Into The Wild Chris Mccandless Similarities

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Christopher Johnson McCandless was a young man who went on a journey across the United States. His journey was a mix of adventure, independence, and rebelliousness, to say the least. Chris was on a mission to live on his own and find a new meaning of life. Chris’s ideas were very influential and had a big effect on the people he met. Unfortunately, people wouldn’t know very much about his life if he didn’t die. William Melvin Hicks was a very different lifestyle than Chris’s, but these two men have a lot of similarities. Bill was a comedian, musician, writer, and a political/social critic. He died only about a year and a half after Chris, but that is only a small part of their similarities. Chris and Bill were both very odd yet influential …show more content…
People liked to criticize these two, but then later understood why they were the way they were. Chris liked to be alone and do his own thing, and not a lot of people understood Bill’s comedy at first. They both died unfortunate deaths that they really couldn’t do anything about. Bill died of pancreatic cancer in 1994(The Hooligan), and
Chris died of starvation in 1992(Krakauer 1). These individuals did find success on their
2 Murphy personal quests. Chris’s mission was to go to Alaska and live off the land. He wanted to get their on his own which he did, and he also lived in the bush for quite a while.
Chris’s biggest downfall was his lack of common sense. Wayne Westerberg said “there were gaps in his thinking”(Krakauer 63). Bill thought that “every individual had to do something to enhance the human condition”(Outhwaite). Bill did exactly what his philosophy was. He entertained a lot of people in the comedy acts that he performed, his music, and in his writing. Sadly, he was into a lot of different drugs, alcohol, partying, and other poor decisions in his young life(Outhwaite). This later would contribute to him getting cancer and ultimately