In the opening pages of Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer's account of the journey undertaken by Christopher "Alexander Supertramp" McCandless, we are introduced to a young man who is in search of truth and beauty--something that he beleives can only be found in the unfettered existence and pure wilderness of the American frontier. At the end of chapter three, Krakauer does well to sum up the philosophy that inspired McCandless' break from the constraints of the "civilized world":
[...]The trip was to be an odyssey in the fullest sense of the word, an epic journey that would change everything. He had spent the previous four years, as he saw it, preparing to fulfill an absurd and onerous duty: to graduate from college. At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence.
Driving west out of Atlanta, he intended to invent an utterly new life for himself, one in which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience. To symbolize the
complete severance from his previous life, he even adopted a new name. No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny. (22-23)
In this way, McCandless voiced his protest against what he saw were the excesses of modern society, bound by an irrational reliance on money and business and industry and war and politics. Only when man ventured into the unknown, free of the illusions created by capitalism's false ideals of fulfillment in material possession could he truly discover the human spirit, the God in everything.
That said, I would like you to, in a well-developed paragraph, share your initial thoughts upon reading the opening chapters of Into the Wild. Please be sure to quote the text as a way to illustrate any points you make in reference to the story.
The format for doing is would be as follows: Krakauer writes, "...." (#).
This blog response is due by classtime, Wednesday, April 1, 2009.
Remember to place a heading at the top of your response:
Your Name
Bro. Rob Peach, FSC
Rel 011.05
April 1, 2009
In the meantime, please continue reading through chapter seven.
Brother Supertramp, FSC
14 comments:
Matt Bradley
Religion Section 5
March 30 2009
I think McCandless is foolish to wander into the wilderness of Alaska unequiped with the necessities for survival, but I also see that he is doing this to find himself and escape the corruption and flaws of modern society. He is trying to create a new path for himself by founding a new lifestyle. He went on this journey because he needed to find his soul and make things right with himself, but I still see it as an unacceptable way to go upon doing it. I know that he thinks some things that the government and society impose upon people are unjust (like a hunting license), where Krakauer writes, "Gallien asked whether he had a hunting license.
Hell no, Alex scoffed. How I feed myself is none of the governments buisness, f*** their stupid rules."(6)
I see why he feels this way but I think that he could just deal with it and accept that this is the way things are instead of tourturing himself out in the middle of the frozen woodlands of Alaska with no supplies.
Tom Foley
Bro Rob Peach
religion 011.05
April 1, 2009
I think Chris McCandless was trying to prove a point. Anyone who goes to Alaska with no intensions but to, "live off the land."(4) All he had was a 10 pound bag of rice and a .22 caliber rifel. He left his family along with a good degree and 24,000 dolars to charity. I see why people think that Mr McCandless was crazy but if you look at what he actually did and why you would see like i do. He was trying to find God. How he did it was unsmart though.
Mitchell House
Bro. Rob Peach, FSC
Religion 011.05
March 31, 2009
I think that Chris McCandless is going on this journey for himself. He is going into the wild with little supplies and little planning. To us, this may seem foolish. To go into Alaska ill-equipped is dangerous and silly. However, I think that this is McCandless's whole point. He would know that it is dangerous. He would know that a .22 caliber rifle will not kill larger animals. And he would know that the food he had with him would not last him long. Krakauer writes, "He wasn't carrying anywhere bear as much food and gear as you'd expect a guy to be carrying for that kind of trip"(4). So it obvious that there is a reason, not clear to us, as to why McCandless is taking such a journey. Something within wanted him to go on this trip, under these circumstances. Maybe he is looking for God, peace, or something else entirely. As of now, its too hard to tell.
Chad Goldman
Rel.011.06
Bro. Rob Peach
March 31,2009
I believe what McCandless was doing was very spiritual, but the man just didn't think this whole journey through. McCandless is showing that there is no need for things like money when and if you know how to live off the land. I feel he did the right thing giving his 24,000 dollar Graduate Scholar to charity. It was great for McCandless to go into the wilderness for freedom from modern life but he needed more experience in the wild. In the end McCandless should of alerted his family about what he is up to.
Robby Mazeski
Religion
Bro Peach
March 31,2009
While reading the first 3 chapters of Into the Wild we find out that in 1992 Chris McCandless went on a journey to get away from life in the material world. Chris McCandless is the the kind of person who puts his mind to something and refuses to give up until he has accomlished his goals. He shows determination while working for Mr. Westinburgh, and while he was hitch hiking. He did not let the man driving him convince him to not go on his journey to Alaska. Chris seemed to have answer for everyone of his resons not to go. The story also tells you how his dead sixty-seven pound body was found in a slleping bag by a couple riding an ATV. Chris left a SOS note on the bus saying that he is injured and sick and nees help. He was supposadley decomposing for two or three weeks. There was also a journal and a camera found with him. Chris McCandillis was a very smart and intellegent person and people seemed to like him. I do not think he mad the best decision for himself by doing this because it ended up killing him, but maybe he thought it was the right decision to get away. In the book Mr. Westing burgh thought he might have hade a family issue which is a pretty good reason to get away.
Paul Costello
Rel 011.05
Bro. Peach, FSC
I think that McCandless has good intentions with his journey to the forest, but is foolish for doing so. I respect his views against the government and his anti-establishment standpoint but going out in the forest and practically commiting suicide is not the poroper solution. McCandless hardly had any supplies with him on this adventure. Krakauer writes, "Alex admitted that the only food in his pack was a ten-pound bag of rice. His gear seemed exceedingly minimal for the harsh condiotions of the interior, which in April still lay buried under the snowpack" (5). Mccandless had a good idea to find his soul through just living off of the land, but you need to be able to draw a line. This is why they have religous retreats where you are forbidden to use any technology. If McCandless' goal in his journey was to find God, then I am not sure why he would do something that is so stupid that it proved to be suicidal.
Keenan Owens
Bro. Rob Peach, FSC
Rel 011.05
April 1, 2009
I think that Christopher McCandless is a fool by going to the wilderness of Mt. McKinley alone, but, I "also" think he has good intentions. McCandless' journey is one of 'mystery': one that we would never imagine in our everyday lives. At least he brought along with him a 10-pound bag of rice and a .22 caliber rifle: it appears that he has some sense. I think his point is that we have so much corruption and chaos in our everyday lives; we don't need it, we can just "walk away from it."
I personally don't think that the end of McCandless' journey is what he expected at all!
When the government starts to interfere with his new lifestyle, he gets furious and exclaims as Krakauer writes,"F*** their stupid rules"(pg. 6). In any situation such as this, everyone would think he's crazy, but i think their 'is' some logic throughout his venture. In one time or another, we could use some of his aspects of life in our lives.
While reading the early chapters of Into The Wild, I personally think that McCandless was in some ways smart but also foolish when leaving for this journey. I think that he was smart in doing this in order to get away from his worries, but he also was foolish because of the fact that he was incredibly unprepared, only having brought a gun, a bag of rice, and low quality boots. He also refused help from.Gallien, the man who gave him a ride in his truck. I think that maybe McCandless expected to not survive this journey, and that may have been the reason for him packing so lightly.
Claude Scott
Bro Rob Peach
Religion 011.05
April 1, 2009
In chapters one through three, I think Chris McCandless is wandering into the wilderness of Alaska for himself. He is a fool for wandering the wild with very little supplies. he knows that it would be dangerous to be going into the wild with just a .22 caliber. Knowing it could not kill an animal big enough for him to survive in the wild. And anyone knows that a ten-pound bag of rice would not be able to last him maybe 20 days if he ate about a cup a day. Krakauer writes, he had no ax, no bug dope, no snowshoes, no compass. I think he was trying to die.
James Pozycki
Bro. Rob Peach, FSC
Rel 011.05
March 31 2009
After reading the first three chapters of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, I feel that Christopher McCandless, or otherwise known as Alexander Supertramp, is a very unique and one of a kind individual. He has his own way of thinking and going about everything that he does. When he decides to create his new life and leave everything behind him on his journey, he takes up the name Alexander Supertamp. This name suits him well because a tramp is a name for a person who travels a lot. The reason it suits him well is because he hitchhikes from the east coast to Alaska. While he is in Alaska he lives in the wilderness and he does this with just a backpack full of supplies. Alexander Supertramp is a very strange individual by the normal standards of life but he is a very intelligent man. He shows skills that not everyone possesses by traveling across the country with barely any supplies and without any money. His journey was very risky, but it was an adventure to go out and really find himself.
After reading the beginning of Into The Wild I found a few things that were quite interesting. The main character, Chris McCandless also known as Alexander Supertramp was in my opinion pretty stupid for traveling into the wilderness because he just wanted to be different and "break away from society". I guess he was trying to make a point. But in my opinion too many things could have gone wrong in his little expedition. I mean even though he has a shotgun a bear could just come from behind him and hit him in the back of the head and kill him and the funny thing about it hardly anyone would know he was missing.
Steven Passarello
Bro Rob Peach, FSC
Rel. 011.5
April 1, 2009
After reading the first three chapters of "Into the Wild", I am slightly confused. I say this because in chapter 2 Alex is found dead, so what is the rest of the book about? I also don't really understand the point McCandless was trying to prove. He gave up all of his possesions to attempt to live off the land in Alaska witha 10 pound bag of rice and a .22 rifle. As Gallien said, "a .22 would not be able to hunt a moose or caribou". I do under stand that McCandless was upset with society but, I believe that he could've done something to change that using his intelligence instead of starving himself to death in Alaska.
Patrick Vento
Religion 011.05
April, 1 2009
McCandless as you see is one of those guys who wants to do something for the greater good. He has a nice outlook on life, as you see he gives his life savings to charites and goes off into the wild. Now going into the wild unarmed and not with the best materials isn't very smart but his real mission is to actually find things he's looking for, and there not just material things but within himself. He is setting out on a journey to discover something great. He goes into Alaska to "live off the land."(4) I think that if he is determined enough to do this he can survive and find what he's looking for.
Damion Jones-Moore
Bro Rob Peach
religion 011.05
April 1, 2009
i think Christopher McCandless is smoewhat stupid for traveling into the wild of Alaska with no supplies but i see his his point and what he is trying to accomplish. He wants to start over and get away from the BS of the corrupt world and he wanted to find himself,test hisself to see what he was really made of. I think that he is very bright but the desicion he made was stupid he was just out in the wild exposed knowing each step could have been his last.
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