Chris McCandless
Chris McCandless (Alex) was a young, privileged man who went into the wild because of his idealism and contempt for a materialistic lifestyle, his romanticism of Nature, and his desire to live a meaningful life.
I admire Chris McCandless for choosing to pursue his dream of hiking across Alaska no matter how many people thought he was crazy. He “threw away subtlety and immersed himself in the values he thought were worthwhile and pursued the ideals that he felt were important,” (LaMarche). He believed materialism and security were holding people back from following their dreams and finding their true self. Some people might not want to chase their dreams because they are afraid of losing money or their job. McCandless burned his money showing the lack of unimportance money really is. For two years, he lived his dream. Even he died in the end, he died happy. To be happy should be the only thing that matters. However, I am definitely not saying that we should all be like Chris McCandless and burn all of our life savings. Just keep in mind that there is an old saying that money cannot buy you happiness
“By design McCandless came into the country with insufficient provisions, and he lacked certain pieces of equipment deemed essential by many Alaskan’s: a large caliber rifle, map and compass, and an ax” (p 180). Chris undoubtedly should have planned out his Alaskan travels more prepared. More food, warmer clothes and boots would have been a great help as well as the items already mentioned. If Chris would have at least have had a map, he would have known that Healy was just a few miles to the east of his makeshift camp and this would have indeed saved his life. Unfortunately that’s not the way things worked out. Perhaps Chris wanted to test himself and push himself to the very limits. Some think maybe he went there to die. I for one don’t believe it. Chris wanted to return according to the words in his journal, “Disaster…Rained in. River look impossible. Lonely,
I admire Chris McCandless for choosing to pursue his dream of hiking across Alaska no matter how many people thought he was crazy. He “threw away subtlety and immersed himself in the values he thought were worthwhile and pursued the ideals that he felt were important,” (LaMarche). He believed materialism and security were holding people back from following their dreams and finding their true self. Some people might not want to chase their dreams because they are afraid of losing money or their job. McCandless burned his money showing the lack of unimportance money really is. For two years, he lived his dream. Even he died in the end, he died happy. To be happy should be the only thing that matters. However, I am definitely not saying that we should all be like Chris McCandless and burn all of our life savings. Just keep in mind that there is an old saying that money cannot buy you happiness
“By design McCandless came into the country with insufficient provisions, and he lacked certain pieces of equipment deemed essential by many Alaskan’s: a large caliber rifle, map and compass, and an ax” (p 180). Chris undoubtedly should have planned out his Alaskan travels more prepared. More food, warmer clothes and boots would have been a great help as well as the items already mentioned. If Chris would have at least have had a map, he would have known that Healy was just a few miles to the east of his makeshift camp and this would have indeed saved his life. Unfortunately that’s not the way things worked out. Perhaps Chris wanted to test himself and push himself to the very limits. Some think maybe he went there to die. I for one don’t believe it. Chris wanted to return according to the words in his journal, “Disaster…Rained in. River look impossible. Lonely,