Chris McCandless Search For Truth in Jon Krakauers Into...

Human nature tells us to want what we cant or dont have. Everything from people to a toy to a kind of hairstyle – we just always want what isnt ours. Chris McCandless from Jon Krakauers Into The Wild is no exception. He lives his life as part of an upper-middle class family, is smart, and goes to and does well in college, but he still feels like something is missing from his life. He want something completely opposite of the life hes used to. Chris McCandless spent a lot of time looking for something entirely different from what he already had and while he found true happiness it eventually lead to his demise. Life is not something that can be defined by any single person. Everyone sees life as having a different purpose.†¦show more content†¦It was the Wild, the savage, frozen-hearted Northland Wild. Jack London, White Fang.† (9) Jack London was the primary reason he left to go to the â€Å"Northland Wild.† Alaska became a place that called him after reading things from Jack London. London describes â€Å"the Wild† with such grace and intensity that it must have just hit home for McCandless. He was obviously inspired by something Jack London said or he probably wouldnt have decided to give up everything he had to live like a homeless man. Chris McCandlesss parents were prepared to send him to law school upon his graduation from Emory University because they were under the impression that thats what he wanted to do. They had no idea what their son was really planning. â€Å"We misread him, his father admits. What Walt, Billie, and Carine didnt know...was that he would shortly donate all the money in his college fund to...a charity dedicated to fighting hunger.† (20) They had no idea what he was really up to, and thats how he wanted it. He just wanted to live his own life without his parent s even knowing where he was. Toward the end of June the summer after he graduated, he sent his parents his transcripts. They didnt hear from him again, so in August they decided to go visit him is his apartment in Atlanta: â€Å"When they arrived at his apartment, it was empty and a FOR RENT sign was taped to the window. The manager said that Chris had moved out at the end ofShow MoreRelatedInto the Wild by Chris McCandless710 Words   |  3 Pagesone’s self. In Jon Krakauer’s, Into The Wild, Chris McCandless conveys this idealism through his life’s journey as he bravely defies all limitations. Chris McCandless isolates himself from society in his Alaskan Odyssey as a way to defy accepted expectations and to begin discovering the meanings of life without any corrupted influences. Chris McCandless â€Å"had been raised in the comfortable upper-middle-class environs of Annandale, Virginia† (Krakauer 19) so growing up, McCandless lived a considerablyRead MoreInto The Wild By Jon Krakauer1856 Words   |  8 PagesInto the Wild by Jon Krakauer 1. Who was the most compelling character? Why? What conflicts did this character face? How did the author develop this character? Include one or two supporting quotations with page number or e-book location cited in parentheses after the quotation. Jon Krakauer’s odyssey Into the Wild follows Christopher McCandless through his last year of his life traversing the North American frontier. As a biography based on McCandless’ journals and interviews, much of the detailsRead MoreInto The Wild Argument Essay1034 Words   |  5 PagesInto the Wild argument essay Into the Wild written by Jon Krakauer illustrates the life and death of Christopher McCandless, and his search for the true meaning in life. McCandless’ family was well-off and he graduated from Emory University with honors. Everything in McCandless’ life came easy, and because of this he wished to find what it meant to work for something. Through his perilous journey across the United States, McCandless found a way to inspire others everywhere he went. His independentRead MoreAnalysis Of Chris Mccandless s Odyssey Into The Wild1103 Words   |  5 Pagesquotations with page number or e-book location cited in parentheses after the quotation. Jon Krakauer’s odyssey Into the Wild follows Christopher McCandless through his last year of his life traversing the North American frontier. As a biography based on McCandless’ journals and interviews, much of the details of Chris’ journeys are speculated. Yet, Krakauer succeeds in developing the enigma of Christopher McCandless, or as he would be immortalized in the bus on the Stampede Trail, Alexander SupertrampRead MoreTranscendentalist Mccandless Essay1021 Words   |  5 PagesTranscendentalist McCandless What is transcendentalism? How is Christopher J. McCandless a transcendentalist? Transcendentalism is a philosophy, and a way of life. It consists of being a non-conformist, becoming one with nature, and rejecting materialism. Throughout Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into The Wild, McCandless happens to achieve all of the above. â€Å"Whoso would be a man, must be a non-conformist† (Emerson). He defied society, lived in the wild, and never cared about â€Å"things†. He existedRead MoreInto The Wild By Jon Krakauer3297 Words   |  14 PagesInto the Wild – RRS Title: Into the Wild Author: Jon Krakauer Publication Date: 1996 Nationality: American Author’s Birth/Death Date: April 12, 1954 – present Distinguishing Traits of Author: Jon Krakauer is an American writer known for his writings about the great outdoors. After being introduced to mountaineering as a child, Krakauer devoted much of his life to mountain climbing, leading up to his 1996 expedition to Mt. Everest. In his Into Thin Air, Krakauer recounts the dangerous journey

The Definition And The Purpose Of Education - 1484 Words

Introduction This article analyses the definition and the purpose of education. I first define education as a particularly social activity through the integration from different views. Then I introduce the education in China, in the process of quality education reform, which can be taken as a shift from the utilization of education. The current situation, however, is unsatisfactory and problematic because the reform seems to be just a formality. Partially as a solution to this, I describe the purpose of education to focus on the preparation of meaningful life and liberation in order to lessen the harmful effect of exam-oriented education. Education is an activity Nowadays, there are more and more people educated in different degrees and†¦show more content†¦It is not difficult to find the common basis of the answer what education is of so many educators, that is, education is an activity. And education does exist in the form of activities in real life. Education is a two-character long word in Chinese and can be explained separately. Shuowen Jiezi (literally: Explaining Graphs and Analysing Characters) written by Xu Shen, an early 2nd-century Chinese dictionary from the Han Dynasty. From this dictionary, education is adults impact to children or the upper class s impact on the lower class. And its purpose is to make the educated be good, usually by imitation. That is, education is the activity of influencing with the purpose of those with upper status (monarch, parents, teachers, etc.) on those in a lower status (courtiers, children, students, etc.). In ancient Greek, education was associated with the term churchman, a term used to refer to slaves who specialize in taking care of children. In other words, education is the activity of nurturing the next generation. The Cambridge dictionary defines education in British English as the process of teaching or learning, especially in a school or college, or the knowledge that you get from this. This definition is divided into two parts, one is on the behalf of educators and the educated, the other emphasizes the result of the process that knowledge is obtained. TheShow MoreRelatedDefinition And Purpose Of Education1668 Words   |  7 PagesIt is perhaps misleading to refer to a singular meaning and purpose of education. Instead, as this essay will show, the meanings ascribed to it vary considerably, dependent on the positionality of the speaker and their sociocultural context. ‘Education’ itself is a highly contested term, and so the answer to the question posed is necessarily a complex one. Educational systems, as part of the structure of a society, d erive much of their character from it. They aid in the transmission of knowledgeRead MoreA Critical and Rhetorical Analysis of William Cronons Only Connect.1712 Words   |  7 PagesA Liberal Education? Not According to Cronon. A Critical and Rhetorical Analysis of Cronons Only Connect. While the term liberal education is heard from the most prestigious university to an inner city community college, the phrase itself has a hazy definition at best. While educators across America struggle with the definition of the phrase, William Cronon uses purpose, structure, and appeals in his essay Only Connect: The Goals of Liberal education, to define a liberally educated being andRead MoreChallenges of Teaching Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders1735 Words   |  7 PagesChallenges of Teaching Students with EBD There are many challenges presented to the education system in teaching students with EBD. Many of these challenges are related to the interpretation of the definition of EBD itself. This paper will address the many challenges of teaching students with EBD including a discussion of the definitions presented to the Federal government for adoption. EBD Definitions The definition of EBD according to IDEA 2004 states that emotional disturbance includes at leastRead MoreIntroduction. Nowadays, There Are More And More People1638 Words   |  7 Pagesdifferent degrees and different ways. It seems that education has become a common word in daily life and it seems to be easy to understand. In fact, education, as a social activity, with a long history of development, a complex and diverse internal structure, interacts with other social activities in multilevel and multifaceted way. Through the long history,educators,thinkers,politicians and scholars have answered the question of what education is in different ways: some see it from the perspectiveRead MoreEducationese Power Point1012 Words   |  5 PagesEducationese Inclusion ï‚› Inclusion places a special needs student in a regular education classroom for the full day or part of the day(Webster). ï‚› Inclusion is good in the classroom so the kids can make friends and feel like they are not being left out. Informal assessment ï‚› An informal assessment is assessing a student in a casual atmosphere using checklists, observation, performance and the student may not even know about it(2014). ï‚› An informal assessment helps a teacher understand what levelRead MoreEssay about Critical Thinking: Evaluation1572 Words   |  7 Pagesof an Academic Source This paper is a summary of critical evaluation of the suitability of an article as an academic source. The title of the article is Critical Thinking: An Extended Definition. The author, Professor Ken Petress, analyzes various definitions of critical thinking and provides his definition of the concept as well. It is vitally important when performing research on a topic that we completely understand the topic and that we can apply certain tests or questions to the topic inRead MoreStruggling to Define Industry in the Industrial Disputes Act805 Words   |  3 PagesINTRODUCTION No other provision of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter ID Act) has been under as much scrutiny as the definition of ‘industry’ given under section 2(j). To avail the benefit of the ID Act, it is necessary for the worker to prove that his place of employment falls under the purview of the definition of ‘industry’ in s 2(j). Over the years the judiciary has laid down certain tests and criteria to determine and limit (or as seen later, expand) the scope of the legislationRead MoreEssay on My Personal Philosophy of Education1490 Words   |  6 Pages Philosophy of Education Relating my reasons for becoming a teacher was not a very difficult task for me; to accomplish this task I simply needed to reflect upon and describe some of my own personal experiences. I relied basically upon my memories and thoughts about my own educational experiences. However, describing my philosophy of education was much more difficult task for me to accomplish. First of all, before I could properly describe my philosophy, I realized I needed a workingRead MoreBenefits Of Co Teaching For Students With Special Education1189 Words   |  5 Pages 2004). A student with special needs has the right to a free and appropriate public education. This is mandated under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA 2004). This law also states that a student should be educated in their least restrict environment. Ideally, this would be the general education classroom. Co-teaching was designed to support the needs of students with disabilities in a general education setting. Resea rch studies have shown that co-teaching can be very effective for studentsRead MoreThe National Physical Education Standards Essay888 Words   |  4 Pagesto accomplish a physically healthy lifestyle. Both the National Physical Education Standards(AAHPERD) and the Mississippi Physical Education Frameworks assist educators in designing a curriculum that teaches students about the necessity and fundamentals of physical activity. There are obvious differences and similarities between both educational standards as far as their content and structure goes. However, both the purpose and function of both standards are still analogous. Both standards inform

The Choices We Make Free Essays

Poverty in the United States today has many faces. There’s the pleading face of a middle-aged man on a city street holding up a sign that says â€Å"Hungry, Need Help. † There’s the anxious face of a young child in a schoolroom somewhere, whose only real meal today will be a free school lunch. We will write a custom essay sample on The Choices We Make or any similar topic only for you Order Now There’s the sad face of a single mother who doesn’t have enough money to buy clothes for her children. And there’s the frustrated face of a young man working at a minimum-wage job who can’t afford to pay his rent. The sad thing is everyone knows someone like this. What are these people to do? What lengths should they go to be happy? Many times a person’s virtue is challenged. Especially when they are forced to choose between a basic human need or a particular ethical indiscretion. So the question is â€Å"What effects do poverty and the absence of opportunity have on individuals’ senses of virtue? † For one, a person who is poor may choose to steal to obtain a basic need such as food, shelter, or safety. Second, a person religion may be challenged when poor or in an extreme circumstance that may require a choice between following their way of believing or living. And finally, parent may do things and make sacrifices to make sure that their children are safe and cared for. Society looks upon people who commit crimes as bad seeds in a community. But, has anyone ever really looked at the person and wondered â€Å"what could make this individual so desperate that they would risk everything to steal $50 bucks out of a cash register, or a loaf of bread from a quick stop. † Don’t get me wrong. Not everyone that steals has a good reason, nor is it right. But if you looked deep into the life of the individual, do you see them? Really see them. Most of the time these people are poor, come from broken homes and sometimes do what they have to too survive. They live in poverty stricken â€Å"ghettos† or in poor communities that have no resources to help them. What are they to do? Ask yourself â€Å"Would you steal to feed yourself or your family? † It happens every day in every city. Most of these people have low paying jobs and struggle to make ends meet. They do what they can and ask for help just to be turned away. Where is the problem? Is it the person themselves? No! It’s the society around them. People do what they must to survive no matter what. It’s a basic instinct that kicks in and takes over. â€Å"Religion (even if â€Å"primitive) is generally assumed to be in some sense moral. † (Murdoch 740) People often take religion out of context and use it for their own good or the good of a specific cause. Some examples are Hitler and the Holocaust, or abortion. Hitler used god as a weapon wipe out the Jews. People that are for or against abortion and the laws surrounding it look to it as a moral and ethical dilemma. Let’s for a moment touch on this one; Let’s say that you are a pregnant teenager that had been brutally raped. You have a choice keep the baby, and the memory of the terrible act or abort the â€Å"fetus†. The trouble is your religion is in the way. What are you to do? Do you stick to your religion and the fear of what may happen in the next life or do you do what you feel would be a way out of a bad situation? This is where religion gets in the way of many dilemmas for people today. They have to make a choice. Keep it or don’t. For some the choice may come easy depending on how strongly you feel about your particular morality or virtue. Many people say â€Å"God never gives us more than we can handle. Is this true? Would you be able to handle this type of situation? Again that depends on the individual and their state of mind. In the end it all comes down to what they think and what the consequences of their action may be. They idea will be different for everyone, no matter what the circumstance. We cannot judge a person’s views if we do not understand them. The third and final question is How far would a parent go to keep their children safe and healthy? Many parents would say â€Å"I would give my life to keep my child safe†. This is not a fact that is being argued. What is being argued is if the parent would risk their ethical stand to protect a child. Parent’s today work so hard to make sure that their children have food and clothing and shelter. But what about the parent’s who do all of this and still are unable to provide for their families? What are the choices for them? They may steal, lie, cheat and sacrifice their own happiness to provide the same happiness to their families. Is this something that society should look upon in disgust? Or should society take a stand and help? For many years I have helped in an organization that does just this. We provide clothing food and gifts to underprivileged children every year at Christmas time to make sure that all are happy and joyous like all the other children whose parents can provide. Is this unfair to the happy child who has everything? One can argue that poor people deserve more, but in reality all parent rich or poor would do anything to ensure that their children are cared for no matter what the cost or consequence may be. â€Å"Duty may be easily performed without strain or reflection but may also prompt the well known experience of the frustration of desire together with a sense of necessity to act† (Murdoch 734) Each human has the free will and the right to choose the course of their own actions. When an individual takes responsibility for their conduct, they are ultimately acting as a rational being. Realizing that they have the ability to freely choose their actions and that no one else can force them to do something. With the freedom of choice also comes the responsibility for that decision. When an individual takes responsibility she has reached their highest state of reasoning: she has realized that not only is she free to make decisions, but also that their decisions have outcomes. By applying their free will, they are ultimately saying, â€Å"I choose to take this action, and I choose take responsibility for the consequence. † Morals depend on humans exercising their freedom of choice and acknowledging that their choices have significance. Reason allows us not to just behave instinctively or randomly, but to realize that our actions will have an outcome and to act accordingly to the end we wish to achieve. When an individual knows the result of their actions and willingly chooses to carry that behavior out, the individual freely accepts the consequences and thus takes responsibility for that end result. With all that being said, a person who is poor or pushed to a make a decision may or may not turn to religion and ethics. People are like robots and are programmed from childhood to believe or act in certain ways. They are sometimes torn by the morality of a decision and the virtues in which they believe. These choices are not easy and are not always the right ones but we are humans and we make mistakes. This is how we learn to survive and make things better for the next era. We can only take it one step at a time. How to cite The Choices We Make, Essay examples

The Boston Photographs free essay sample

The Boston Photographs Stanley Foreman, a journalist for the Boston Herald American, captured three famous photographs of a fire rescue case which reminded me of my grandmothers tragedy, displayed the themes of tragedy and anger, parallels to the movie World Trade Center, and aligns with my opinion that Foreman published the photographs rightfully. Foreman snapped the camera thinking to take heroic shots of a brave fireman successfully rescuing a woman and a child. Little did he know, he would capture the collapse of final hope as a woman fell into the gateway to death. A fire immersed a Boston building in the 1930s. A fireman desperately attempted to save a woman and a child from the inferno, and almost came to success. However, the fire escape the three stood upon crumbled from the arm of the building just before the fireman could hoist them onto the ladder of the firetruck. The fireman managed to jump to safety onto the ladder as the ledge broke. Unfortunately, the woman could not cling tightly enough to the fireman, therefore, her and the child dropped stories high onto the solid ground. The woman died immediately from impact, but the child fell onto the cushion of her corpse and managed to survive. The treacherous scene showed on three photographs and became published in over four hundred newspapers across America. Understandably, this raised controversy as the public fired back with complaints of the gory pictures. Some argued that it contributed in, â€Å"Invading the privacy of death,† while others said it took responsibility in â€Å"Assigning the agony of a human being in terror of imminent death to the status of a side-show act† (Ephron, 658). Ephron states her opinion in this essay saying, â€Å"Death happens to be one of lifes main events. And it is irresponsible—and more than that, inaccurate—for newspapers to fail to show it † (Ephron, 662). This essay brought me back to my youth with replaying images of what I imagined the scene of my grandmothers death to look like. Honestly, it fell nothing short of a horror story, especially through the eyes of a muddled, vernal nine year old. I will not go in detail regarding the exact scene, for I find it inappropriately morbid, but I feel willingly to introduce a small, surfaced outline. A fire swallowed her house, eating from the core and dispersing to the edges like a rotting apple. She lay in mid afternoon nap when awakened from the smoky air, but the fire had managed to block almost every exit. She made her way to the only door not already inflamed, but it she could not get it open. The story does not end here, but this sums up all I feel the need to tell. The casket remained closed at the funeral, so I never saw her body again. She rested at age fifty-seven, too young to leave, and too beautiful to have her body disintegrated into ashes. Why did it have to happen like that? Nine years old and having to trust in God for strength proves a hard and strange thing to do, but a life lesson some never learn, and one I would need for the journey on. Ephron wrote this essay to bring forth the readers inner emotions as well as to show the emotion felt by the characters in the story. The themes of tragedy and anger serve as two of the major themes of the essay. The bravery and hope shown to us at the beginning of the story help accent these themes. The author gives us these points to push a sense of reality into the readers, and to present a real event as well as its repercussions. Bravery showed from the fireman who risked his live to save these people. Hope came from the woman and child trapped inside fighting with optimistic longing to make it through. Tragedy and devastation overcame as the story twisted from what looked a promising victory to a deadly reality. The pictures then became published and taken offensively by readers bringing on a strong feeling of anger. The subject of reality also carries through in this essay. It pictures as quite melancholy, and therefore brings its readers to awareness of a true story with thoughts and opinions of witnesses of the scene and readers of the numerous articles of the event. This event has parallels to the events of September 11, 2001, which has been demonstrated to us through the movie World Trade Center. The movie begins by showing the attacks of the buildings and the violence it brought to those inside. It focuses in on the firemen risking their lives to save the victims, however, as the second building crashes upon them, they become ictims themselves. The firemen demonstrate the similarities of bravery and hope to make it out of the fallen building alive, and the movie as a whole brings its viewers to the tragic reality, just as The Boston Photographs does. Personally, I felt moved by the twisted feelings and solid impact of the essay. It made me have to stop to process my thoughts, because I could not believe what I read. It hit me hard with horror and disbelief. I like essays like this that bring us to a since of reality, for I feel as if they are hardly told. Most stories today become glamorized by positive attributes as dark grueling details are masked away leaving us with what our minds desire to believe instead of the harsh truth. Joy and promise turn to need and tribulation instantaneously in reality, which this essay highlights. The catastrophic story of the photographs taken of the sudden death of a woman hit me hard with a flashback of my grandmothers death and also showed the predicament of the firefighters in World Trade Center, as both of these brought the themes of tragedy and anger to the story and farther pushed my opinion that the pictures became rightly publicized. The essay exhibits sensibility and brings the readers to actuality, therefore, I feel it may stand out to readers over other essays. Real stories like this have the ability to teach us something valuable and hit our life experiences bringing a strong impact of emotion to our thoughts, which is why I feel the pictures should have been publicized. Although it displayed a horrific accident, the scene rightfully deserved telling.