Into the Wild

...

way. That’s exactly what McCandless did, his dream was to go live off the land in Alaska and to be free of society. And he fulfilled his dream before he died, so what’s wrong with that? Society now puts a negative perspective on everything so they made it sound like his dream was selfish and he shouldn’t have done it. They also think that if you go out of your way and try a new route, like McCandless did, then you are mentally ill or even insane. Apparently society can’t accept different people. Krakauer explains to us that all Chris wanted to do was be alone, and he finally got it, “The boy could hardly contain his excitement. He was, at long last, about to be alone in the vast Alaska wilds.” (162) He finally got to do something he had been dreaming of; he chose that lifestyle to see where it would bring him. He chose his actions, “He changed his name, agev the entire balance of a twenty-four-thousand-dollar savings account to charity... burned all his cash in his wallet,” (Krakauer Author’s Note). McCandless might have sounded dumb for doing so but he wasn’t, he knew that he was going to need materials to go through this journey but he chose not to do so, and we can’t judge him for that. He was a regular human and had feelings just like us. McCandless kept a journal of almost everything he did and went through. From finding the broken down, used, bus to getting jobs, to weird pet peeves, all the way to animals he couldn’t kill, but he felt pride in living the way he did. One of the most important sayings my parents tell me is, “Nothing matters unless you’re happy,” and that’s exactly what McCandless was. He was so very happy he got to live his dream before dying, it’s not selfish, it’s living your life to the fullest.

People can disagree with the fact that Chris McCandless journey was selfish but it really wasn’t. It was unique and people loved him for that. He understood how life worked and wanted to live it a little more. He was trying to live up to a dream he had, not do something to hurt anybody. Society judges us for how weird our dreams are and they did it to McCandless. Even though people tried to stop him and question him about his quest, he still went on to prove he could do it. He wanted to get away from all the harsh times back home, so that’s what he did. He wasn’t selfish, he was brave to go get his dreams, and that’s what we need to do. We need to be inspired to go out and do the things we love not for anybody else, treat ourselves once and awhile and reach for the things we want.

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor Books, 1997. Print