The Motives Behind Chris McCandless Chris McCandless was a young, smart, and courageous man who seemed to have everything he could have ever asked for. Even though everything seemed to be going in the right direction for McCandless, there was always something inside him that was never really quite right. Some people would argue and say that the reason he walked into the wild was because he was just some reckless, young kid looking for attention, but I believe a very different story. I believe the reason Chris McCandless walked into the wild is because of his troubled hildhood and disapproval with modern society.
I believe this to be true because Chris was always led to believe his whole life that he was the reason his mother was so unhappy, he never had a stable relationship with his parents, and he did not agree with a lot of the things that modern society would consider to be “normal” or “the usual. ” Westerberg was a man who had helped Chris on his adventure and even he knew things were not right between McCandless and his family. In the book Into the Wild Westerberg states, “you could tell something wasn’t right between him and his family” (18).
Therefore, Westerberg was able to figure out just by the way Chris hardly ever talked about his family that they did not have a very close relationship. These are just a few examples of some of the reasons that might have been the motives behind Chris McCandless walking into the wild. Before Chris McCandless ever thought about leaving society to live in the wild as a free man, he lived what seemed to be a very prosperous childhood. His family was very rich so they were always able to go on all these fancy vacations and travel wherever they wanted without a single worry in the world.
Even hough they had all these material things, life was just not normal for Chris and his siblings. Chris’s father Walt was living a double life. In the documentary Return to the Wild a sister of Chris states “he would be there for a few weeks, then he would be gone. ” Chris’s father would split time between his two families and this would obviously have no good effect on the children. Walt was also a very abusive man towards the two women in his life. According to the Return to the Wild documentary Chris’s father would slap, choke, and kick their mother. All of this would happen while the children were atching.
One of his siblings states their mother would say “Kids, kids! Come look at what your father is doing to me! ” (Return to the Wild documentary). So, the kids were basically forced to watch their mother getting beaten on so they could see what an abusive monster their father really was. Since they were given this horrible perception of their father Chris never really looked up to anyone. He never really had a father figure to look up to, so he had to find new ways of thinking and supporting himself. I believe that Chris did this by reading many books of people he looked up to. Some of these authors included Tolstoy, Thoreau, and Lock.
All of these authors fascinated Chris because they gave him new ways of thinking. Most of these authors also really believed that there was more to life than what most people would think. They dove down in deeper and made Chris really question the route he wanted to take in life and how he wanted to experience new things. Not only this, but his mother also made Chris believe that he trapped his mother into having an abusive relationship with his father. A sister of Chris’s states that their mother had once said I’m sorry kids. But when I got pregnant with Chris I got stuck with your dad” (Return to the Wild documentary).
Therefore, he always believed that he was one of the main reasons his mother could not move on from his father Walt. So imagine being an eight year old child who has had to witness all these horrible things, and is just expected to move on from them like nothing ever happened. I think we can all agree this would be hard for anyone to go through and move on from. I believe that walking into the wild was a kind of sanctuary for Chris to go to. The wild rovided a kind of silence and peace that Chris really needed in his life because he was never able to get that at home.
This is just one reason that I believe Chris needed the wilderness in his adult life. Another reason I believe Chris McCandless walked into the wild is because he never really understood the way modern society worked. He had always been a bit different in the way he thought and that was hard for people to understand. For example, his parents tried to give him a new car in college but he simply did not want it. According to his mother Billie she tates “We wanted him to have a new car and he didn’t want it” (Return to the Wild documentary).
His parents felt quite insulted by this act, but Chris found no need for a new car when he had already bought his own car that he loved. I do not believe this was an act of disrespect towards his parents but a way to show how he wanted to live his life simply. He wanted to show people that he did not need all those extra things most people would consider necessary in today’s society. Chris was also able to find a job working at McDonald’s while on his adventure. According to his manager he was very reliable and showed up to work everyday.
Even though he was always there she claims “It was like he was off in his own universe” (Krakauer 40). I believe she says this because Chris was never truly interested in living the typical “college student” life working at a fast food restaurant for a couple of bucks so he could pay off school loans he did not really care about. He found more comfort in the thought of living only with what he truly needed to survive. These are just some more reasons on why I know Chris McCandless did not belong in modern society, but rather n the wilderness where he was able to connect with the universe in such a profound way.
In conclusion, I believe that Chris’s childhood and disapproval with society were truly some of the main reasons he decided to abandon his regular life and walk into the wild. Chris was exposed to many situations he should have not been, and I know that led him to think much more differently than others. That gave him new perspectives on life and made him really question a lot of things in his life. He began to question a lot of things considering the way things worked and how other people thought. Many of which, Chris did not agree with.
So I believe he went into the wild to find something he knew he would never be able to accomplish in his regular life and in my own opinion I believe this was the best for Chris. He sought out to do something so orthodox and even though it cost him his life in the end, he died doing what he loved. Being in the wilderness and experiencing life in such a different way allowed Chris to free himself from all the toxic poison he was forced to go through as a child and I believe he made the best decision he could for himself.