The Difference of Chris McCandless
When you're reading Into the Wild you will notice that Chris McCandless was very different than most people in the way he lived his life and the little things he did. All his life he was told what to do by his strict and harsh parents and pressured by them to carry on through school. Even though Chris came off as being disobedient to his parents, like when he was saying the poem to his sister basically blaming them, he was really doing it for himself, like he was trying to find and give a meaning for what he was about to do. He told his parents that he was thinking about attending Harvard for law school but he just wanted to tell them that so that he could buy some time to get away on his own without giving it away. He knew what he wanted to do, which was live out on his beliefs and not compare his beliefs to anyone elses, especially his parents. In the book you can clearly tell that there is a sort of conflict between Chris and his parents, basically over freedom of beliefs. His parents want him to do something major with his life, like be a lawyer or something of higher standard, while Chris just wants to be, well, Chris.
The main reason behind the question “Why are the majority of people not willing to live out their beliefs?” is because most people have a strong influence behind them, such as your parents beliefs and how strongly you feel about them, and that is normally where everyone starts. You have an influence on your own beliefs. Most people are scared to live out on their own beliefs because they feel as if they won’t get accepted by the society we live in today. The world needs more bold people like Chris who sacrifice so much just to live out on their own beliefs. In the book Chris abandons a lot of assets in his life such as money, family bonds, and technology just to live out his beliefs. He gives up his family because he doesn’t feel like they accept his beliefs and they want his so be similar to theirs. He gives up all his money because he says that is what makes people cautious in society, which means people live their life around money and they get too cautious because they don’t live the important times in their life. Finally, he gives up important types of technology. From phones and cars and directions, he goes to communicating with random people, walking almost everywhere he goes, and using a compass and reading out of books to show him the way. He does keep certain necessities, like his gun for killing game in the wild, along with his compass and a little hitchhiking for rides.
All of this would be difficult for people in the world today because, with all of the advancing technology and all of the family bonds, they are not willing to sacrifice the things they have. On a bigger aspect, a lot of people don’t choose to live their lives off of God’s word. He gives it to us for guidance and as a plan for what you need to do with you life, such as spreading his word and bringing people closer to him. A lot of people don’t think of life like that; they think more of themselves and what they want in their lives. Money, technology, and society’s influence on us all has corrupted us in more ways than you can imagine. Think like Chris for a minute. Could you go a month without watching TV or playing on your cellphone? Could you live off of the land without money to just find your own food? A lot of people in this world have to sacrifice what they have to reach out to others that aren't as fortunate as we are. Not many people today would just drop everything they’ve worked for like Chris did and go off of what they believe. Even if you don’t look at life like Chris did or without the word of God, everyone should know there is a way you are supposed to be living out your life. A lot of people in this world don’t believe in God and some don’t put him in the rotation of their everyday lives, even though He is the reason you are here, and you should still involve him instead of “forgetting” about it or being too scared to show your own beliefs. On another note, a lot of people don’t live out their beliefs because they live the same ordinary lives, calling it the “American Dream.” How do you picture your lives after you graduate from college? Do you see yourself living based on your own beliefs and where you’ve made mistakes and learned from them? Or not? A lot of people want the decision made for them or they just follow a role model, mainly because they don’t know if society will accept them or not.
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