McCandless never asked for hand-outs. McCandless declined assistance from those sympathetic souls he encountered, because McCandless was determined to succeed on his own. Though their gestures were heartwarming, McCandless refused to allow those who embraced him to use their hard earned money to care for him. If in need of money, McCandless inquired a job. If in need of food, McCandless found his own provisions.
Others fulminated that he was a reckless idiots, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity- and was undeserving of the considerable media attention he received (Krakauer 3). He is a later version of what the Hippies attempted when they left middle class society to live off the land. McClandiss said that he hoped to, "fix all that was wrong with my life." When he is found frozen to death in an old bus no one is certain if his death was intentional or a mistake (Smith). A person like Chris McCandless who has everything in the world is still unsatisfied on what is around him.
The book included the part of how the relationship slowly and slowly steadily worsened between his parents, and how at the end, it reached a climatic point where Chris couldn’t stand his family anymore. In addition, the movie does a really good job bringing the other people that McCandless meets in his journey. For example, the movie includes Wayne Westerberg who is really important for McCandless. All these characters are really important because they have impacted Chris a lot in his
i. Tom wasn’t only shot 17 times, he was also unjustly ruled guilty before that. Racist southerners were the root in both incidents. ii. Bob Ewell attacked the kids, with a knife, and eve broke one of their arms. The kids had done nothing wrong to him, but he felt prejudice towards them due to the actions of their father.
“I’ve run into serval McCandless types out in the country. Same story: Idealistic, energetic young guys who overestimated themselves, Underestimated the country, and ended up in trouble.”(Krakauer 72) A part of me feels like Chris is a little ignorant thinks he knows everything. He thinks he has the world figured out but he really has no idea what some of the world is really like. I believe he is very Naïve; he just planned to go to Alaska. Chris did not think everything through because he thought he had everything all figured out.
Aristotle once said, “A man does not become a tragic hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” A tragic hero is defined as a character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his or her own destruction. Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, tells the story of Chris McCandless’s unsuccessful journey into the Alaskan wilderness for hopes of experiencing a transcendental lifestyle. Krakauer interviewed many of the people McCandless had crossed paths with during his journey, and embedded different viewpoints of McCandless throughout the chapters. While there are many different views of McCandless, whether he is a tragic hero is the most popular. Despite the fact readers may view McCandless as having possessed many characteristics of a tragic hero, such as his fate being greater than he deserved, ability to learn from mistakes, and representation of Transcendentalism, his journey proved them all wrong.
Long Vo English 102 Instructor: Sean McFarland A young man named Christopher McCandless who was a great student and athlete. He had many accomplishments in his life, yet had a great desire to one day live out on his own in the Alaskan wilderness. This desire later on led to his death. Jon Krakauer, the author of Into The Wild, created a story about McCandless, about his unique journey from the day graduated high school, until his death in the woods of Alaska. From achieving in academics to walking with the homeless, he lived his life the way he wanted to, following no rules and doing whatever he liked on his own.
Ranchman didn’t travel together back in 30’s so there must be a reason for it. When they both arrived in the bunkhouse, Candy was the only one not to ask about their relationship, and this could be cause by his own relationship with his old dog. He had him “since he was a pup” so he knew how it is to travel with someone for so long. Slim - “big tall skinner” - on the other hand, did ask “you guys travel together?” but his tone was calm and friendly, which showed his basic curiosity but no blame or shock, caused by that particular fact. When George told him “it’s a lot nicer to go around with a guy you know,” showed his close relationship between him and Lennie.
A major idea that was illustrated in the memoir was the concept of survival. This scene is significant because the tragedies that happen, in this scene, leads to Ishmael resorting to methods to keep himself alive and the majority of the book he had to learn how to do this himself. The significance of this scene to the story is that it leads to all the other important events that take place in the story. The first scenes of the brutality of warfare changed Ishmael’s life forever. For example, he never saw his mother or father ever again after the rebels began to attack and destroy the villages.
Going back to Goetz case we find out why he ended up shooting at the four muggers that tried to robbed him. He was abused by his father. “His father was a strict disciplinarian with a harsh temper, and Goetz was often the focus of his father’s rage.”(158) in school he was also teased by other students, he was always the last one to be picked for school games. He was a lonely boy. “The only way we are going to clean up this street is to get rid of the spics and niggers.” (158).