Mankind has unarguably gained control of the world. Nature has remained only as a weak force in the world, but attainable. Life of Pi focuses on Pi Patel, an Indian teenager who is moving to Canada when the ship sinks, bringing down his family and their zoo. He is then forced to survive almost a year at sea in a lifeboat with a tiger. Into the Wild is a biography of Chris McCandless, who gives up city life to instead explore the country. His body is found in a bus in Alaska when he cannot leave. Jon Krakauer, the author, explains how he got there and the people McCandless meets on the way. Jacob Bronowski’s quote is qualified by man’s usual ability to control his environment, but not his ultimate future. Pi Patel has never known anything about the ocean and the only information he has about …show more content…
His Alaskan adventure is always the top priority in McCandless’ mind, even though he is unprepared. He is forced to accept gifts of food and supplies from Jim Gallien once he arrives at the Stampede Trail, though he maintains that he will be fine without outside help. At first, he succeeds in manipulating his environment to feed him, killing birds and small animals, but by the end of his trial, he cannot find reliable game, going hungry. Then he fails in the worst possible way - he cannot cross the raging July river that replaces April’s frozen beaver ponds. No amount of “man” that he is can force the river to calm down and let him pass. As Bronowski’s man, McCandless is unsuccessful. One month later, he is dead. But compared to many of the area’s residents, McCandless is relatively close to success. He has reason to believe he could survive because of his previous adventures in California and Mexico, eventually exploring most of the Western continental United States. However, when it really matters, McCandless cannot shape the landscape to his
McCandless, like most young people, had the unfortunate affliction of immortality. Rather, he believed he was invincible as evidenced from his reckless actions. Throughout the novel, he acted single-minded and idealistic
Exploring the United States of America and the nature of it has been a dream to the many adventure seekers throughout the world. Long adventures like this create long-lasting memories and friendships with Mother Nature and the society around it. Chris Mccandless, a newly college graduate, gives up everything including his Family and possessions to fulfill his dream to travel the west and live in the wild of Alaska. Throughout his long journey he creates many strong relationships with the many people he met hitchhiking his way to Alaska. His ultimate goal was to survive in the wild of Alaska with as little supplies needed and without contact to any human being.
McCandless set off into the Alaskan depths to test himself, to find himself, and to free himself from society’s values. Because of Chris’s radical ideas and his purpose in life to push him into the unexplored, he believed that life is not about the materialistic
As Gallien was on his way to drop McCandless off, he couldn’t help to realize that Chris was well unprepared for this journey and labeled McCandless as “People from the Outside”. Gallien describes the group of “People from Outside” (4), as individuals who see Alaska on a magazine and decide to go there to solve their current problems in life, only to underestimate the terrain and to find out that “it isn’t like the magazines make it out to be”(4) . Without having the appropriate gear, it is surprising that McCandless thrived for so long. However, his uninformed survival tactics is what ended his
Before Chris McCandless excludes himself from society and civilization, he goes to the University of Alaska. There, “…he came across a scholarly, exhaustively researched field guide to the region’s edible plants…” (160). This, by itself, shows that McCandless wants to survive this journey. However, he is doing
In Into The wild, Krakauer narrates the last couple of journeys Mccandless had on his adventure to Alaska where he ultimately died. Mccandless Touched many people's lives through all of his journeys. Mccandless went on these journeys because he was confused in life when he figured out his dad had cheated on his mom. This changed Mccandless to the point he began to hate his parents. Mccandless had a lot of confidence in himself so he left on an adventure to find his identity.
Chris McCandless was a young man who left society behind entirely to fulfill his dream of the Alaskan adventure and escape the reality of life. After burning the last of his money and changing his name to Alexander Supertramp, McCandless migrated throughout the states and unfortunately was immensely unprepared for his journey; he only carried a ten-pound bag of rice, a small rifle, and a tattered road map. Consequently, McCandless dies due to his overconfidence and unpreparedness, which in turn makes everyone curious as to why he embarked on a journey while being so vulnerable. Arguably, Chris McCandless was a noble idealist who wanted abandonment from the falsehood of society and a feel of what nature could give. Chris McCandless wanted
The story of Chris McCandless has become a pop culture phenomenon. Many are fascinated by his desire to abandon his family and society and “walk into the wild” (Krakauer 69). Newscasts, magazine articles, movies, and books have tried to define what motivated him to give up everything for his Alaskan odyssey; however, the answers died with McCandless. People make assumptions about him without knowing his entire story. McCandless chose to do the unconventional, making people think he was either foolish or brave and determined, but ultimately he was justified for doing what he did.
While McCandless was submerged into the utmost wilderness without even the basic necessities that the average person would require for survival in uninhabited Alaska. Krakauer himself says that McCandless did not go into the wilderness to contemplate nature or the world, but instead to explore the “inner country of his own
Throughout the course of Jon Krakauer’s Into The Wild the reader can see that time and time again Chris McCandless is unprepared for what lies ahead of him, which is why he is not a noble man, nor should his journey be considered noble. While it is true that McCandless had gone on adventures before, nothing had prepared him for the bitter cold climate and the lack of food he had in Alaska. McCandless was not prepared physically or mentally and he did not bring anywhere near enough supplies for someone planning to spend the summer in the harsh environment of Alaska. While it wasn’t foolish for Chris to go out and try to find happiness for himself, it was foolish of him to have been unprepared to begin a difficult adventure in Alaska. Chris McCandless
Chris McCandless was a peculiar young man who explored the wilderness of Alaska. Many people would consider him courageous as he died doing what he loved, on the other hand some feel he was foolish and unprepared. Inspired by literature and seeking escape from his rocky relationship with his family, Chris wanted to live off the land in the cold Alaskan winter. Jon Krakauer explores what led to McCandless’s death and explains the actions that led him into the wild. In my opinion, Chris seemed more foolish than courageous, since he was escaping his problems back home and was highly unprepared for what he was tackling.
However, Jon Krakauer proves his argument that McCandless was not arrogant, foolish, antisocial, or crazy by giving examples of other young men who were similar to McCandless to show that his journey wasn’t unprecedented. He also proves that McCandless wasn’t antisocial because he developed personal relationships with Ronald Franz, Wayne Westerberg, and Jan Burres in such a short amount of time and explaining the many times that McCandless respected the Alaskan Bush. Krakauer admits that McCandless may have suffered from hubris; he was still a victim of circumstances. Krakauer proves that McCandless had an intrinsic motivation to discover and that he wasn’t alone because Krakauer too ventured into the Alaskan Bush when he was younger. The Alaskan Bush is a very difficult place to survive if one isn’t prepared for many challenges such as hunting for food or staying warm in the frost ridden
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.
Because he is not prepared, McCandless dies in a bus he finds. Chris had every intention of coming back to civilization, but sadly eats something poisonous and is unable to get it out of his system. Prior to eating the poisonous food, Chris tries to cross the river that he had easily traveled through in the spring. Since it is now winter, he is unable to do so and is forced to retreat back to the bus. Though the book focuses on McCandless, it tells brief stories of other men who have gone into nature and passed away as well.
In the story, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the main character, Pi, is changed as a person after he must kill a flying fish in order to survive. Through this, Pi’s religious morals changed as well as his personality overall. When Pi first tries to kill the fish he continues to hesitate, and has a hard time committing the action to take the life away. As stated in an excerpt, “Several times I started bringing the hatchet down, but I couldn’t complete the action… A lifetime of peaceful vegetarianism stood between me and the willful beheading of a fish” (Martel 87).