Into the Wild Character Analysis

ENG1030: Freshman Composition

October 11, 2017

Into the Wild Character Analysis

The things that make you great, ruin you in the end. Chris McCandless set out for a journey, and in the end he died doing what he aspired to do, some will describe his journey as arrogant and others will describe his journey as admirable. Many individuals reading the book have different outlooks on how to characterize him and his actions in the book. In my opinion, Chris is relatively a narcissist as well as unrealistic in his actions. He should be admired for the courage to run after his dreams however i do believe that his actions taking place in the book were arrogant, inconsiderate, and unprepared.

Chris McCandless was very unprepared from the beginning of the story. He set out on a journey bringing limited supplies into the wild. In chapter one we learn how unprepared he was, he expressed to Jim Gallien that he didn't have the appropriate appeal for traveling in the wild. Chris also mentioned that the only food he brought was a “Ten pound bag of rice” (Krakauer pg 4). Chris mostly lived off rice, lugging pounds of rice in his backpack. The rice that he brought to live off of stands for his devotion to a simple life, continuously on the verge of starvation. Krakauer wrote “He wore cheap leather hiking boots that weren’t waterproof nor well insulated (Krakauer 5)”. He was over confident with his ability to survive in the wild alone with limited supplies. He gave his 25,000 to charity, he could've bought himself the supplies he needed to survive and live to tell his story himself. He lasted more than most people would in the wilderness, but his death was a result of being unprepared with limited to no supplies. He didn't bring the right equipment he needed to survive off killing animals either. The only killing utensil “he brought was a 22 caliber, he couldn’t depend on the 22 caliber to kill the big animals in the wild (Krakauer, 5). He was unprepared in the equipment he needed to live and to maintain living in the wild, Krakauer wrote “he did not bring any snowshoes or a compass, the only navigation device he had was a tattered state map he bought at a gas station (Krakauer, 5)”. Chris McCandless was very unprepared and arrogant to trust his abilities on his first journey, leaving himself dead for not buying to right equipment.

Chris McCandless was arrogant in the book “Into the Wild”. He is considered arrogant because he was not prepared physically nor mentally in this journey. Before living off the country right away he should have trained himself to survive in extraordinary circumstances. Although he did live longer than most people he could have lived passed just the journey with the right attire and equipment. He also disregarded every driver that picked him up, while he was hitchhiking the drivers realized he was not prepared for this extreme journey and tried to help him and give him advice, he did not acknowledge the advice that was given and went on his way without any consideration of what the person had said. Chris didn’t take the advice because he doesn't like being taught or told what