...Christopher Johnson McCandless, also know as “Alexander Supertramp” to those he connected with while on the lam, was a hiker that that went into the wilderness with little food and equipment hoping to find a life of solitude. On this thrilling journey in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, Chris displays himself to be a hero of authenticity and transcendentalism, and at times even a fool. Towards the end of his life, he truly morphed himself from a college graduate, to a man that lives and strives off the land known as “Supertramp.” Christopher was a genuine boy throughout the course of his life and always saw the positive in negative situations. His bubbly personality was contagious as he mesmerized everyone with his charm and sincereness. His authenticity is show throughout the entirety of the book, but a single quote represents his mentalities and philosophies, “The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun” (Krakauer 57). He lived and died by this mind set, which exemplified his heroism. Christopher knew there was a intense physical challenge ahead of him in order to achieve the emotional enlightenment he set out searching for; this is another prime example that shows the true hero of authenticity. Most people would be deterred from this expedition because they deem...
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...Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, which chronicles the life of amateur survivalist Chris McCandless, largely embodies this claim. It seems the people who ever heard Chris’s story were split into two sects: on one side, there are those who claim McCandless was a misunderstood anti-hero, who showed some twisted nobility through his actions. On the other side, there are those who simply deem McCandless, in Krakauer’s own words, “a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity” (4). While Krakauer falls into the former camp -- mainly due to his own life’s similarities to Chris’s -- it really only takes a moment’s glance at McCandless’s life to see that the latter camp is more correct: while Chris did show some semblance of courage and nobility on his travels, he was, first and foremost, a stubborn, arrogant misanthrope, and that is the reason why he never walked out of Alaska in August of 1992. From Chris McCandless’s early years of childhood, he showed stubbornness in his everyday life. As Chris’s father Walt ruminates, “Chris had so much natural talent, . . . but if you tried to coach him, to polish his skill, to bring out that final ten percent, a wall went up”...
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...influential to his supporters, some of his greatest pieces were created along with his travels. Campbell once said,”A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” That is how many Campbell as, a hero. A man who stepped outside boundaries and gave his full potential to something he believed in. Campbell's story relates to biography Into The Wild By author Jon Krakauer....
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...Christopher McCandless was one of the most flawed characters in the history of nonfictional literary works. His ignorance and recklessness ultimately led to a miserable death in vain. He was inconsiderate and selfish in setting off on his foolish journey to his death. He didn’t bother to consider the consequences, and the grief that people who loved him would be forced to endure. Chris “…wasn’t a nutcase, he wasn’t a sociopath, he wasn’t an outcast.” He was an ignorant fool who threw away his life, hurting the ones who loved him most in the process. The whole foundation McCandless’s ideology and reason for escaping “into the wild” was baseless to begin with. He based his reasoning off of the Transcendalists, who started their movements in...
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...not. Is attempting to jump across worth it? Should I go back down? Or continue up? Each time you ask these things, you have to decide on what to do. Be it rock climbing, playing soccer, or doing anything that involves some sort of decision making, each decision comes with a varying level of risk. In soccer, that risk is minimal and not very life threatening, but when rock climbing (maybe without a belayer), some decisions can come with more serious consequences; these can be anything like small injuries, or they can cause serious injuries or even death. Jon Krakauer, the author of Into the Wild portrays Chris McCandless as someone who takes serious risks, but the benefits Krakauer finds in them are not as big as the risk in my opinion. Taking some risks are worth it as they can help you learn something about yourself, but others are not. In the book Into the Wild, Chris McCandless takes a big risk by going out into the wild unprepared with minimal supplies, but he thinks it is worth proving to...
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...of the apathetic indecisiveness of human beings can be seen in the character Chris Mccandless. Chris Mccandless’ character portrays himself as an interesting character with his hidden passions and disinterest in social connections. Normally a person makes social connections to be apart of something. The human brain by instinct seeks human connection, and it by nature, it demands to be social . Chris went against his own genetic code to do what he wants and to prove to himself to his parents that his opinions matter just like their own. Chris’ love for the nature way of life makes him an unusual character in the face of others. Pink Floyd’s “another brick in the wall” challenges the way human believe their lives should be lead. Everyone condemns their children to social norms and stages. Reality can be nothing but “should..should..should..” however this itself rings true only if the character let themselves be held by the hand forever. These characters can be however they want to be whatever they want to be and Chris took notice of it a long time ago. His straining against the chains prove fruitful because he knows what and who he wants to be. Chris’ call to the wild has always been in his heart and soul. He yearns for release and when he felt done with the normality of a humanly acceptable life style he took his books and left. The supernatural aid in Into the Wild grew the numerous human help Chris had during his journey. He made friends out of luck and natural charm. They want...
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...FAMILY OF SECRETS The Bush Dynasty, America’s Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years RUSS BAKER Contents Foreword by James Moore 1. How Did Bush Happen? 2. Poppy’s Secret 3. Viva Zapata 4. Where Was Poppy? 5. Oswald’s Friend 6. The Hit 7. After Camelot 8. Wings for W. 9. The Nixonian Bushes 10. Downing Nixon, Part I: The Setup 11. Downing Nixon, Part II: The Execution 12. In from the Cold 13. Poppy’s Proxy and the Saudis 14. Poppy’s Web 15. The Handoff 16. The Quacking Duck 17. Playing Hardball 18. Meet the Help 19. The Conversion 20. The Skeleton in W.’s Closet 21. Shock and . . . Oil? 22. Deflection for Reelection 23. Domestic Disturbance 24. Conclusion Afterword Author’s Note Acknowledgments Notes Foreword When a governor or any state official seeks elective national office, his (or her) reputation and what the country knows about the candidate’s background is initially determined by the work of local and regional media. Generally, those journalists do a competent job of reporting on the prospect’s record. In the case of Governor George W. Bush, Texas reporters had written numerous stories about his failed businesses in the oil patch, the dubious land grab and questionable funding behind a new stadium for Bush’s baseball team, the Texas Rangers, and his various political contradictions and hypocrisies while serving in Austin. I was one of those Texas journalists. I spent about a decade...
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...animal Books by Elliot Aronson Theories of Cognitive Consistency (with R. Abelson et al.), 1968 Voices of Modern Psychology, 1969 The Social Animal, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004; (with J. Aronson), 2008 Readings About the Social Animal, 1973, 1977, 1981, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004; (with J. Aronson), 2008 Social Psychology (with R. Helmreich), 1973 Research Methods in Social Psychology (with J. M. Carlsmith & P. Ellsworth), 1976 The Jigsaw Classroom (with C. Stephan et al.), 1978 Burnout: From Tedium to Personal Growth (with A. Pines & D. Kafry), 1981 Energy Use: The Human Dimension (with P. C. Stern), 1984 The Handbook of Social Psychology (with G. Lindzey), 3rd ed., 1985 Career Burnout (with A. Pines), 1988 Methods of Research in Social Psychology (with P. Ellsworth, J. M. Carlsmith, & M. H. Gonzales), 1990 Age of Propaganda (with A. R. Pratkanis), 1992, 2000 Social Psychology, Vols. 1–3 (with A. R. Pratkanis), 1992 Social Psychology: The Heart and the Mind (with T. D. Wilson & R. M. Akert), 1994 Cooperation in the Classroom: The Jigsaw Method (with S. Patnoe), 1997 Nobody Left to Hate: Teaching Compassion After Columbine, 2000 Social Psychology: An Introduction (with T. D. Wilson & R. M. Akert), 2002, 2005, 2007 The Adventures of Ruthie and a Little Boy Named Grandpa (with R. Aronson), 2006 Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) (with C. Tavris), 2007 Books by Joshua Aronson Improving Academic Achievement, 2002 The Social Animal To...
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