Blog #27: Nature Writing

1. Do you feel, as one letter writer did, that there is “nothing positive at all about Chris McCandless’ lifestyle or wilderness doctrine …surviving a near death experience does not make you a better human it makes you damn lucky” (116); or do you see something admirable or noble in his struggles and adventures?

Many people have dreams and goals that where build during there childhood but as they get older they become so busy and trapped in the vicious cycle of society that they completely forget. Their main goal is now money and material thing and a good place in society. I admire Chris McCandless because he was completely different then an average adults, he had the strength to leave his life and start a new one where nature became his parent’s and money to him didn’t mean anything.

Why is he different?


Leave his life start a new one “learned new experiences”
People he meet
How he felt in nature

Money didn’t mean anything
- Donated his money to charity
-Burned his wallet he
-Did want his dad to buy him his own car he worked for it.
In conclusion, I think there should always be some kind of balance between society and personal happiness. But sadly today is real hard to keep this balance with such a competitive world you are either in the society fighting for a better place in life or out in the wilderness finding the beauty of the world “ALONE”. I think everything is bad if you take to the extreme. We are humans and like any other type of living creature and organism deep inside we don’t like being alone, or forgotten; I think that love is something fundamentals as food and water and humans need that to survive and the best way you can feel love is trough another person that cares for you. Even though I admire Chris McCandelees for many things I think his mistake was that he become consumed by nature and it’s almost the same as if you were consume by the material society like and addict to shopping or partying because there is no balance. As smart and talented Chris McCandless was he did not know how to balance his life and at the end of the book I think he released that it was time to go back to society he had learned a lot of stuff and done many new and cool thing but “happiness only real when shared”.