Chris McCandless...Man or Coward

Here you can discuss anything related to Christopher McCandless.
scooby
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 3:09 am

Re: Chris McCandless...Man or Coward

Postby scooby » Sun Jan 16, 2011 7:53 pm

not everybody thinks highly of chris,and thats a large assumption to make to say they do.

just what did sick eddie post that prompted such a reply?.i have read his post and felt he gave his opinion,it may differ from other peoples opinion,but that does'nt make it wrong.i would like to say just this one point,its hard for me not to believe that
chris was'nt a bit selfish.chris may not of been obliged to tell his parents(or owe them that much respect),but it would've
been the decent thing to do.he did'nt have to tell them where he was going,just that he was going.i dont know how shitty your parents would have to be not to pay them this much respect.

i have lent friends the book and film and a large amount of them felt chris was a stroppy kid who found something out about his parents he did'nt like,then used his leaving(and their worry about this)as a weapon to get back at them.

it may be popular to idolise chris,but others will have differing feelings about chris and his intentions.we will only ever know a small part of chris's life,some of what we find out may not be very pleasing.chris died young so he will always have the james dean effect,that does not make it a for gone conclusion that he was a great guy.i like to think he was but that does'nt make it so.

SteveSalmon
Posts: 295
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 4:42 am

Re: Chris McCandless...Man or Coward

Postby SteveSalmon » Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:29 pm

~SS
Last edited by SteveSalmon on Thu May 03, 2012 8:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.

GoNorth
Posts: 259
Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:47 pm

Re: Chris McCandless...Man or Coward

Postby GoNorth » Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:01 pm

scooby wrote:it may be popular to idolise chris,


I don’t know how many people like Chris (for what they know about him) just because it’s popular to do so.
I mean, a lot of people feel personally touched by his story (you as well, as you joined this forum) and mostly in a rather positive way (at least in this forum), but that doesn’t necessarily mean idolizing the guy. There are so many aspects about what he did. Just have a look at the different reasons for which different persons identify with him. Krakauer wrote the book partly because he identified with the father-son stuff and the high risk adventures in Alaska. Others focus more on his 2 years journey, or on his rejection of materialism, and so forth.
That doesn’t mean that this guy was perfect or the greatest man ever, but his story just makes so many people think about so many things.
Personally, I like what I know about the person he was in principle, but I don’t agree with every single step he took.
Was he a bit selfish? Probably. But hey, he was just a human being. And this forum is not here to deny that.

SteveSalmon
Posts: 295
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 4:42 am

Re: Chris McCandless...Man or Coward

Postby SteveSalmon » Tue Jan 18, 2011 5:18 am

~SS
Last edited by SteveSalmon on Thu May 03, 2012 8:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

bobenns
Posts: 121
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 6:21 am

Re: Chris McCandless...Man or Coward

Postby bobenns » Tue Jan 18, 2011 9:18 am

Very well put GoNorth.

Chris' life strikes a chord with many. Some get really pissed about it, angry. Some think he's just a terrible person for turning his back on family the way he did. It all depends to a considerable degree on our own background and family ties etc. I like Chris, I like him a lot, but no way is he an idol. I don't idolize people who come to an untimely end by their own foolishness, especially when they could have saved themselves. But I still like him and a lot of things about him. He's kind of like the spirit of youth in me that died in the wilderness, a different wilderness, but wilderness just the same. So I lament his passing and the loss for the world, I wonder what he could have done with his life had he survived that episode. Wonderful things no doubt.

As far as turning his back on family goes, that may have only been temporary, I think he was ready to get back in touch in his last weeks. Its ironic, they would have been there to help in a minute if they had any idea where he was. But he made sure they didn't and so help that never arrived.

We are all shaped emotionally and mentally to a large degree when we are young. Each person is unique to a point, and has self will to a point, but we are conditioned by our environment and upbringing in the formative years and then into puberty and beyond we are still affected by events close to us. Some of us overcome great adversity in life, coming from humble beginnings and accomplishing great things. But we need to feel loved and wanted as children in order to develop and grow into loving and caring human beings. Traumatic events can send us off on a tangent, or down the wrong road, never to recover and be whole again.

I have a half brother. I met him for the first time when he was 45. I never knew about him because I was adopted. I was the oldest of my birth mothers 5 children, but I didn't meet her until I was 47. Funny, my brother and I have the same first name, it became quite a joke with the others when we all finally met, Like Larry, Darryl and Darryl, only it was Rob and my other brother Rob.

Anyway my brother Rob left home at 15 to live on the streets of Toronto. His mother had married a man that drove him out of the house. Its a long story, the step dad had a daughter about a year younger than him. Its a sad story. Anyway after a couple of years sleeping on couches and in cars he went down east. Nobody heard from him for years. At 25 he passed through Toronto and looked up his oldest sister briefly. They never heard from him again. He came out west and never made contact again. Finally after another 15 years went by his mother, my birth mother, used some influence through her job in the court system and located him through police networks. She went to visit him etc. and he stayed in touch until she passed away two years ago. He was damaged and he felt no need or desire to keep in touch all those years. But once back in touch he kept in touch.

Chris I think felt much the same although the details are different he too decided he was on his own in this great big world. A lot of us do that for a while as we grow and slowly mature. I did too. But I didn't stay away forever. And I finally found my birth mother many years after my adopted parents were gone. It was wonderful, I found what I always knew inside, she loved me and wondered about me all those years.
There is no greater scripture than nature, for nature is life itself.

SteveSalmon
Posts: 295
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 4:42 am

Re: Chris McCandless...Man or Coward

Postby SteveSalmon » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:52 am

~SS


Return to “Discussions on Chris”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests