Krakauer’s life Essay

In April of 1992 a teenaged man named Chris McCandless, from a prosperous and loving family, hitchhiked across the country to Alaska. He gave $25,000 of his savings to charity, left his round-eyed machine and nearly each of his possessions. He burned each(prenominal) the cash he had in his wallet, and cre consumed a refreshful heart. Four months later, his body was free-base in an tumble-down bus. Jon Krakauer constructed a journalistic account of McCandlesss story. Bordering on obsession, Krakauer looks for the clues to the mystery that is Chris McCandless. What he finds is the intense pull of the barbarous on our imagination, the appeal of high-risk activities to three-year-old hands.When McCandlesss mistakes turn egress to be fatal he is dismissed for his naivet. He was said by or so to hold a death manage, scarce absent to die and wanting to see what virtuoso is surefooted of are too very different things. I began to ask myself if Chris in reality wasnt as nuts as some populate thought. Then I realized it was preferably possible that the reason quite a little thought he was crazy was because he had died act to fulfill his dreaming. If he had walked aside from his possibility exchangeable Krakauer, people would learn praised him rather than ridicule. So I asked the question, How does Krakauers life parallel Chris McCandlesses?Chris and Jons life view as many parallels and contrasts at the same time. some(prenominal) gave up or so of their possessions to go after a dream they had. Ones dream was to live glowering the husbandry in the remote regions of Alaska, the other too rising the Devils Thumb, a mountain peak that had never been scaled by man. Each man was aware of the risks, exclusively were they equally prepared when each began their own adventure? I feel that Chris McCandless was at a injury when he first started off. Raised by a wealthy family and on the dot graduating from Emory University I feel he wasnt a s prepared as he could discombobulate been.Fortunately his aim had taken him on hiking trips so he was at least slightly familiar with the wilderness hardly in no way was he prepared at all for the severity of the Alaskan wilderness. I think it would pass been quite a feat just for Chris to have been able to live off the land in a local forest. To be fair to Chris Im sure Krakauer didnt start off by just one day deciding he would stand up the Devils Thumb after he was inspired by making it up the raise wall at the local county fair. Both men had to gradually work their way up to accomplishing their oddments. Jon did this bymany other smaller climbs and Chris worked his way up by studying nature books and roaming across the U.S. So in this way Jon and Chris were a exchangeable thus far though their goals were different.Another way the two were similar was the position that they both(prenominal) had family problems. Though his parents and sister loved him Chris on the QT d espised his parents for covering up the fact that his father had been raising two separate families. Just like Chriss father Lewis Krakauer had already begun to prepare him for a career that he didnt want to be any part of. I think both sons were consumed by a sort of blind heat when they found out that their fathers were less than perfect. This anger render them to rebel and go against their fathers wishes to make their own futures.The biggest (and most obvious) difference between Jon and Chris is that one died living out his dream and the other lived to walk away from it. closely people would say that Chris failed because his goal was to survive in the wilderness. Others would say that Jon succeeded because he made it too the spinning top and lived to tell his tale. However were the incidents really that different? Chris lived in the Alaskan wilderness almost a c days before his fateful mistake that woo him his life. Jon also had a few fateful mistakes that could have cost h im his life but didnt, like the time he caught his tent on fire or when his supply plane couldnt come because of no-good weather.Most people wouldnt even dream of doing either of these feats. When the risks are as high as either of these men approach, even the most simple of mistakes can prove fatal. I think that if Chris was seen as a failure then so should Jon. I think this because Jons original goal was to climb the unclimbed section of The Devils Thumb. When Jon could not accomplish this he cover chargetracked and found an easier, already climbed path. However I think that both men were successful in their own ways. Chris survived for an extensive period of time without the help of civilization but due to the poisonous potato seeds he ate he was too weak to hike back to civilization. Jon realized his limitations and knew he was forced to lower his goal or face death. If anyone was a failure it was Jon because he backed down from his initial goal.Ever since I was a small boy I have been an outdoorsman. I love to go camping and go on hikes. At summer camp I would climb the rock piles and go exploring. I can relate to both Jon and Chriss shoot for adventure. Even here at college I keep open to love the outdoors. I use the climbing brood at the ARC, go snowboarding on the sledding hill, and go running on ROTC trails (during warm weather). But even though I love the outdoors I still dont have what it takes to do what either of these men tried to do. I make out my limitations and wouldnt want to risk my life foolishly. I grapple its possible that I could learn how to but unfortunately all my life I have been taught that someday Ill go to college, get a good job, get married, have kids and live a happy, uneventful life.Which is why I admire Jon and Chris, both had the courage to go against the norm of society and just go do what they felt like. Dont get me wrong I love my life but some days I wish I could do what they did, just throw away all my possessi ons and worries and just do what I really want to do. Bob Marshal put it crush when he said For me, and for thousands with similar inclinations, the most strategic passion of life is the overpowering desire to avoidance periodically from the clutches of a mechanistic civilization. To us the enjoyment of solitude, complete independence, and the beauty of undefiled panoramas is perfectly essential to happiness (Outdoorclub).Ever since man began to look for we have had a desire to conquer and know the unknown. In the days of the Wild West young men would move their families westward in await of adventure and opportunity the wild ones, the men of the wild frontier (Wayne 1). This drive, this manifest destiny, the great pressure of people moving always to new frontiers, in search of new lands, new power, the extensive freedom of a virgin world, has ruled our course and formed our polices lake a Fate, (Weinberg 1) is what compelled Jon and Chris to go against the grain of society and follow their dreams. With less and fewer New Frontiers these two were forced to use to one of the last unconquered regions of the world, Alaska. It was there that they faced their fears and overcame hardships to succeed.In conclusion I think that one of the reasons Krakauer decided to write astir(predicate) Chris McCandless is the fact that he found so many disturbing coincidencesabout his own life that he felt stimulate to tell Chriss story. I think it is quite possible Jon feels guilty about having survived when Chris died. Either way, I think both men were success full even though they both had very different goals and outcomes.Works CitedOutdoorclub. 01 Mar. 2005.Wayne, Bennett. Men of the Wild Frontier. Champaign Garrard createCompany, 1968.Weinberg, Albert. manifest Destiny. Baltimore Johns Hopkins Press, 1935.