Deacon Ritmiller
Mrs. Moffat
English 3-4
January 11, 2023
Was Chris Justified in Leaving?
Who was Chris McCandless? He was a man that wanted an escape from life and his family in search of a greater adventure. While searching for peace and an escape from life, Chris ended up going on the greatest adventure of his life. Chris grew up mostly on the East Coast and moved to Annandale, Virginia as a boy in 1976. He had always loved the outdoors because to him the outdoors felt like home. Chris grew up very fast from a young age due to the trials he went through during his childhood. Chris was justified in leaving his family because he could take care of himself and needed an escape from them to find who he truly was. Chris was a very bright and
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He lived with his mom, dad and little sister in Annandale, Virginia. Chris had a good relationship with his sister. However, Chris’s dad was very abusive to his mother. This made Chris very protective of his younger sister. He also had a soft spot for his mother even though their relationship was complicated. He always found an escape and his main one for awhile was running. Eventually, Chris decided that he needed a longer distance and to leave his family. So, his next big goal was to hitchike to Alaska. “Chris was long gone. Five weeks earlier he’d loaded all his belongings into his little car and headed west without an itinerary. The trip was to be an odyssey in the fullest sense of the word, an epic journey that would change everything.” (22). This quote demonstrates to us that Chris had planned out his trip to an extent but wanted the wild to guide him. This way he could find what he truly needed to find which was himself and …show more content…
He decided to leave on his journey after finishing college. Chris learned many new things on his travels and found happiness. Even though the wild was his sanctuary, Chris had found a home in Carthage, South Dakota. There he had made friends and had become quite close with some of them. They had become a second family. “Hey Guys! This is the last communication you shall receive from me. I now walk out to live amongst the wild. Take care, it was great knowing you. ALEXANDER. (69)”. This quote is what Chris had sent to his friends in Carthridge after he had completed his journey on foot to Fairbanks, Alska, about him going out into the wilderness. Alexander is his fake name that they know him by. It shows that even though he left his own family he had found a new one and kept in contact with them throughout his journey making him less
Chris made a decision that he beloved would fulfill his most greatest desires and then finally find peace within himself. Chris went into the wild unprepared but some didn't believe he'd dare go farther out into the wild with the very little equipment he had. In chapter 1 Westerberg claims "I figured he’d be OK… I thought he’d probably get hungry pretty quick and just walk out to the
Chris is showing signs that he is ready to leave the wilderness when he leave his base camp but discovers that there is no way out. There is no way out because the measly stream he crossed only a couple of months ago is now a raging river. What Chris does not realize is there is actually a way to cross the river about a half mile away. Chris does not know there is an alternate way to leave because he felt he did not need to bring a map. Chris was ready to return to civilization and Jon says, “McCandless decided to return to civilization:
Alex Young Mrs. Moffat English 5-6 11 January 2023 Was Chris Justified? Everyone who has read and/or heard about Chris McCandless' story, they would have thought it was a good idea for him to leave his home without telling anyone. Which ended up costing his life. Some may think that he was crazy and had no business leaving his home.
Eli Eaton Mrs. Moffat English 5-6 11 January 2023 Was Chris Justified? Chris McCandless was an interesting kid, never really fitting into the roles of society, Though being vary smart, and being able to master anything he put his mind to, and was vary likable, he never had the urge to show off or be liked, the book Into The WIld by john Krakaer follows his life, from when he leaves his family without warning, and how he eventually ends up living in Alaska out of a bus. Many people have mixed views on Chris, they might ask “why would he just get up and leave without warning”? “Was Chris justified in leaving his family”?. Well I believe Chris was justified in leaving his family, though it might not have been the best decision, looking into Chris’s
He liked having a challenge and was why he decided to start his journey towards Alaska with nothing but a backpack. In the documentary, Chris’s sisters say how their parents used to take them out into the wilderness, like going hiking, and they explained how they always felt more at peace because there was less fighting going on between their parents. I think Chris grew a relationship with the wilderness because it was his safe space, a space where he knew things were going to be okay. The novel says, “Chris was fearless even when he was little. He didn’t believe the odds applied to him.
Chris McCandless deliberately took risks. Chris was deliberately taking a risk when he left his family to start his independent adventure with no money,
I think he just saw it has an opening and once he finally understood and saw the opening he used that as a justifiable persecution on leaving. Chris father kinda manipulated in a way since he wanted Chris to be a successful student and person, but inside he was was an abusive father, so that’s quite justified. I believe and understand another reason why he isolated himself was that he wanted to find himself and figure out what could make him happy. I think it was a time and opportunity to go out and figure out who he is as a person, and he figured that he was more happier in the wild and in the open nature with no
Dylan Day Mrs. Moffat English 5-6 11 January 2023 Was Chris Justified? I believe that Chris McCandless is justified in not telling his parents for when he left into the wild. I believe that he should be justified in not telling his parents because of all the stuff they put him through when he was little. But one thing is that he should have at least told his sister Carine since they were closer then he was with his parents.
And he ended up accomplishing what he wanted to do even though it resulted in the death of Chris. I think that it was right for Chris because it was what he wanted to do. In the book Chris is obviously very determined to go to Alaska in the way that he wanted to get there. Chris says “It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant memories, joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found.” This is from when Chris wrote the letter to Ron trying to convince him into living a different lifestyle of adventure.
He wanted to live a life of simplicity and to be free from the materialism that he saw as corrupting society. However, his actions could also be viewed as selfish and immature. He left his family without warning or explanation and did not think about the impact it would have on them u realize this on page 37 when he gives his entry about living life to the fullest Chris's actions were also dangerous and reckless. He had no experience or training for living in the wilderness, and he put himself in a dangerous situation without any means of communication or assistance. It could be argued that his decision to leave his family was not only selfish but also stupid Now, there are still plenty of angles to look at this situation.
The first reason Chris Mcandless was justified in his decision to leave is all the trauma he had growing up. Chris lived in an abusive home while he was growing up. His dad Walt was very abusive to Billie, who was Chris’s mother. According to his
Chris also talked about a lot about how he wants to live his life to the fullest and how he's going to do that by divorcing his parents and going out into the wild and never having to see them ever again and he will never talk to them and he was proud of that. That was one of the reasons he was so invested in going out by himself into the wild and he had a lot of confidence in his ability to do so. He wrote a quote in his journal about living life to the fullest “It is the experience, the memories,The great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found. God it's great to be alive!
Nature and its surroundings is what catches Chris’s attention and where he is able to find himself. Living off the land and not having to rely on others or technology is his plan after he graduates school. All two years that Chris is exploring and taking in the beauty of nature and learning new experiences of how to survive, he is not in contact with his family saying they did not care about him. Billie, Chris’s mom, finally realizes why Chris did this, she states “What a pretty place…Chris must of loved it here…I can see what appealed to Chris”(Eplilogue.202). To McCandles
I think he just wanted to pursue life in a different way. Chris was not seeing life the way anyone else was, so he decided to brush off into the wild and be free on his own. Though he did not survive, he was still a very bright, arrogant human being. Shaun Callarman states, “He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness.” Chris knew going into the wild that he did not have much survival skills, but that did not stop him from doing what he wanted to do because he did not care about society and was just completely over everything which was why he made the move to the wilderness.
He wanted full disconnect from the world, fully he didn't want no contact with anyone. “The fact that Chris never bothered to let his family, specifically his parents, know where he was when he was gone for two years” (Jessica Robbins, 2012) she says she doesn't believe he did it on purpose but i feel like he did, the fact he found the truth about his parents is when he felt like his parents now feel about having no clue to where he may be i think he wanted to make his parents feel some of the pain he's felt so he hides himself from the very start. For instance, in the movie you