Review two examples of Into The Wild essays
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English 3AP

Wesley 6

November 15, 2016

Analyzing Chris McCandless

            Throughout Into the Wild, John Krakauer explores many aspects of Chris’s personality and character. In addition, he quotes many other people’s opinions of McCandless, noting that “Some  readers admired the boy for his courage and noble ideals” while others “fulminated that he was a reckless idiot”(Author’s Note). Both of these ideas hold some truth, McCandless had a complex background, which heavily influenced him throughout his adventures. While Chris McCandless was somewhat prepared for his journey into the wild, his lack of common sense and over inflated sense of confidence clouded his judgement and contributed to his reckless behavior.

            Some people argue that Chris was merely a “narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity,” but what they fail to recognize was that McCandless was actually very intelligent. Not only did he do well in school, but he “wasn’t incompetent- he wouldn’t have lasted 113 days if he were”(Krakauer 85). He knew what he was doing out in the wilderness, he wasn’t just this ignorant, arrogant idiot that some people paint him to be. Furthermore, “he was sufficiently skilled to last for sixteen weeks on little more than his wits and ten pounds of rice” (Krakauer 182).  This illustrates Chris’s ability to survive with so little, further establishing how resourceful and smart he was..

            On the other hand, Chris did have negative qualities; one of the most prominent being his apparent lack of common sense. This was mentioned over and over throughout the novel, primarily dictating that he was not “endowed with a surfeit of common sense”(Krakauer 62). In general, it kind of seemed like Chris was just a little out of touch with reality; he had expectations that were more idealistic that realistic. For example, he went on this huge, dangerous adventure, without really examining the consequences or possibilities. As Chris’s father Walt McCandless explained, “Chris was fearless even when he was little…He didn’t think the odds applied to him”(Krakauer 109). McCandless’s fearlessness demonstrates his lack of common sense because he really didn’t even think about the risks, he just did it.

            In relation to this, Chris was really confident, and while this can sometimes be positive, his slightly overinflated image of himself lead him to believe he could accomplish anything. Walt, his father, reflects on how “Chris was good at almost anything he ever tried…which made him supremely overconfident”(Krakauer 118). Not only is this not a particularly appealing trait to have, but it contributed to how Chris went about his journey. Generally, it seems that McCandless was “perceived to have lacked a requisite humility”(Krakauer 181). His inability to recognize his weaknesses probably lead to how he eventually died. As a matter of fact, when he tried to make it back to civilization but was blocked by a river, “he was unconcerned… there was little reason for him to worry”(188). If he would have tried to find another way to cross, he may have survived, but instead, he overestimated his competence and decided to wait it out. This wasn’t the only reason he died, but had he realized how dire his situation truly was, he might have faced a better chance at survival.

            Not only did his lack of common sense and excess of pride cloud his judgement, but it also made him act reckless. For a large part of the novel, it seems that Chris thinks he was invincible, “he didn’t think the odds applied to him,” as McCandless’s dad said. In addition, he was “heedless of personal safety,” which enforces the his lack of forethought and inability to consider consequences. The author even draws parallels between McCandless and the papar monks, who risked their lives due to “reckless innocence.”(krakauer 97).

            In conclusion, McCandless went into the wild with very little, and while he managed to get by for awhile, his pride and lack of common sense eventually caught up to him. People who say he was just stupid are wrong, Chris was intelligent, but this intelligence was often clouded by his need to challenge himself and live up to the adventures set forth in the novels he read. He was idealistic in that way, but people give him a lot less credit than he deserves. 

English 3 AP Period 2

Mr. Wesley

15 November 2016

Chris McCandless, Brave or Ignorant

            When Chris McCandless first turned up dead in Alaska, many differing opinions of him rose as he got more and more famous. While some thought he was brave, and did incredible things on his adventures before he died, others saw him as just a dumb kid who got himself killed because he didn’t see the danger of the Alaskan Frontier. Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild, a story about McCandless ‘adventures, saw Chris as an adventurer, living on the edge on his own set of ideals, and so do I. Chris McCandless was not just an arrogant kid who did not understand the danger of Alaska, but an adventurer born in a time where sadly all of the world had already been discovered.

            Chris’ adventure in Alaska was not a shock to his family, since Chris had always done things his way no matter what people told him. Chris had been living on the edge for years, dating back to when he was eight years old. Chris never thought like most kids, everything that he had that others did not was cheating to him, and so he tried to make his life fair compared to the lives of the less fortunate. “As an eight-year-old, he grew vegetables behind the house in Annandale and then sold them door to door around the neighborhood,”(Krakauer 115). While this one interest as a child doesn’t prove that Chris wants to live in the wild and starve himself, it shows that Chris had always done things unconventionally. As he got older, and moved on to high school, Chris only got more and more enveloped in his ideals. He wanted to do everything himself, and refused help from anyone, often he would do the opposite of what someone suggested just out of spite. “Chris had so much natural talent, Walt continues, but if you tried to coach him, to polish his skill, to bring out that final ten percent, a wall went up,”(Krakauer 111). He was stubborn to an insane degree, and once he was inspired by writers such as Tolstoy, there was no changing his mind. Chris may not have survived his trip to Alaska, but it was not out of ignorance, he simply wasn’t prepared for that adventure as he had been for his others. 

            I believe that Chris McCandless did not die simply because he was a reckless idiot running into the Alaskan frontier, he had been on too many adventures thus far to just get careless and kill himself. After Chris left college, he began his adventures across the country. He travelled all across the west of the country, eventually crossing the border to Mexico with little more than a canoe. While other people his age were starting careers and families, Chris was in a cave in Mexico on New Years Eve. While the adventure was not good for Chris’ health, he snuck back into the country and escaped Mexico with a greater sense of purpose than ever. With every adventure McCandless got more and more confident in his ability to survive in the harshest environments North America had to offer, and Alaska was next on his list. Some say that if Chris was an experienced camper he would have been more prepared for his trip to one of the most dangerous environments on the planet, but that wasn’t Chris’ way of doing things. To Chris, being totally prepared and having a 100% chance of surviving was cheating, and took all the fun out of his adventures. “His gear seemed exceedingly minimal for the harsh conditions of the interior, which in April still lay buried under the winter snow pack,”(Krakauer 5). Chris only brought a small sack of rice, a low caliber rifle, and some cheap hiking boots that would barley insulate Chris’ feet. Many people took this to believe that Chris was just an arrogant kid, who thought that he was invincible because he hadn’t died so far, which isn’t entirely true. Chris did think he was invincible, but he didn’t pack lightly because he thought camping in Alaska would be easy, he did it for the thrill. If he walked into the Alaskan frontier with a full tent, state of the art snow gear and boots, and enough food to last him long after his adventure, it simply wouldn’t be and adventure to him. Being totally prepared for a trip gives you an almost surefire chance of success, and if you know you can’t lose there’s no adventure, he might as well be camping in his backyard. While these ideals may be a little out of the ordinary, they were his ideals, and he stuck with them to the bitter end.

 Courage is standing up for what you believe in no matter how many people tell you that you are wrong, and Chris McCandless is the living embodiment of courage. Everyone told him he couldn’t do it, everyone said he was just a dumb kid, and he stood up for what he believed in and even died for his beliefs. Even the way he died wasn’t an oversight, he just ate something that ended up shutting his system down. “It means he didn’t carelessly confuse one species with another… McCandless simply had the misfortune to eat moldy seeds,”(Krakauer 194). One simple mistake of not eating clean seeds and he was dead, but that doesn’t mean he was undeserving of the media attention he received,(Krakauer Authors Note). When people read the story of Chis McCandless, they should see his story for what it truly was, not another dumb kid killed by his own arrogance, but a courageous young man who died doing what he loved, even if no one else understood why.