January 20th
Journal #2
Getting farther in the book, I am starting to understand Chris more. Like I said before, he is very self centered, and very internal. He keeps his thoughts to himself until he is about ready to explode, and then lets all of his anger out. Obviously, this is not a good way to approach talking to people, and it caused problems in his relationship with his parents. Now, he is free from that, and doesn't have to worry about what people think about him. While on his own, he rarely has run ins with people, which I think benefits him and his character. He is brilliant, and has enough smarts to survive on his own. He is not just a stupid stubborn kid who ran away. I believe this is why his parents never come looking for him or never really worry too much. He knows a lot, and is very cautious. With that said, he is also crazy, and is living in the wild on his own. It will be interesting to see how this book ends!
January 20th
Journal #3
Though Chris' motives are still unclear to the reader, and might not ever be clear, I have my own thoughts. Obviously, around a lot of other people, he wasn't happy. He has a car which he loved, and he gave that away to go into the wild. He had a family that loved him, and a lot of money that he had put away for after college. He had everything set up in his life to succeed, and he just ran away on a whim? Obviously there has to be other reasons. He can't possibly be dissapointed in his past, judging by how successful he has been. Maybe he just got sick of everyone thinking he was perfect. It is a lot of pressure when everyone knows you are brilliant and expects so much out of you. He avoids confrontation with other people, and is more peaceful and happy on his own. This is how I believe he succeeded in life. I feel like he believes he can do anything on his own, and wants to prove it to himself. He wants reassurance that people can be successful on their own, and they don't need to be surrounded by hundreds of other people to make them happy. He also proves to himself that he doesn't need money or possessions to be happy. Although this has already been proven by other people, he is a living example of it. He goes into the wild with nothing, and keeps himself entertained. Though he was lonely at times, and struggled, he kept it together. People struggle everyday with their lives, and he is not any different. For Chris, living in the wild makes him just as happy as living in a household with other people and going to work to communicate with people. I don't know if my opinion is right or not, but it is what I have been thinking while reading this book. Hopefully before the book ends I will get a clearer answer to this.
January 21st
Journal #4
Still unable to find a perfect reasoning for why Chris was in the wild on his own, I took a look at several book reviews online. The first one came from a professor at Gonzaga named John Sisk. John had a very good outlook on the reasoning of Chris leaving. As far as reasoning for entering the wild goes, John says he is, "Impelled by a need to make a name for himself" (Sisk 1) Which may be true, maybe all he was trying to do is make a name for himself. But who was his audience? Something tells me that he was not trying to impress anyone else but himself. He went into the wild to gain a name for himself, not a name for everyone. He was a hero in a sense that he was fearless, and didn't care about what other people thought about him. While having these qualities, and living out his life on his own, he made himself a new identity. This might not at all be what Chris wanted. He went in the wild to get away from everything, from everyone. It would be a shame if everyone went against what he wanted just to evaluate his decision. Sisk also says that he thinks Chris is ignorant, and thinks he is aware of everything in his surroundings. Maybe he is leaving civilization because he believes he knows everything about other people. Everyone but himself. He doesn't know who he is, and feel like he is who everyone wants him to be, not himself. While trying to accomplish this, he dies. He is unaware that he ate a poisonous berry. Chris thought that he knew his way around the wild well enough to never make this mistake. Some people believe that he is unprepared. However, he was pretty well mentally and physically prepared for this journey, or it seems that way to me. A lot of people describe him as someone who didn't know what he was doing, and was unprepared for the situation he got himself into, leading to his death. This is very incorrect. He survived a good amount of time, overcoming several odds, and stayed healthy. Everyone has a different idea of Chris' life, who is right is still unclear to us.
January 21st
Journal #5
From Day 1, Chris has been trying to get rid of his past. I feel like he is ashamed to be known for who he is before he enters the wild. He leaves his everyday life as a brilliant, college graduate. For many people, this would be a good thing, and they would be looking to go find jobs. But for Chris, he will do anything to get away from it. This is shown early, when he hitchikes and lies about his name. He says his name is "Alex", and when asked about his last name, says he doesn't have one. Later, he calls himself "Alexander Supertramp" and carves it on the side of a tree. This tells the reader that maybe he was just trying to get away from it all, his entire life, and start over again. Upon his journey, he meets a Beautiful young girl, and an old man, alot with a middle aged couple. He becomes very fond of all of them, and has no trouble at all socializing with them. I believe that Chris was just sick of the people he was around, and needed change. Even when he finds comfort with the people he meets while traveling, he soon after leaves them to continue on his journey. He never wants constant help from them, and insists that they leave him be, and that he has to continue. This is something i find very odd while reading. His relationships with other people just aren't a priority for him, he worries more about himself and his personal goals.
January 21st
Journal #6
Although the main point of Chris' journey is to get away from civilization, he finds that he needs to communicate with some people every once and a while to get by. Early in the book, Krakauer describes Chris' relationship with Wayne Westerberg. Westerberg picks him up hitchhiking, and gives him everything he needs to succeed. Wayne gets to know him well, under the name of Alexander Supertramp. Westerberg goes even further by offering Chris a job, and letting him keep it. He mentions how Chris is smart and works hard.
"You could tell Chris was intelligent, He read a lot. Used a lot of big words. I think maybe what got him in trouble is he did too much thinking. A couple of times I told him it was a mistake to get too deep into that kind of stuff, But Alex got stuck on things. He always had to know the absolute right answer before he could go on to the next thing" (Krakauer 18).
"He was the hardest worker i've ever seen. Didn't matter what it was, he'd do it: hard physical labor, mucking rotten grain and dead rats out of the bottom of the hole- jobs where you'd get so damn dirty you couldn't even tell what you looked like at the end of the day. And he never quit in the middle of something. If he started a job, he'd finish it. It was almost like a moral thing for him. He was what you would call extremely ethical. He set pretty high standards for himself" (Krakauer 18).
From these quotes, you can tell that Westerberg really cared about Chris. He could tell that he was very educated, and loved having his opinion and hard working self around. No matter what he was doing, Chris always seemed to be giving it his best effort. He realized in his journey that he was going to need help from people around him, and Westerberg offering him a job was a big help to him. Westerberg was arrested, the reasoning unknown. The night after he was arrested, Chris ran away. He didn't leave a letter or any reasoning for leaving, but just left. I think he only felt comfort with Westerberg, not the other workers. It is a shame that he got arrested, because I think he could have really helped Chris on the rest of his journey.
January 22nd
Journal # 7
I have finally finished the book, and really enjoyed the ending. Although its sad that Chris passed away, I think everything he did while away from home is something that should be looked at with respect. Chris was sick of his everyday life, and wanted to do something that not many had after college. He was smart, and knew that he had a lot ahead of him. This is why some people think he is stupid for doing what he did. But for Chris, it was the right thing to do. He was bored with his everyday life and wanted excitement, and to meet new people in unusual ways! It's not that he was sick of civilization, but rather that he was sick of the people around him. He wanted a change, and that is exactly what he got. His relationship with Ron was something that I really enjoyed reading about. He found comfort with him, and knew that he could talk to him. This is something that wasn't common in Chris' life, and i'm glad that he found that. At the end of the day, that is all that Chris wanted. To know that someone was there that he could talk to. Although his parents loved him and wanted to keep him around; they didn't know how. They thought that getting him a new car after college would be the answer, but it drove Chris away more. Getting away from his family was the only way to keep him happy. Overall, this journey was a good decision for Chris. He may not have succeeded in survival, but he did accomplish what he wanted, to be happy and free. That is why I view Chris as a hero, and his journey as an amazing one.
January 23rd
Journal # 8
After finishing the book, I have been reading reviews on what people think about Chris' death. People that knew Chris saw this coming, and did anything they could to stop it. Chris was very liked, as shown in the book.
"He reveals through the eyes of many who met Mr. McCandless during his flight how particularly intelligent, unusual and just plain likable this young man was (New York Times 1)."
Reading this book, the following statement becomes very evident to the reader. The people that met Chris while on his journey loved the time they spent with him, and didn't want to see him pass. They did whatever they could to stop him from leaving, but it was all that he wanted. There are several reviews that say his decision was the wrong one, but that is not for them to say. He did what he wanted with his life, and this was a good decision. Many of the reviews question his intelligence by his death, which I think is rediculous. He was a brilliant man, and graduated from a great college. He had a very bright future, and could have achieved a lot had he not passed. The fact that he died while in the wild was unfortunate, but to be questioning his intelligence on that is rediculous. None of the people who said this would have had the courage to go into the wild in the first place, and could not have survived as long as he did. The one minor slip up cost him greatly, but it was miraculous to me that he made it as far as he did.
Chris McCandless' life will be one that is remembered. Whether or not that is what he wanted remains unknown. What he did is viewed to some as heroics. To others, it is viewed as a waste of time. To Chris McCandless, it was the right choice, and his destiny. He left it to the public to be interpretted, for better or for worse.
January 23rd
Journal #9
I have just finished the book, and it left me with a lot to think about. A lot of the reviews rag on it, and make fun of Chris' decision. To me, this is not their decision to laugh at. Yes they are entitled to their opinion, but I am also entitled to mine. I really enjoyed reading about his life, and think he was a very unique person. The way he went about life, giving it his all, never regretting anything, is something to be admired. He acted on his thoughts, and didn't leave anything for chance. He went against what everyone else said, and did what he knew would make him happy. This alone is what makes me look up to Chris, and view him as a hero. Obviously, it is hard for people to relate to Chris' situation because not many people have lived like he did. He was completely independent, and didn't let other peoples thoughts get to him. This is a quality that close to none have, and another reason to view Chris as a hero. I liked reading the reviews of the book to see what other people had to say, but overall was disappointed in the lack of positive reviews. All most readers focus on is how stupid he is. However, no matter how much some people hated his character, it has grabbed everyones attention. It is almost impossible to say that you have read Into the Wild and say that none of it made you think. Krakauer did a good job in making the reader think, and that was what I liked about the book. I also liked that it was independent, and that we could do this on our own time. Overall, this was a fun project.
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.