Thus far, I believe that Christopher McCandless is an intelligent individual but does not understand his situation, nor his life. I believe he had a reason for what he did but does not understand what he was up against. There are key points in the novel which help describe him. Wayne Westernberg described him as "...intelligent"(18), he also proclaimed that McCandless "...used a lot of big words"(18). This shows me that maybe McCandless was trying to portray himself as a smart individual. Furthermore, I believe that he did perish out of stupidity because he was warned before hand what he was embarking on.
In chapter one, Jim Gallien drove McCandless to the mouth of the unmaintained road. Jim understood what McCandless's situation was because of the poor equipment he had in his possession.. Jim then continued to badger McCandless about what he was embarking on but McCandless resisted any assistance he was offered. This shows me that McCandless strictly wanted to succeed on his won. Later on we come to find that he rejects any assitance that his parents offer him. All his life he trys to get through things on his own. He does not accept assistance from anywone unless he obtains it himself.
Overall, I beleive McCandless was wanting to flee the modern world and survive by himself for an extended period of time. This strangely sounds like what some Native Americans have done to spirtiually find themselves. They go out in the wilderness and survive; they wait for signs which tell them about themselves and their future. Maybe McCandless was attempting to do the same thing, find himslef.
I agree with you, perhaps McCandless was waiting to encounter some sort of epiphany out in the wilderness. I believe McCandless' loose grasp on reality came to be his ultimate demise. his intentions are certainly understandable, but his lack of preparation and refusal of help was what struck me and has me puzzled about his thinking on the matter.
ReplyDeleteThis post is very well written and reflects on many of the points that struck me. I strongly agree that perished out of stupidity and his death could have been prevented with the acceptance of assistance. I also believe that he was trying to find out who he was by losing himself in the wild. I thought that the comparison to the Native Americans was excellent as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderfully composed RJ! I agree that Mccandless was trying to get away from society( this is what I emphazied on). I found it strikingly intresting when you correlated his advetnure with the advetnure of an indian trying to " find themselves" I think you might be on to something here! However I believe that he did not perish stupidly, I think he had a reason/underlying meaning behind his extreme adventure.
ReplyDeleteRJ what a blog! I liked how you connected the indian ritual with what McCandless did. Was he trying to find himselve? Or was he just trying to get away from his everyday life? I also believe that he just wanted time away from society ....an adventure. To me it sounds like McCandless was a perfectionist and wanted to conquer the alaskan wilderness as well, but who knows.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. So many people have just glaced at what he has done thus far in the book and have decided he is a wako. However, you see that there could very well be, a method to his madness. You saw that he was an intellgent individual. Additionally, I think it is a great assumption to assume he went out into the wild to find himself. It makes sense. He was obviously different from the rest of his family, and wanted more from life but he didn't exactly know what yet. This was a way of discovering hisself. Very well written, and great support RJ!
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