Chris Mccandless is a Non-conformist in Into The Wild Essay Example

Chris McCandless is a non-conformist who went into the wild to escape from falling into the same adult cycle of depending on money and having to be controlled by a higher power. A non-conformist is a person who goes against society’s norms. The adult life cycle is constantly depending on and stressing about money and always man-made rules. In the biography “Into The Wild'' by Jon Krakauer Chris McCandless tries to find his identity and flees from the constant toxic cycle of an average adult’s money-loving, hollow words, and stressful life. Chris McCandless flees to Alaska to discover his identity and to live a life that won’t have him trapped under a consistent lifetime of relying on money and having to be controlled by a government. 

Chris is a non-conformist who just wanted all of his freedom without having to be controlled by a higher power. Chris leaves without telling anyone or making it known. For example, in “Into The Wild'' by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless disappears from society to discover who he truly is. In the biography the author describes himself changing his identity by stating that, “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 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.”(Krakauer 22-23) Chris McCandless who now goes by Alexander Supertramp changes his name to start a new beginning in his life and to erase his past.He wanted to have control of how he wanted his life to turn out. Furthermore, in “Into The Wild '' Chris explains how being disconnected from the world and being away from the poisonous civilization is the ultimate freedom, it’s stated. “ TWO YEARS HE WALKS THE EARTH. NO PHONE, NO POOL, NO PETS, NO CIGARETTES. ULTIMATE FREEDOM. AN EXTREMIST. AN AESTHETIC VOYAGER WHOSE HOME IS THE ROAD. ESCAPED FROM ATLANTA. THOU SHALT NOT RETURN, ‘CAUSE “THE WEST IS THE BEST.” AND NOW AFTER TWO RAMBLING YEARS COMES THE FINAL AND GREATEST ADVENTURE. THE CLIMATIC BATTLE TO KILL THE FALSE BEING WITHIN AND VICTORIOUSLY CONCLUDE THE SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION.TEN DAYS AND NIGHTS OF FREIGHT TRAINS AND HITCHHIKING BRING HIM TO THE GREAT WHITE NORTH. NO LONGER TO BE POISONED BY CIVILIZATION HE FLEES, AND WALKS ALONE UPON THE LAND TO BECOME LOST IN THE WILD. -Alexander Supertramp, May 1992.”(Krakauer 163). Chris prefers to stay in a place away from others with no communication. And he doesn’t want to be in a place where he’s controlled; he wants to be free. Chris is a freethinker who wants to live a life where he is a hundred percent in charge without having anything cross his path.

Chris McCandless goes into the wild to escape the toxic lifestyle of being money-driven and to escape the meaningless words of people. For instance, in “Into The Wild” when Chris wishes to escape the dullness of peoples pointless words and grinding labor, just as Doctor Zhivago writes, “Oh, how one wishes sometimes to escape from the meaningless dullness of human eloquence, from all those sublime phrases, to take refuge in nature, apparently so inarticulate, or in the wordlessness of long, grinding labor, of sound sleep, of true  music, or of a human understanding rendered speechless by emotion!”(Krakauer 189). Chris relates to this because he wishes as well to be able to disconnect from everything in the world. He desires to disconnect from all the meaningless words and everything manipulated by emotions. Moreover, in “Into The Wild” Chris is someone who doesn’t have a liking to money, he listed as, “ her son, the teenage Tolstoyan, believed that wealth was shameful, corrupting, inherently evil–which is ironic because Chris was born a natural-born capitalist with an uncanny knack for making a buck. “Chris was always an entrepreneur,” Billie says with a laugh. “Always.”’(Krakauer,115). Chris despises money but is naturally good at making it. It’s ironic because he grew up in a wealthy family. In conclusion, Chris flees everything and everyone to escape the shame of wealth and people’s beautiful lies.

Chris McCandless goes off the grid and leaves to Alaska because he refuses to live a life where he’s codependent on money and had to listen to people’s lives. He also escapes to have his freedom. Chris McCandless changes his name to Alex Supertramp which means a master of his own destiny. He wishes to stay away from everyone and anything that can prevent him from having anything in control of him. He wants to be free and live a life as a non-conformist. He thinks that wealth is a shame and wants to get away from people’s meaningless and dull eloquences. Chris McCandless discovers himself in his quest to Alaska to get away from money and money-loving people so that he could find himself and money-loving people.