Christopher McCandless was depicted in Jon Krakauer’s another famous book, Into the Wild. He had a poor childhood. His parents often fighting and sometimes contemplate divorced. He had six half-siblings from his father’s first marriage in California and when he and his sister were born, his father has’t divorced from his first wife yet. Christopher found this out during a trip to California. That’s probably one of the reasons he went for the adventure.
After graduating from the Emory University, he gave up the opportunity to work, destroyed all the documents, such as ID card, and gave all his savings to the charity. Then, he left his family and went on the adventure.
Being an idealist and having the physical endurance, he wanted to leave this society and live a pure life alone. He made his way through Arizona, California, South Dakota and the Gulf of California. Sometimes he slept on the street, sometimes he worked with others. He kind of fell in love with a girl and got a lot of help from the strangers, having a wonderful time with humans . Although they all asked him to stay , he couldn’t resist his need to leave this society. So finally he headed to his dream destination, Alaska.
He took pride for living with little gears. That’s a beginning of this tragedy. He hiked into the wild and fortunately found an abandoned bus used as hunting shelters. Then he started his life in the wild. The notebook records his 113 days in the wild and his emotions from ecstatic to grim with the changing of his food and gears. At one time in spring, he decided to go back. But block by the river that was frozen when he made the way here. So he gave up the thought and decide to leave when the flash was gone. Soon after he digested a poison plant and died from starvation. In his final words, he wrote “I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!”.
After reading this book, I felt really inspired, one person can pursue his spiritual goal at the cost his life. He could certainly choose another life. Graduating from a famous university and living a wealthy family, he could either find a job or live nice without working. But he didn’t. He knew what he want and did whatever for it. The picture above is taken before his death. He even took a shower and shaved his hair for this picture. He knew he was in danger but he was still calm and smiling. He was not afraid of death but felt satisfied because he accomplished his dream. In this crazy society, I wish I can possess a pure heart, be the one I want to be and accomplish my dream like him.
fysheroes 
#1 by urws2ac on March 3, 2011 - 4:57 pm
This blog was very interesting, that a person would go through such an “adventure” and die from digesting a poisonous plant. This person had great mental and spiritual strength to make this journey to Alaska and live his life in the wild.
#2 by urmb6vy on March 3, 2011 - 6:46 pm
I found this post interesting because while Christopher McCandless wasn’t a hero in the usual sense, he showed heroic qualities in not being afraid to go against the grain and do what he wanted to do, caring nothing about what anyone else thought of him. Not many people are able to say that have done that, especially in this day and age. I’d never heard of McCandless before I read this post but it seems like an extremely intriguing story. I enjoyed reading the line that the author of this post wrote saying, “He was not afraid of death but felt satisfied because he accomplished his dream.” Life is so busy and stressful at times that sometimes you get caught up in all the craziness and your dream for life gets overshadowed by everything else that you have to do. Christopher McCandless is the perfect example of a man who decided to go against the grain of society and pursue his own dream in life, no matter how different it might’ve been.
#3 by urbe5gm on March 4, 2011 - 1:22 am
I believe that Christopher McCandless is a hero because he stepped outside of the normal person in a normal society and adventured out into the wild. He is an inspiration to many people who believe they can not do what they want because society will not let them. People always have the option, you just have to take that option and run with it like McCandless did. He had a dream and chased it like everyone else in the world should do.
#4 by de9yb on April 12, 2011 - 12:50 am
Everyone has something they’d live for, few have something they’d die for. Christopher McCandless is among those few, who, despite many more socially and economically appetizing potential life paths, chose to pursue his own definition of purpose. His definition of purpose was to live in the wild which he decided outweighed the current life he lived. It is inspiring to see someone who is truly willing to risk everything to follow their goals and/or spiritual path. I think it can make us all think about how much we are giving up to reach our goals, and if we are in fact giving all that we can.
#5 by ogrody on April 20, 2012 - 6:45 pm
I think what you said was actually very logical. However, what about this? what if you were to create a awesome headline? I am not suggesting your information isn’t good, however what if you added something that makes people want more? I mean Christopher McCandless – Who Truly lived in his life fysheroes is kinda plain. You might glance at Yahoo’s front page and note how they write news headlines to get people to open the links. You might add a related video or a related pic or two to get people interested about what you’ve got to say. Just my opinion, it might bring your website a little livelier.