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Albara Alshammari English 1102 Assignment 2 March 12, 2013 Into The Wild The book I am writing about is Into the Wild, by John Krakauer. The book follows the life and death of a young man named Chris McCandless. Chris was a man who grew tired of the people and the world around him and decided to embark upon a journey into the wilderness of Alaska in order to be alone and free from society as a whole. Chris McCandless, also known as Alex, was a very ambitious man Chris was found dead of starvation at the age of twenty-four in Alaska after living in the harsh wilderness for two years. Chris was born on February 12, 1968 to a family of well-educated individuals, his father Walt, was an astronomy engineer, while his mother Billie was a secretary. Alex grew to hate Walt when he discovered while visiting California that his father led a double life in California as a father to six children Alex knew nothing of. Alexs disfavor and strange beliefs toward society were most likely caused by this shocking discovery and it led him to try and escape from his unhappy life. Alex had a lot of issues that contributed to his decision to live off the land. Alexs relationship with his father might be one of the main reasons that led him to adopt his strange beliefs about society in general. Alex discovered that he and his sister were illegitimate children because his father was married to another woman when they were born. His father Walt was not a perfect father. In fact, he was busy with life but still he gave attention to his family and did not deserve the entire disfavor that Alex had toward him. However, he hated the fact that his father

had another wife even after he divorced her, but it still was a shock to him. His decision to go to Alaska was a stupid resolution. "I'm going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live." Chris wrote of his mother and father. Alex seemed to be influenced by many things throughout his life such as reading books that that taught him how to become self-sustainable and helped him to make the decision to abandon society and live off of the land. His strong will to live off the land probably originated from something that awoke within him after the revelations he had about his father, probably something that he wanted to prove to himself and the people he once called his family. Chris was looking for a place that fit him, a place where he could practice the freedoms that he was looking for, and he found that place in the Alaskan wilderness. He lived off the land in a very peculiar and interesting way; he wanted everything in certain way and if he couldnt have it in that way, he would chose to not have it at all even if this decision was detrimental to his well-being. Chris refused to obtain a hunting license from the government because he thought that the regulation of hunting should not be part of the governments business. His focus was on living alone, living in another world that would grant him what he wanted; ultimate freedom from society. Chris did not value his relationship toward society; his hatred toward society probably stemmed from the mistrust he had for his father and this mistrust spread to everything else in his life and led him to have a skewed image of society that eventually led him to his lonely death in the cold and unforgiving wilderness of Alaska. Chris only valued himself as a man who lived alone and sustained himself in the wilderness of Alaska by hunting for his food. One of Chris quotes was And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most

ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind death stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head. This quote shows how much motivation Chris had, he chose to go live in an inhospitable area and live of the land, he wanted to test himself and feel strong because he was doing something not many people can do. The amount of motivation he had was so great that if anyone had that type of motivation, they could succeed in whatever they wanted to do. The origin of this motivation most likely came from his hatred toward his parents, this hatred became an overall hatred to society, and ultimately became the main reason for his motivation to leave society and live alone for the rest of his life. When you want something in life, you just gotta reach out and grab it. This was another of Chris quotes that let us see into his thinking process and see how and why Chris wanted to leave society so badly; it was one of his biggest goals and he completed that goal. Chris worked to get where he wanted to get, even if a person thinks that what he did was stupid and close minded, it took a lot of motivation and courage to even get to the point where he got Alex wanted to start a new life and never see his parents again, while most people who wanted to do this type of thing would have just decided to move to a new city and cut off contact with their family, Alex went to the extreme end of the spectrum and left society in general and headed to the wilderness of Alaska. His decision to do this was most likely because of the skewed generalities of society he created when he discovered his fathers other family. Youre wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships Chris said. Before Chris died, he had a change of heart on what he thought happiness was. Chris said that Happiness is real when shared. During his time in the wilderness Chris eventually started

to become less and less happy and becoming increasingly alone through the progression of his journey. He came to the realization the he needed socialization because while he was in Alaska he had met very few people but he would find himself getting a little bit happier and feeling a little better after each meeting In the end, Chris was a good person. He was smart, brave, courageous, and knew what he wanted to do; if he set his mind to anything, he could easily accomplish it. Many people could learn from Chris experiences and aim to try and be like him, not the living in the wild part or hating society, but try to use him as an example on how to accomplish his or her goals in life. Chris failed in his goal not because he did something wrong, but because his luck eventually ran out with his food, he couldn't really control that part of his life. Many of Chris words are words to live by.