Into the Wild

Name: Thao Dao

Professor: Nathan Leslie

ENG 111/ENF 3

4/28/2016

#Analytical Essay – Into the wild

1/ Provide your analysis of the personality and character of Christopher McCandless. Use the text as support.

“Into the wild” – a book that caught my attention in just 2 minutes after I started to read. I haven’t read any books for a long period of time. I used to enjoy reading when I have so much free time more than now. I thought I lost the passion for reading until I reached this heart-touched book. For real, I cried while I was reading the very last couple pages. Part of helping it becomes a hard-to-put-down book is Christopher McCandless (Alexander) – interesting yet a difficult character to characterize because of his complex personality. He was an intelligent, independence, determined, a little bit careless and self-discovery whenever it comes to adventure but really thoughtful in general.

I said he was intelligent and well-educated as Stuckey said: “The language he used that he was a real sharp fella. He wasn’t what you’d call a typical hitchhiker… Real courteous, and he didn’t cuss or use a lot of that there slang.” (159). Or, it can tell immediately by his grade: “A in Apartheid and South African Society and History of Anthropological Thought; A minus in Contemporary African Politics and the Food Crisis in Africa.” (21). Everyone should see he was a smart guy otherwise he won’t be able to went through tons of odyssey at that young age by himself. He was smart as figure out how to make money to at least filled the fuel and bought something to eat. Moreover, not just in college, he also knows how to play instruments: “To everyone’s surprise, McCandless sat down at the piano, which he’d never mentioned he knew to how to play, and started pounding out honky-tonk country tunes.”

He was independence and determined at the same time. He had met so many strangers that became his friends, offered to help him not one but several times but end up being rejected or just not giving enough as they wanted to. For instance, there was one time when Gallien asked to buy Alex some decent gear for his adventure but he denied: “No, thanks anyway,” (6) and also confidently replied: “I’ll be fine with what I’ve got.” (6). At some points his independence made him seems to look like an antisocial person but actually not according to Carine – his sister: “He was very to himself. He wasn’t anti-social- he always had friends, and everybody liked him – but he could go off and entertain himself for hours. He didn’t seem to need toys or friends. He could be alone without being lonely.” (107). Christ McCandless also very determined and he will definitely complete what he sets out to do: “Don’t hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it. You will be very, very glad that you did.” (58).

Furthermore, and the might be the most important personality of Christ that everyone can easily see and tell are adventurous and sometimes careless. A whole story told us how adventurous Christ can be just in his thought: “they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.” (57). His adventurous get to crazy at some points when he “walks into the wild” without being well-prepared: “He had no axe, no bug dope, no snowshoes, no compass. The only navigational aid in his possession was a tattered state road map he’d scrounged at a gas station.” (5).