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Joshua Garcia

Ms. Sanchez

ERWC, Period 3

18 November 2016

Into the Egocentric Fool

From my perspective, Christopher McCandless, from Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, was a

egocentric fool of unsound mind. This book illustrates and describes Christophers journey to

Alaska while giving the reader an idea of who Chris McCandless is and what kind of person he

becomes. Some people believe his actions were justified, but as an individual, I see a man who

only cared for himself, which led to his foolish decisions.

Chris McCandless seems to only focus on himself and what he wants in life by only

following his own rules. A quote McCandless said was, I wont run into anything I cant deal

with on my own (6). This gives the reader the impression of how overconfident he was and how

he believed he was invincible. But no one is invincible and his arrogance led him to make foolish

decisions, which led to his death. Another example of how Chris was a fool was explained by a

man who had a different point of view of McCandless. The man explained how entering the

wilderness purposely ill-prepared, and surviving a near-death experience does not make you a

better human (71). His opinion of McCandless explains the reality of McCandless trek. Chris

was unprepared and because of his arrogance and idiocy, he suffered the consequences. A further

example of Chris egocentric and foolish actions would be abandoning his car and burning all

his money (30). His decision does show us how committed and determined he is on this path,

but there is a line between being wise and being a fool, and in this situation, he chose to be a

fool. As though it may seem that materialistic things do not matter to him, he cant go into his
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journey without proper equipment and to have proper equipment, you need money. In addition to

abandoning his car, he abandoned many of his belongings behind so his family could not keep in

touch with him. As an individual, I believe that that is a self-centered and fatuous decision.

Chris probably didnt understand the logic of a relationship between a parent and their

child. In his mind, he felt that abandoning his parents was the right thing to do. He stated that,

...once the time is right, with one abrupt, swift action Im going to knock them out of my life

(64). This shows how egocentric he was by only thinking of himself and not of his parents. The

pain the parents felt was devastating and Chris couldnt comprehend that because of his self-

centeredness. Through another perspective, a man, who had clearly associated with Chris,

questioned of how a compassionate man could cause his parents so much pain (72). His choice

to ignore his parents feelings were delineating. He ran away without considering how affected

his parents could be and it shows how keening he was two his family. Lastly, his egocentric

personality was described by his father, Walt. Walt stated, If you attempted to talk him out of

something, he wouldnt argue. Hed just nod politely and then do exactly what he [McCandless]

wanted (83). This displays how it is his nature to be egocentric. Although he was heeded with

warnings and advice, he would only trust and listen to himself.

In conclusion, on Chris extemporaneous journey, his decisions resulted on who he turned

out to be. He was an self-centered boy and his actions portrayed of an egocentric fool of unsound

mind. From ignoring the warnings presented to him, to shunning his family, it can be concluded

that Chris McCandless was a person who only focused on himself rather than other people,

especially the ones who cared for him the most and for that, he paid the price.