Preview

Chris Mccandless Identity Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
150 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Chris Mccandless Identity Analysis
Chris McCandless changed his name "to symbolize the complete severance from his previous. No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny" (Krakauer 23). I believe that McCandless chose Alexander Supertramp because signifies what he hoped to accomplish; to become the best vagabond out there. I believe that he did not achieve in coming the best vagabond because he did not live to tell about his travels. McCandless was free spirited and opposed societal norm. McCandless embraced a new identity so he could escape his current lifestyle, let his spirit run free, and to gain independence which he craved. To assume a new identity means that you are leaving your former life behind. Creating
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Identity In O Connell's Plan B
    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Identity In O Connell's Plan B

    O'Connell creates an identity by describing the characters and the tones of the dialogues. In the book, Plan B, on page 53. When the character Reed Vaughn interacts with the character Vanessa Carlisle, there are often dialogues that contains hints of the identities of both characters. “In addition to being on some academic all-star league, are you also a member of the dress code police squad?” From this dialogue, we can interpret both Reed and Vanessa’ personalities and identities. The words come from Reed when Vanessa corrected Reed’s outfits for school. From Reed’s perspective, Vanessa is a top student and possibly works really hard to achieve these academic accomplishments. This clearly shows us that Vanessa has an identity of being hardworking…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did Chris Mccandless Go Into The Wild
    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How Did Chris Mccandless Go Into The Wild

    Christopher McCandless or Alexander Supertramp should be admired for his courage and noble idea to drop everything and go into the wild, with nothing but a backpack and in it was a book of Tolstoy, a book about native plants and berries, a .22 rifle with 400 rounds of ammunition, a writing implement, a journal, a camera, a 10 pound bag of rice, a small cooking utensil, matches, a knife, and some fishing twine and a hook, and the few clothes he had on his back. Chris was trying to find himself by leaving everything behind, yes Chris might have been a little reckless but you have to be a little reckless to go into the wild and hitchhike around the world. This quote support that's chris was just living and trying to find himself was, “...McCandless pitched his tent in the puny shade of a tamarick and basked in his newfound freedom. (Krakauer 27)” this is saying that McCandless was happy to finally be by himself and start life in the wild,…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Thinking Critically ITW 1 7 RVS ERWC S1 Phillips 14 15

    • 571 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Thinking Critically ITW 1 7 RVS ERWC S1 Phillips 14 15

    he even adopted a new name. No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander…

    • 571 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did Chris Mccandless Die In The Wild
    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How Did Chris Mccandless Die In The Wild

    In 1992 a man began his four month journey of leaving everything behind, college, family, and all his relationships to start a completely new life in the wild. In the book The Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless recreates a new life for himself. while following his long journey, Chris renamed himself Alexander Supertramp and met many people along the way like Gallion, Franz, and Westerberg. Although some people think that Chris’s death has purpose, really Chris died in vain, alone in the woods.Chris proves this when he risks his life countless times and gets repeatedly questioned for it by friends along his trip. Chris wasted his time in the woods and could have lived if he listened to the people around him who were trying to help him.…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of Chris Mccandless
    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Analysis Of Chris Mccandless

    Depending on who you might ask, Chris McCandless was a searcher of life’s meaning, or he is nothing more than some unprepared nut that suffered a deserving fate in the Alaskan wilderness.. Those people don’t stop to think about him, they brush him off as an ordinary hitchhiker and think nothing more. Krakauer explains McCandless’s whole journey as well as who he was before the trip. I can see now that Chris McCandless is anything but a nut; he was a dreamer and wished to see what the world had to offer him. McCandless, if anything, is odd and Krakauer states it best that he could be a pilgrim (60)…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Chris Mccandless Analysis
    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Chris Mccandless Analysis

    The most important place in Chris McCandless’s life is quite possibly the place he died, the fateful Fairbanks bus number 142. The bus is situated in a clearing in the Alaskan wilderness, surrounded by tall trees, undisturbed by the advances of modern life. While the painting is based on an actual image of bus 142, the vast emptiness of the clearing around the bus symbolizes how alienated McCandless felt by his community for his atypical beliefs. The brush growing around the bus and in the corner of the clearing represents modern views trying to invade his personal set of values. In the background, the fir trees represent all the different people in McCandless’s life and how powerful their influences on him. The bigger trees are people like Jim Gallien and Wayne Westerberg, both…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Chris Mccandless The Wild Analysis
    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Chris Mccandless The Wild Analysis

    The journey of Chris McCandless is one you can draw many conclusions from. Some might say he was extraordinarily stupid while others might say he was a man who lived an honest life. Chris was neither of those things. Chris McCandless was simultaneously searching for life’s meaning.…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Chris Mccandless Transcendentalism
    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Chris Mccandless Transcendentalism

    Chris McCandless wanted to start a new life and wanted to be free of his past. Krakauer was explaining how Chris McCandless was trying to start a new life and how he wanted separate himself from his past. McCandless took the new of Alexander Supertramp to truly erase his past (Krakauer 23). By McCandless changing his name goes to show how he really didn't want to live the same life any…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Significant Moments in Time Shape an Understanding of Belonging
    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Significant Moments in Time Shape an Understanding of Belonging

    Throughout “The Namesake”, Gogol has experienced many occasions where his understanding of his identity has either hindered him. Growing up with an abnormal name, he never thinks much of it until his class excursion to an ancient cemetery brings light unto his peculiar difference. In that moment talking to his teacher, telling him “Now those are some names you don’t see very often these days… like yours”, it allows his to have a further insight towards his own identity. With the recurring motif of the importance of names, Gogol had then begun to question his unusual name, and how it often discriminated himself from the others. This significant moment in time helped him gain a further understanding of identity, as until then “it had not occurred to Gogol that names die over time, that they perish just as people do”. This ultimately lead to him changing his name so that he would no longer feel the isolation he was accustomed to.…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Christopher Mccandless Goals In Life
    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Christopher Mccandless Goals In Life

    Christopher McCandless was a confused person who while in the wilderness was seeking whom he was and trying to figure out during time what went wrong with his family. He was an individual who went through what he believed in. He would follow many of the footsteps of others like himself and went with it everywhere he went.…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Body Paragraph
    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Body Paragraph

    Chris McCandless‘s admirers are wrong to believe that he was a deeply honest person. At some moments in Into the Wild, he was not an honest person. According to Westerberg, a McCandless’s friend, said, “He never explained why he’d changed his name” (Krakauer 18). When McCandless decided to make a trip into the wild, he changed his name; he did not even bring any identification with him. During the trip, everybody knew about him under the name Alex. Westerberg was a friend that was close to McCandless, but he never knew McCandless’s real name until he discovered from McCandless’s tax form. Westerberg was so surprised, but he did not ask McCandless the reason why he changed his name. Westerberg knew something happened between McCandless and his father, which McCandless never told him. Unfortunately, he did not have a change to hear the truth from McCandless. The significance about changing his name was that McCandless did not want everybody to know the truth of his personality. He hid everything about himself and his family, except his sister. It was a pain in his heart when he thought about his father. Beside this, McCandless was also a dishonest person in his family. He kept all things he knew about his father inside, even his sister. In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer wrote, “but he did not confront his parents with what he knew, then or ever. He chose instead to make a secret of his dark knowledge and express his range obliquely, in silence and sullen withdrawal” (Krakauer 123). These actions by McCandless suggest much about his character. His problem with his father could be solved if he told the truth with his parents, but he never did that. He just kept inside and became angry to his father, even lying to his friend with a new name. Lying with his friend and his family was lying to himself. He could not stand it because his father was lying to him and his mother, but he still repeated the mistake of telling lies with his parents. Keeping…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Into The Wild Analysis
    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Into The Wild Analysis

    McCandless always had a problem with the government's and society's thousands of rules. Chris was a free spirit and wanted to live the way he thought he should. He was able to after going into the wild. On page 23 Krakauer writes," No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny." This quote shows how right off the bat Chris started living by his own rules. He changed his name and set off into the world as a nomad, living only by rules of his own creation. One of the biggest challenges yet greatest accomplishments was Chris's ability to live off of nature. A quote on page 166 says," The daily entries following his return to the bus catalog a bounty of wild meat." This quote how's that Chris knew what he was doing out there and could survive. In fact, he was doing more than surviving, he was thriving. The final dream Chris got to live in the wild was living an honest life. On page 67 Krakauer writes, " once Alex had made up his mind about something, there was no going back." Chris was a strong believer in living life in a raw form and following his intuition. By living this raw style of life Chris lived his definition of a honest life. Each of these three dreams were very important to Chris. By living them he found what he was really looking for,…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Vagabond: Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer
    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Vagabond: Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

    Into the Wild is an adventurous biography by Jon Krakauer, written about the travels of Chris McCandless. Who is also known as Alex Supertramp, he changed his own name to not be found. Krakauer was a journalist/adventurer himself, that led him to the attraction in Chris’s story. Krakauer shared Chris’s story because of the value and meaning his story has. McCandless left his family, traveled all around the country, then went off the grid in Alaska. His relationship with his parents was detrimental to Chris, but the relationships he made along the way were very meaningful. Chris’s voyage had many trials and setbacks that eventually led to his death. Chris’s journey allowed him to have a meaningful life because he followed…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Dehumanizing Slaves
    • 1999 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Dehumanizing Slaves

    A person’s name is not their only identity. However, the name change did have relevance in the process of identity theft. People personal characteristics, personalities, and qualities assist in the shaping of one’s identity. Kimberly Drakes author of the essay, “Rewriting the American self: race, gender, and identity in the autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs”, focuses on how an enslaved author such as…

    • 1999 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Chris Mccandless Character Analysis
    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Chris Mccandless Character Analysis

    Many people don’t chase or accomplish their dreams like Chris did. “No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild” (McCandless 163). McCandless is an adult, and he has the right to travel just as everyone else has. Chris believed there was so much more to life than getting a career and following the same conformed path as everyone else. “It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which the meaning is found” ( McCandless 37). Chris McCandless lived a life of truth and sincerity.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More