nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit [..]than a secure future.

  • McCandless chose the road less traveled

To use the phrase coined by Robert Frost (and borrowed by psychiatrist and author M. Scott Peck for his 1978 autobiographical work The Road Less Traveled), Christopher chose the road that was most difficult to take in order to understand the meaning of the things that he had heard and read about. To some, his road was unnecessarily tough. To others, this is the only way to achieve complete redemption. No mystic, or metaphysical seeker, has ever achieved the way to the higher power of knowledge through ease and pleasure. The sacrifices endured by McCandless were part of his journey.

And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage.

  • McCandless did more than just become inspired by readings

He imbibed the spirituality of the readings, adopted them as his way of life, and continued on to pursue the real messages hiding between the lines. McCandless learned things that most people would just take for granted, or dismiss altogether. He actually took those giveaways as facts and hoped to lead a life where he could live by those examples and reach a higher connection with the collective universe.

All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you...

The hero argument

Those who support the point of view of the book agree, like you, that McCandless is a hero of non-conformity. He is a hero because he decided to challenge everything that he had ever know. He moved himself out of his comfort zone and into a war zone of survival and constant problem solving. Moreover, he analyzed his whole life and meaning in isolation. This is, perhaps, the ultimate manifestation of commitment to exploring life walking down the road that nobody else would walk.

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What precisely was McCandless's character in Into the Wild?

The answer to this question is completely dependent on the reader. I've had readers say that McCandless was a romantic, an adventurer, or a naturalist. I've also had readers tell me that McCandless was an ignoramus, a loner, a fool, or an anti-establishment rebel.

Gallien asked whether he had a hunting license. “Hell, no,” Alex scoffed. “How I feed myself is none of the government’s business. Fuck their stupid rules.”

I believe that each one of those could be effectively supported with evidence from the text. McCandless is no doubt okay with being alone. Much of Krakauer's account clearly shows that McCandless preferred being by himself in wild locations like the backwoods of Alaska or the deserts of the American southwest. McCandless prefers solitude over company; however, McCandless isn't averse to being around people. He is completely capable of carrying himself in conversation and being emotionally fed from good company. It's why he continually returns to Westerberg and spends so much time with Franz.

I suppose if had to pick a single term that described McCandless, I would pick "individualist." That term encompasses the positive and negative aspects of McCandless. He does what he wants to do when he wants to do it. He was a living example of carpe diem. He listened to other people and acknowledged their advice, but when it came down to it, McCandless was going to do what he thought was in his best interest. McCandless was like this his entire life, and even his third grade teacher recognized this fact.

His teacher pulled us aside and told us that "Chris marches to a different drummer."

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What precisely was McCandless's character in Into the Wild?

There are a lot of terms that can be used to describe McCandless. My favorite one from the book is how Jim Gallien, who gave Chris a ride to the trailhead in Alaska, described Chris as “excited.” Chris’s excitement at finally living his dream of an “Alaskan adventure” had to do with his desire to be apart from other people—to leave the petty trivialities and emotional entanglements of life in society behind for the purer and simpler life in the bush. There is also the sense that Chris, ever the high achiever, felt that this was a kind of ultimate test, a way to demonstrate to himself and others that he could make it on his own. Chris felt that nature was a teacher and that, like any good student, he would be able to “master“ what it had to teach.

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What precisely was McCandless's character in Into the Wild?

Chris McCandless can be categorized as a Romantic. Krakauer describes McCandless as idolizing writers such as Thoreau and Emerson (Transcendentalists). However, McCandless does not share Thoreau's and Emerson's optimistic view of human nature (consider how he viewed his parents and many other humans with whom he came in contact).

American Romanticism emphasizes the purity of nature and its power to teach humans life lessons. McCandless certainly demonstrates this quality. Not only did he want to go into the Alaskan wilderness to test himself, but according to Krakauer, he also showed a desire to want to learn as much as he could from the wilderness. Similarly, Romantics believe in the power of the individual, and McCandless--on numerous occasions--proved that he wanted to "go it alone." At times, he accepted help from others, but apparently did so only to be able to achieve his goal of entering the wild by himself. He truly seemed to believe that he would be able to conquer nature.

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What did McCandless learn from his time in the wild in Into the Wild?

While it is difficult to determine exactly what McCandless learned from his time in Alaska because he died before being able to talk to others about his time there, he did leave behind notes which demonstrate some of what he was thinking about when he passed away.

One note was posted to hikers and was an SOS. McCandless writes that he is out picking berries but begs anyone who reads his note to help him "in the name of God." This note indicates that McCandless perhaps learned the lesson of the newcomer in Jack London's "To Build a Fire"--don't try to survive on your own in the wilds of Alaska. The fact that such an independent free spirit like McCandless would beg for others to help him demonstrates that he had perhaps realized that his solitary trip into the wild was more dangerous than he had anticipated and that sometimes humans have to depend upon one another.

Similarly, the note that McCandless holds in his hand in his last self-photo indicates that perhaps he had somewhat forgiven his parents for not being what he wanted them to be. He wrote, "I have had a happy life . . . May God bless all!" While he does not direct the note to his parents, it seems as if he includes them in the "all" portion and also in letting others know that he has lived a happy life--something that almost all parents what for their children.

Finally, McCandless died knowing that the wild had gotten the best of him. He uses the word "Goodbye" in his last note, indicating his awareness of his impending death, but it seems as if he is at peace with "giving in" to the wild. Perhaps his final lesson was that if one simply pursues his goals, the failure to reach them doesn't necessarily matter in the end.

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Who was Chris McCandless in Into the Wild?

Chris McCandless was a young American traveler and self-described "supertramp," a person who rejected the ideals of modern society to live in constant motion. His philosophies were based in Transcendentalism, which advocates a life of deliberate simplicity. Chris was born to relatively well-off parents, but rejected their lifestyle as being corrupted by materialism. People who met Chris described him as intelligent and quick-witted, and very passionate about his idealism.

He was an extremely intense young man and possessed a streak of stubborn idealism that did not mesh readily with modern existence. Long captivated by the writing of Leo Tolstoy, McCandless particularly admired how the great novelist had forsaken a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute.
(Krakauer, Into the Wild, amazon.com)

Chris spent over two years traveling in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, and eventually found an abandoned bus in Alaska where he set up his camp. He intended to spend time communing with nature and finding his own inner peace and purpose, and according to his recovered journals, he did find what he described as "what is needed for happiness." Unfortunately, he made several critical errors in his knowledge of woodcraft and survival, and eventually starved to death in the bus, where he was discovered by hunters. The book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer describes this period in his life, and was adapted  by Sean Penn into an award-winning film.

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What is Chris McCandless' character arc in Into the Wild?

The early portions of Chris's life are scattered and unformed; he travels from place to place, always intending to live in isolation but somehow always ending up living in towns and with people. His final goal -- to live for a year in the Alaskan wilderness -- seems far away to most of the people he met. However, this can be attributed to his youth; as Chris grew older, he developed a better feeling for what he desired in life, and what he intended to prove with his travels. In one of his journal entries, just before he tried to hike out of the wilderness, Chris wrote:

I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor -- such is my idea of happiness.
(Krakaur, Into the Wild, amazon.com)

In other words, his character arc took him through not fully knowing what he wanted, to having an unnamed epiphany that allowed him better understanding of his desired placed in the world. Chris rebelled against society without fully knowing what that meant; he wanted something different but couldn't put it into words. After his isolation in Alaska, Chris understood that while he didn't want to participate in what he saw as the corrupt materialism of society, neither did he want to be entirely alone for the rest of his life. This is a classic example of the "coming-of-age" story, except Chris's trials and obstacles were entirely self-created.

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Who was Chris McCandless in the book Into the Wild?

Chris McCandless is the main character of Into the Wild, and the person about whom the book was written. Jon Krakauer was assigned to write an article for Outside Magazine about Chris, who had been found dead in an abandoned bus in Alaska, and Krakauer was interested enough in Chris's life to research a book. As it turned out, Chris was the son of a well-off family in Virginia, and he became obsessed with traveling alone and finding himself in nature and the wilderness. Although many people helped him along the way, Chris was determined to find a place where he could live alone and survive by hunting and gathering.

He was an extremely intense young man and possessed a streak of stubborn idealism that did not mesh readily with modern existence... McCandless particularly admired how [Leo Tolstoy] had forsaken a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute... he entertained no illusions that he was trekking into a land of milk and honey; peril, adversity, and Tol-stoyan renunciation were precisely what he was seeking.
(Krakauer, Into the Wild, Amazon.com)

Chris traveled across the United States, and made friends with many people who remember him as an intelligent young man, determined to live according to his own ideals instead of those of society. Unfortunately, Chris's journey ended in tragedy; he traveled to Alaska and took up residence in an old bus, and lived there for several months. However, when he decided to return to civilization, he was blocked by a flooded river, and he found it increasingly difficult to hunt and gather enough food. Eventually, he starved to death, leaving behind many letters, diary entries, and some photographs to document his strange and adventurous life.

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