Chris McCandless looks up to a long list of people whose ideas contradict their lives. The only one he was unable to forgive was his father. I think this resulted from Walt's role as a father figure rather than than a philosophic teacher. Chris learns directly from his father simple, important life lessons, where Chris's literary role models are only that, words to live by and less a person to learn from. As kids grow up they often expect their parents to be perfect, because thats all they know. Parents become the ultimate role model from a young age, but there comes a point one realizes they aren't as perfect as many children have grown up to believe. Chris admits to how much he really looks up to his father at a party for Chris's graduation. Upon giving his father a telescope for his upcoming birthday, "[Chris] was grateful for all the things Dad had done for him. [He] said how much he respected Dad for starting from nothing, working his way through college, busting his ass to support eight kids" (118 Krakauer). Although often he resented being told how to hone his skills and ideas, Chris admits his appreciation for the effort his father put into raising Chris. It wasn't until he made the discovery of Walt's past, did he become critical.
I think the chief reason Chris became as introverted as he did was because of this discovery and he began to criticize all those around him. When I have felt socially stressed and unhappy with society, I seek comfort, as Chris did, in to comforts of nature. Of course I never attempted a trip to the outskirts of the wilderness, I find comfort in the solitude of parks, or conservation lands. I feel like the intensity of this discovery lead him to the wish to be as far from society as possible, and the critical eye he grew from this discovery was because he felt that if the two individuals he looked up to most weren't perfect what does that make everybody else. with this final straw, he immediately saw only the flaws around him and at that point had enough. To him, myself and I'm sure many others, nature is soothing and allows for one to calm down and clear one's head. His father was not the only role model he had that was far from perfect, of course, but once again the other individuals he professed to admire greatly were admired for their works, because even if their lives were not exemplary, the advice and the wisdom they imparted was the critical and important information.
I also agree with your statement on how children idealize their parents from a young age, and as they get older they become less perfect than they initially seemed to be. I know that’s how I was when I was a kid. And although they may not seem as amazing as they did when I was five, it really hasn’t changed that much at all. But I can sort of relate in how certain people that you idealized as a kid turned out to not be as great as they first seemed. I used to adore baseball and for the most part still do. But when the steroid allegations came out detailing numerous players, star players, who had or do use performance enhancing drugs, I lost a little bit of faith in the league. Although I still enjoy baseball as a whole, the players don’t seem as God-like as they did before when I was younger. I lost some faith in them knowing that they cheated. I guess learning the harsh truth is just a part of growing up, just as McCandless did with is father.
ReplyDeleteI also think that when you are young nearly everything your parents do is perfect and you go through the phase where you want to be just like them. As you get older as a teenager, I think you start to see faults in them and your relationship with your parents gets more complex as you are changing as well. But when you become an adult I think you start to mature and appreciate your parents more. Now that my sister is older, she is more able to appreciate my parents and understand that they are not perfect.
ReplyDeleteOne of Chris's problems with his father is that he dislikes his position. A father's, or a parent's job is to guide a child and help them. This gives his fatherthe chance to tell Chris what to do, which Chris dislikes because it restricts his freedom.
I disagree with your statement about Chris idealizing his father. I didn't get that sense at all, in fact I thought that from the get-go his father and he didn't really get along. I will agree, however, with opinions changing over time. This is shown in the Glass Castle, as in the beginning Rex is a funny, smart guy, but as the story goes on, he gets more abusive and mean. It is the same story with politics, when I was young I though "My idea is good and everyone else's ideas are bad". Now I realize that that is not the case. Every issue has two or more sides to it, and other ideas aren't wrong, per se, but are simply the same issue from a different point of view. If there was only one right answer to every problem, America would not be as screwed up as it is right now. So DUH opinions change. You don't see successful politicians touting the same view they had when they were five. They even change their views over the years, as their stances on views change due to added information and experience. "On Wednesday, I will beleive whatever I beleived on Monday, regardless of what happens Tuesday." See how that makes no sense?
ReplyDeleteI found this post to be very insightful and well written. I was particularly struck by how you compared Chris's father Walt to his idols like Leo Tolstoy and Jack London. You make a good point by saying that Walt is some one Chris had to live by and learn from directly. Walt was some one that Chris knew very well. Tolstoy and London, on the other hand, just wrote words that Chris could connect with. He never met or got to know either of those men. I find as well that the people we know are the ones who become less perfect as time goes on. As we find out more about their strengths, we also gain insight into their weaknesses. Families are perfect examples of that. However, what i think Chris overlooked is that because we know those people well, we must learn to care for them and forgive them. This is because the people we know best, are the people who are most "human" to us
ReplyDelete-Mitchell Ward
I agree with a lot of what you mentioned about Chris and his relationship with his father. Children usually look up to their parents, and from his father Chris got mixed signals. On one hand there is the hard working family kind of guy he sees in his father at home, while he also sees his fathers other kids and marrige to another woman. I think this was confusing, and really hard on Chris, especially keeping what he knew about his fathers unfaitfulness to himslef. This may be part of what made him so determinded to live by himsrlf in Alaska, far away for any part of scociety.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with your post, and I like the way you described nature as the remedy for societal stress. Society puts a lot more stress on humans than we evem realize, and I think it would amaze people to see how different they woud be if they took some im to get away from it all. The only problem I have with Chris' method is that he seems like he is trying to run away from the entire world, when it is actually a pretty futile effort. Kind of like Thoreau locking himself in jail, McCandless' acts don't really accomplish any sort of change or progress. It's a shame, because I think people cold have learned a lot from him if he just made the decision to not forsake society completely. Although, I can see how the issues with his father were probaly the tipping point.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the points you made about Chris's role models, but I think Chris was critical of his father before he discovered Walt's double life. Chris is very opinionated and he was always disaproving of his parents' lifestyle. Altough he did give his father the telescope and said he respected him, "Chris had tossed back a few drinks that night and was pretty blitzed" (Krakauer 118). I'm sure Chris respected his fathers hard work, but I think his father and him always had a strained and distant relationship. In his letters and journal chris often talks about "the truth." I think that Chris's lack of trust in his father is the key reason he left. After learning of Walt's past, Chris doesn't know who to trust. Chris learns that the only person he can trust one hundred percent is himself, and this is what leads him on a solo quest to Alaska.
ReplyDeleteYou make some good points here. I never really thought about how each person Chris meets provides a lesson for him to learn. It is almost as if he was being prepared for his big adventure through all the people he talked to, but when the time came to use the skills and apply the lessons he learned, he failed to. I think he had a really hard time relating to his father after he figured out about his multiple relationships because he felt slightly betrayed. Chris only true role model is actually not any one person, but instead is nature.
ReplyDeleteI think your post was very well written and very interesting to read. I found myself agreeing with almost everything you said about Chris and his role models. I really like the part about how you related the way Chris felt about his dad to how many people think of their parents as they grow older. I complete understand how when you are are little your parents are your idols, however as you grow you begin to see see the imperfections they have in their lives. the seemingly perfect is now flawed. I also i felt like i could connect with what you were saying in your second paragraph. How sometimes you just need to get away from people and life by going back to nature. i find myself often doing that too. Unlike McCandless I am not one to leave my community to actually live in the wilderness, but rather a person who loves going for a run in the wood just to clear my mind.
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