Argumentative Essay: 'To Build A Fire'

Chris McCandless, also known as "Alexander Supertramp," was a young man who became widely known after his death in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992. His story has been the subject of many books, documentaries, and films, and is often debated whether he was a hero or a fool. McCandless grew up in a well-to-do family, graduated from Emory University, and had a promising future. However, he had a deep desire to escape society and live off the land.

Some of these situations could have been prevented yet he decided to do some sort of an “trial and error”. Whether it was kayaking through the colorado river or surviving under extreme weather conditions, McCandless made it his responsibility to beat the odds. So what and who was he proving that he could live within nature and survive?

The author adds the note from Chris to create wonder, suspicion, and anticipation within the readers. Krakauer finally reveals Chris McCandless’ death in the end of the second chapter. The owner of an Anchorage auto-body shop named Gordon Samel ““reached through a back [bus] window…there was definitely something in it… it wasn’t until I walked around to the other side and saw a head sticking out that I knew for certain what it was”. Chris McCandless had been dead for two and a half weeks” (13).

He urged adults to see the world through the way a child would adore it, in a purer loving way. This goes against many Americans’ viewpoints on life, then and even now. He also mentions that he believes nature is a kind force to everyone, and is never cruel. On the other hand, Chris McCandless’s life is documented by the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. Within the book, Chris’s past is documented by his inability to conform.

He even goes as far as saying, “I now wish I had never shot the moose. One of the greatest tragedies of my life” (Krakauer 167). Another example of McCandless’ mental unpreparedness can be seen when he was discovered by Ken Thompson, Gordon Samel and Ferdie Swanson. They found the letter that said, “S.O.S. I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here.

Even though Christopher McCandless was only an adventurous young man trying to chase his dreams, that still does not account for all the careless mistakes he made in the process. His incompetence did not allow him to last even a mere six months in the destination in which he had desired to live in. His inability to take one’s advice left him with no clue as to what to do next. It was like he was living in the dark. Also, his unpreparedness reached its magnitude when he died of starvation in 1992.

Into the Wild, a book by Jon Krauker and a film by Sean Penn, features the journey of Christopher McCandless, the son of wealthy parents who graduates from Emory University as a top student and athlete. However, instead of embarking on a prestigious and profitable career, he chooses to give his savings to charity, rid himself of his possessions, and set out on a journey to the Alaskan wilderness. Chris McCandless claims, “Happiness is only real when shared. " One should always be prepared to go into the wild. Chris McCandless, a young adult, made the egotistical decision to venture into the wild leaving behind his loved ones and future.

In the beginning, McCandless starts his adventure by cutting himself off from all the human connections he had. He severs all ties from his family, including his sister which whom he was previously very close to. He burns his social security card, changes his name, and decides to travel across the country. Throughout his journey, Christopher often accounts for his parent’s wrongdoings for the reasons why he wanted to run away to Alaska. He subsists with a minimalist lifestyle and is disappointed in his parents’ behaviors and their materialism.

On the contrary, however, this is reckless and arrogant because in the end, he died alone and in a state that told us that his knowledge was not enough to survive and that his stubbornness eventually lead to his death. To illustrate, we can see by the autopsy performed on him that, “Virtually no subcutaneous fat remained on the body, and the muscles had withered significantly in the days or weeks prior to death. At the time of the autopsy, McCandless’s remains weighed sixty-seven pounds. Starvation was posited as the most probable cause of death” (Krakauer 12). This information alone is almost enough to say that he was unprepared for his journey.

The struggle of man versus nature long has dwelt on the consciousness of humanity. Is man an equal to his environment? Can the elements be conquered, or only endured? We constantly find ourselves facing these questions along with a myriad of others that cause us to think, where do we fit? These questions, crying for a response, are debated, studied, and portrayed in both Jack London’s “

Doing everything flawless with no agitation and finessing the trip to Alaska to fall short to a poisonous plant. The only thing that McCandless could have done to survive would probably be not crossing the river because that was the main complication that got him stuck. To conclude, I would agree with Shaun Callarman at the end because there was plenty of evidence on how inadequate Christopher McCandless’s decisions were and how unpredictable his situation was. There was no other way this journey could have ended for McCandless except if he just stayed home from the beginning. Overall, he was amateurish and incompetent person that could not accomplish his dream, but did inspire endless people to follow their dreams and achieve nature tranquility.

While traveling across the frozen tundra, he becomes more aware of hot spring locations under the ice. Fearing the fact of getting wet in this frozen situation, his journey will increasingly become more dangerous. As the man travels along the trail, he pushes his dog ahead to test the ice and

Christopher also knew that his journey could be dangerous and that he could be stepping on the edge of death. Christopher writes this letter to Wayne Westerberg the grain elevator operator who becomes McCandless friend, “If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again, I want you to know you’re a great man. I now walk into the wild” (Krakauer 69). After reading or listening to the story, many

In “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, a man travels in the Yukon on an extremely cold morning with a husky wolf-dog. Despite the gloomy, bitter, numbing cold, the man is determined to get to Henderson Creek. The man fails to realize that nature is a powerful, unfeeling force with control over human life. He knows that his face and fingers are numb, but he fails to realize the seriousness of his circumstances until later in the story. As the story unfolds, the man gets progressively more worried about the situation.

“To Build A Fire”, a story by Jack London, talks about man’s attitude towards nature’s natural state and human’s superiority. The man in the story tries to fight the coldness without coming properly prepared, thinking he is beyond nature That, however, does not work in his favour. This story is a perfect example how, when a man messes with nature, it most likely won’t end well. No matter how much the man tried to fight the freezing weather, the constant drop of temperature, without proper equipment, and with no one beside him, he did not succeed.