Ana Galiano Period 1 ERWC Final Essay – Take Home Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, was published in 1996. It tells the story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who went on a journey to Alaska to try to find out about himself and about life. In doing this, was inspired by great writers like Thoreau, whose book, Walden, had offered, his reflections on living apart from mainstream life. However, McCandless was unprepared for the brutality of the Alaskan wild. He made crucial mistakes that lead him to his death and leaving his family to grieve for him.
Chris McCandless beliefs about the world held well on his journey was that he should be independent and self-reliant, based on Emerson’s concept of self-reliance. Abandoning his comfortable life to go into the wild, McCandless comes across my people. One thing is that McCandless decision to leave was justified. By just getting up and leaving it made it easy for him to leave his past behind and start over. It gave him time to focus on what he really wants to do in the future and discover himself.
McCandless could make his own decisions, nobody would have a chance to tell him anything. It gave him time to find himself without anyone finding out where he was going and the dangers that left ahead. The following quote tells of his first decision he ever made on his own without his parents, “To symbolize the complete severance from his previous life,…[adopting] a new name. No longer wouldn’t the answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny”(Ch3 Pg23).
Alex made the decision to change his name, in order to have the ability to make his own decisions. This always him to learn more about himself, though his own mistakes. In the following quote, it tells of Alex having a hard time to leave his sister without saying a word the only person he felt that understood him. “When Gallien asked whether his parents or friends knew what he was up to. Alex answered calmly that no, nobody knew of his plans, that in fact, he hasn’t spoken to his family in nearly two years,”(Ch1 Pg6).
Alex’s decision to not talk to his sister before leaving must have been hard, the following quote is on how close Alex and Carine were, “I think it was one of the reasons Chris and I were so close. We learned to count on each other when Mom and Dad weren’t getting along,”(Ch11 Pg107). All of his decision by just getting up without saying goodbye was justified because there were his decisions without his family getting in the way.
In conclusion, McCandless leaving was justified because it gave him independent and self-reliant, based on Emerson’s concept of self-reliance. By leaving his past without saying a word it gave him independence, he was able to learn from his mistakes. McCandless was able to do everything he wanted without his parents interfering anymore. McCandless was justified in abandoning his comfortable life to go into the wild. We should follow his example and journey out to find ourselves.
