Into the wild #3

Chris is a misguided young man who thinks he can do more than he actually can. He is foolish for thinking he can survive with little supplies. In his ambition to live alone and tramp around there is nothing wrong, but how he goes about that is seriously flawed. This is my understanding of Chris and it hasnt changed throughout the novel. The motivation that Chris has for completing his adventure is that he loves being free to do what he wants. This is exampled on page 108 when it says, "Chris loved those trips the longer the better. There was always a little wanderlust in the family, and it was clear early on that Chris had inherited it." This was an example from when he was out in the wilderness with his grandpa as a young boy, clearly this love of nature and freedom carried into his adult life. On page 114 it states that; "It's somewhat surprising that Chris ceded to pressure from Walt and Billie about attending college when he refused to listen to them about so many other things". This shows how indepedent he loved to be. The fact that him actually listening to his parents is surprising proves that he is super independent and loves doing things on his own with no help from anyone.

into the wild #2

Chris McCandless and John Mallon Waterman we alike in many ways. The first and most obvious was that they both grew up in the same Washington suburb. Both of them attended college but then after graduation didnt use the education they had gotten. Neither of them liked civilization very much and spent a lot of time away from it. Chris on his adventures and John mountain climbing. Another similarity was they both were into politics for a while. Chris went so far as to create a Republican club in college and John even ran for president. Both of them kind of realized they wouldnt be coming back from their last trip and said their goodbyes ahead of time Cris could have been influenced by people like John becasue he saw all of their failures and thought he could outdo them and succeed. He also saw how far they had gotten and knew that if they could get that far then he could too. Chris is very overconfident in his abilities that he becomes foolish at times. He wanted to be the best at everything and to prove to himself that he was better than these other people he needed to do what they did and make it harder. The one thing he didn't learn from them was how to survive and when enough was enough.

Into the wild #1

What do characters emotions and behaviors reveal about personality and psychological states?
In chapters 1-3, the fact that he isn't scared to go into the wild shows he is fearless. He will accept what happens but is confident in his abilities to survive. "He was determined. Real gung ho. The word that comes to mind is excited." He also might have been foolish not to be more prepared.
In chapters 4-6, he questions whether he is the same person who started out on the journey or not. The fact that he isn't eating enough and has lost 25 pounds, yet his spirit is still soaring shows that he is so concerned with external things that he fails to take care of himself internally. Part of his personality is not worrying about himself, he assumes that everything will be all taken care of for him somehow.
In chapters 7-9, when he refuses to forget about his father's past, it shows that he holds a grudge. He can't let it go. When most other people make mistakes he lets it go, but he holds his father to a much higher standard than everyone else. This could be because he was so close to his father that he just excepted better from him and when he learned the truth it shocked him so badly he couldn't forget it.