Essay Help. "Into the wild"?

Question

hey! i have to write an essay about whether i think Chris McCandless has courage and noble ideas or if he was just a reckless idiot wacko who perishes out of arrogance and stupidity. i have to defend my side of the argument and use details from the book to support my defense. but as of right now i dont really know where i stand. so i hope people can give me their opinion and insight thank you! oh, or i could write an essay about why young men and women are drawn to danger like how Chris was. i am so very confused on which one i want to do. which one do you think would be easier? please help! thx.

Answer 1

I think he had noble ideas but came to a realization at the end that there were flaws in his ideals.  That realization comes at the end of the book/movie where he's dying and he wrote down "happiness is only real when shared."  I don't think he was crazy or suicidal, he just wanted to experience life in different ways, and he WAS a smart kid... he graduated from a good college and wasn't he accepted to law school? i dont remember.  He was philosophical and you can get sooo many references from the book to support that.  Also, he wasn't really arrogant... if anything he was humble and low key, trying to live simply.  That makes me think of when he killed the moose or elk and how he thought that was the greatest tragedy of his life because it died in vain since he didn't even get to use its body...he had wasted a life.  He wasn't stupid, he knew all the risks..... he was just following his dreams and going where he found peace.  People should follow their dreams like Chris did.

You should watch the movie too if you haven't seen it... I watched it after I read the book.  Good luck on your essay, and also, it'd be easy to write an essay about young people being drawn to danger because of those two chapters where the author talks about his personal experiences and also that other kid named everett somethin who did basicaly the same thing.