Into the Irony Again!

"Happiness is only real when shared" (Krakaeur 167).

      This is one of Christopher McCandless's final statements which he wrote down in a book right before he had died in the bus. I find this quote to be very heart warming and true, as I agree with it completely. However I also find this quote a little bit Ironic coming from Christpher McCandless, since he was out all alone on purpose not sharing the happiness he himself had felt. He had shunned everyone out, including his sister and he supposedly died happy (in his last words), but doesn't this statement contradict what he did? He went out in the wilderness to stay away from society and be happy by himself, not sharing his happiness with others. Although it may seem ironic I still find this quote to be pretty good, I myself can't imagine a world in which I would be happy with nobody but myself. I think having friends is an extremely important thing to have, and without them I don't think anyone can be happy.

Into the irony?

"I didn't know what I was going to say. How do you tell someone that their child is dead?" ( Krakauer 102).

    This quote exemplifies how bad Christopher McCandless's death was, and how it not only impacted him but others as well. The context of this quote is what really gives this quote more importance; it came from McCandless's half brother Samuel. At first when Samuel heard about the story about the hiker being found dead, the thought of it being his brother never came into his mind. However once he did realize it, he was not worried about himself but more worried about Christopher's parents, how that it would have a much greater impact on them then him. I find this quote ironic since McCandless leaving was mainly due to how his parents were and that in his letter to his sister he 'divorced' them as his parents. Although Christopher may have not cared about his parents anymore his parents may still have cared about him a lot, without him even knowing. (We do know however that his sister did care about him a lot)

Into the Wild... and away from everything else, even time itself!

"I don't want to know what time it is. I don't want to know what day it is or where I am. None of that matters." (Krakauer 7).

Topic: Wanting to be part of the wild

     This quote can completely sum up how people who want to be away from society feel, they don't want to know anything, they just want to be completely submerged in the wild. People who want to be off the grid and isolated from everyone don't want to know anything about the 'outside world'. This quote and the character Christopher McCandless is also similar to the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen and its main character Brian Robeson. Both characters end up alone in the wild and find ways to survive, and both also like the idea of being in the wild cut from society. Both also didn't know the time or date when they were in the wild. What I'm trying to say is that time and date are things that are created from society, as the Gregorian calendar started in 1582 by Pope Gregory the 13th. Essentially the numbers for time were created by man and is technically an illusion as it is relative and flexible (gravity slowing down time). So with these things what Christopher McCandless was trying to do is let go of EVERYTHING in society even TIME.