Quotes From Chris From The Wild

I think that Chris was very immature because he underestimated the power of nature and didn’t think of the necessary precautions. For example, he thought he could make it in the alaskan wilderness without a map or a compass. The text states “If McCandless had possessed a U.S. Geological Survey topographic map, it would have alerted him to the existence of a Park Service cabin on the upper Sushana River…” (Krakauer 196). I also think he was going on all these journeys to prove something to his parents or another person.

Chris was seeking anything but society in his journey to the wild. He was trying to live on his own

If Chris had a map the outcome would have been completely different. Chris goes into the Alaskan bush in the winter while the rivers are still frozen over and are easy to cross. When Chris decides that it is time to leave and he feel like he accomplished what he wanted in total isolation without contacting anyone he knows and scaring his family making them think that he is dead, he tries to leave the same way he came in but the river that had once been frozen over is now a raging river with freezing temperatures from the glaciers and dangerous rapids that will kill him if he attempts to cross. Chris decides that it would be better if he went back to the bus and stayed longer to try and make a plan to get out without dying. Chris first job was to get food he has a wild edible plant encyclopedia that he uses to forage for edible plants.

The food he gathered was not enough to sustain his life. But, it was the unhygienic conditions in which he stored the potato seeds and his personality that caused his death. Many have described Chris to be incompetent and stubborn. He thought he could survive the harsh Alaskan bush, because

See now Chris loved that old car. It took him everywhere. So for him to just drop it in the desert meant he was determined, but why is he so determined to leave his old life. well Chris grew up in an upper class family, Money was never an issue. He was the first child of three.

Chris McCandless was a complex figure who gained intense national attention after his death. McCandless was born on February 12, 1968, in El Segundo, California, and died at the age of 24 when he ventured onto Alaska wilderness in 1992. Chris was a young man who possessed many positive and negative characteristics that made him really unique. His personality was a mix of traits that made him both admirable and insufferable. One of Chris's most striking characteristics was his independent streak.

The only way he kept going on for so long, was his “knowledge” in the plants and which ones were okay to eat and which one weren’t. He carried a .22 caliber rifle with him in order to kill game that were around. If you ask me, I know a .22 can kill some birds, ducks, rabbits, small things like that. However, in Alaska, there are bears, moose, boar, wolves, just to name a few...now do you really think that a .22 will have enough firepower to kill either one within one shot or two if the animal is big enough. Chris was unprepared, not aware of his surroundings and he didn’t realize how much trouble he got himself into just by stepping a single foot into the wilderness.

After graduating he defied expectations and disappeared. He donated all of his life savings and left his apartment to live in his care and travel to alaska, the site of what he thought would be his greatest transformation, he took this from transcendentalist thinkers and authors such as Henry David Thoreau who glorified nature and individualism. These ideas stuck with him throughout his travels as he accepted all kinds of harsh labor with a passion, he seemed to rejoice in another challenge that he could go up against. This Drive which lead him to be a “doer” lead to him taking one of the most difficult challenges on the planet surviving in the harsh and unforgiving land of Alaska. What eventually caused Chris’s death was the ingestion of a poisonous wild potato seed that contained a protein based poison that lead to paralysis before Chris’s death, further hindering him from collecting food.

In Chris McCandless’ final weeks, he had matured to the point of possibly returning back to society. There is some evidence to prove this including the passage from Tolstoy regarding having a mate as well as children. Unfortunately, Chris is unable to live out any of these because of his lack of preparation before venturing into the wilderness. Even though Chris may have been emotionally, and mentally ready, his physical state was far from being ready to do so. If Chris simply just took a map with him, he would have raised his chances of survival so he could live out some of the moments he longed

He was a confused soul that had been lost for many years luckily on his journey Chris had found independence, and self-reliance he was able to create a new life for himself even if it was towards the end of the line, that life was filled with meaning, purpose, and, “the raw throb of existence” (Krakauer

This explains to us that the only thing that would keep him from starving is by a book about plants, in which later on when he was in Alaska and was slowly dying of starvation he accidently took the wrong plant that was wild sweet pea instead of taking that plant he was suppose to eat a wild potato which researchers think that was attributed to his death. According to the article “How Chris McCandless Died” it says “ in this article I speculated that McCandless had mistakenly consumed the seeds of the wild sweet pea, Hedysarum mackenzii a plant thought to be toxic” (Krakauer The New Yorker 4). In making this comment, researchers argue that the cause of his death was of starvation and eating the wrong plant which he thought resembled the wild potato and also he was brainless off reading of a book of plants that was supposedly preparing him from

Chris McCandless was in his early 20’s, he was the kind of that guy that wanted to learn and experience life without all of the material things. He wanted to be independent from his parents and friends so Chris did something that would be insane for most of us humans but to him, it wasn’t. He went into the wild of Alaska for months, in fact, McCandless even thought he could make it out alive at the end of his journey. As a matter of fact, he was known as being a risk taker and enjoyed being out and about in the nature side of the world. Many would believe that Chris McCandless went into the wild to purposely kill himself; however, I myself believe that McCandless did not do it purposely.

Chris was on a journey to find out how life is without the normal things people needed. Throughout the story I focused on his decisions and how he would react to negative outcomes. When I read that Chris had burnt the rest of his money I knew he had made a bad mistake. Even though he might not have needed the money it would have been some sort of insurance and security just knowing you'll be able to buy food when you're close to starvation. Chris failed to do so and I feel like his death was an outcome to that decision.

Bringing a map, keeping some money with him, accepting items that people offered him, and many more factors contributed to his death. Dozens of predictions were made on how Chris died. Jon Krakauer wrote an article in the New Yorker specifically on how Chris died. “The probable cause of death, according to the coroner's report, was starvation.” (Jon Krakauer “How Chris McCandless Died”)

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.