In my opinion hi's running away of all the materialism and from his family. I think he feel like don't belong there, so he ran away from all his stuff, money, clothes, family, etc.
Although I do agree with your opinion, I think that another reason was that CHris was looking for an adventure. As you can read in the begging of the third chapter, Chris underlined a sentence from one of Tolstoi's stories were it was written he wanted to experience a great adventure.
I think he's running away from his superb life, he wants to challange the mother nature, because he belive's powerfull in the society in wich he live's - IMHO.
May be, Raffi, but we will have to keep reading to find out more about himself, but I think that some people have their own challenges just to accomplish themselves more than making an impression on others.
It could be true, and in some way I am agree with both of you, but also, seems to me that he avoid be part of the society, of the mainstream. He was a lonely man, with some issues to create a solid relationships. As soon as he can, he went to a solitary landscapes to be by himself.
I believe Chris was running away from everything he had. His family, the material things, responsibilities. He did all of this to be alone and be able to think about everything he left behind. He wanted the right answer to everything, so maybe he wanted to discover with his journey what the purpouse of life is.
I believe that Chris´s final objective, as you have just mentioned, is to find out the real purpose of life. To discover it, he might probably go through different situations that will go teaching him what life is about. I also think he is maybe not completely conscious he wants to understand the meaning of life, but he must have many questions he would like to answer.
I like your statement, although I disagree with the part where you said he wanted to be able to think about what he had left behind, I actually believe that his intentions were to leave everything behind, including his memory of it
Chris had some kind of pressure or discomfort, which I think includes social relationships, and lack of joy towards life. "preparing to fulfill an absurd and onerous duty, to graduate from college(...) emancipating from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess... " (Krakauer, 1996:22)He is definitely not comfortable with his life or he just doesnt agree with that kind of life he was living and he has decided to start a new one, far away from everything that can disturb on his way to his own accomplisment.
There is nothing romantic and wonderful about stumbling off into the wilderness and starving to death. What is great about the Christopher McCandless story is that it proves, in Alaska at least, natural selection is alive and well.
Although it is completely evident that Chris is searching for a change, I believe his main objective goes further his own accomplishment. Maybe, he intends to find something else while running away from home. Off course, we can´t still state something since the narrator hasn´t, until this point, reveal us the protagonist´s real intention.
It´s not a quote professor, you remember when I said in class that I dont like him in the beggining.
However during the reading of the next 40 pages, I understand how special he was and the importance of his acts in the people that he knows during his odissey. BR - Raffi.
In my opinion Chris is running away from a life style that doesnt correspond to his personality and to the way he sees the world. He is a person that seems to like the adventure and the nature, however his life in atlanta is full of safety, material things and boredom. I think he decided to run away from that life wich he wasnt enjoying.
I know your opinion. I have not yet understood why he ran away in spite of full of safety and material but at the same time, I realized that what is a good value or not is depends on every person. So I want to understand what values Chris had.
I totally agree with you. Like you, I also think that the life style that he was having was very different from what he enjoys. That, and his will of leaving behind all the material things that surround him made the perfect excuse for him to lbegin his odyssey.
In my opinion, Chris is running away from his unfitted of the modern life. He is not able to follow the social rules of this materialist life, especially on the American way. He's trying to find himself in another perspective of what should be a good life.
Lorenzo I believe your opinion is right. Chris wanted to forget all about his old life, and get rid of the material things and society that sorrounded him. Yet, I think another important reason was rhe bad relationship he had with his parents and how annoying it was for him the fact that they thought they could buy his respect.
I agree with your opinion in the point that Chris was running away from his life. In my opinion, however, something he wanted to escape from is not the only materialistic life. This is because he felt unhappy at the relationship with his parents, so in my opinion, he wanted to escape from people who knew him.
I agree with you, Lorenzo, and disaree with Yoko because if he was just trying to escape from the people he knew he would have settled somewhere. Instead, he abandoned everything he had that he didn't need.
In my opinion, the main reason why chris is running away is his family. The book describes a bad relationship between him and his parents, and he seems very reluctant when it comes to receiving anything from them (gifts, their money for law school, the car). He talks about being very close to his sister but no to his parents, and he spends months without even talking to them. Chris also seems to be very unattached to material things, which would explain why he didn't mind leaving his car and his money behind when he decided to go to Alaska and why he would go in such an adventure alone and without resources.
I disagree with you Isabela when you said he is unnatached to material things. Maybe most of those things were not too important for him, but some of those were . In page 21 paragraph 2, he literaly said he was strongly attached to his car in the letter he write to his sister. Of course, this could be an excuse for not getting a new car, but he didn't abandon the car because he was unnatached to it. He did it because he ran out of gas and battery, and if he looked for help he would have gotten in trouble because he didn't have the car papers up to date.
As we continue reading the book, we will notice that our answer to the question can change. In the first part of the book the answer isn't clearly stated, but we can conclude two different hypothesis. On one hand we can conclude that our protagonist was runing away from his old life, his history and what defined him. Maybe he was feeling that the world was making decisions for him and he just wanted to have control over his own life. On the other hand we can also think that maybe our protagonist just wanted to live an adventure, to do something different that makes him feel that he's still alive.
I agree with your opinion. I do not have any clear idea what is Chris running away from, either. The second hypothesis is especially new and interesting to me because I had tried to answer the question in the conceptual way. I think your second opinion is like straight thought and is direct, which meant it was easy to understand. If I raise a question with your opinion, I want to know the differences between 'his old life' and 'his history'.
I like your idea that he wanted to feel he was still alive though running away from his old life and getting a new life. I think he could see the future of him when he was living an old life full of security, but he wanted to lead a different life, the life that he have no idea how it ends, to challenge himself and to make it sure that he is still alive.
I personally believe that Chris is running away because he is searching for a change. McCandless has probably understood that his family and his material stuff do not offer him a way to happiness. As a consequence, he decides to run away, intending to built a whole new life where he abstractes himself from all materialism.
I am interested in your point that he ran away because he realized that his family and his material stuff do not lead him to happiness. He was a smart person and a person he had met described him as a thinker. I think he had always had the question "What is happiness?" in his mind, and the answer he got was not to tied down by his family and his material stuff and lead a new life.
I'm agree with you guys. I think Mc Candless was trying to search some deep meaning of the existence, and after a few pages we were discovered that at least, in his nomad existence he found some kind of path. He avoid all the materialism life. Also, he is looking something else further than just a good relationships in this life. Seems like having a good relationships it is not his goal in his life.
In my opinion, Chris is running away from the simplicity and monotony of life. He is tired of the routine and the lack of variety that that his parents and peers represent on his life. He is runnig away from all the things that other people may consider necessary for living. That is why he decided to start a new life in which his personal joy is the most important thing in all the world.
I don't agree with you in a total way Juan, I think that he had a major reason to run away, for example something more personal. I believe that being bored isn't a reason big enough.
I think he had two reasons why he ran away. First reason is that he was fed up with everything around him and wanted to live a long way from it. Second one is that he wanted to know what he could do without any help of parents and money.
I like what you said about him wanting to know what he could do without help. I think this also shows that he was a determined person that needed challenge in his life and had to do something big with his life.
I agree with your second reason. Living by yourself in a rough environment prices that a person is really determined. Although I don't agree with your first reason. I think that if he wanted to scape or leave all the persons that he knew, he would had settled down in one of the cities of his odyssey.
Actually, at least for me, this is the most important question and it hasn't been completely ansewered in the book yet. Anyway, I infer it is mostly becuase Chris didn't have the best relationship with his parents, although he enjoy talking to her younger sister. On the other hand I think he was looking for adventure, to make a change in his tipical boring life. He was tired of having whatever he wanted thanks to his parents economical resources. Maybe that's the reason why he invented a new identity, to start fresh, from zero. Eventhough, it hasn't been explained why he wanted to go out into the wild, where he could be alone, far away from civilization, without enough food, its for sure Chris wanted an epic journey once in his life.
I agree with you Paolita, I also think that he wanted to do something that changes his life, but I think that the main purpose of his journey is to challenge himself, to break his own limits and prove that his existence isn't limited by his way of living.
In my opinion, Chris is running away from what he thinks limit him such as parents, friends, siblings and the society which he belonged to. He strongly hoped not to be filterd and censored, so he might try to escape from a current situation in which he feels unconfortable.
I believe that he was running for what was limiting him like you say, in the way that he didnt feel free. I think that main thing that he was looking for was freedom, and he didn't find it were he was.
He wanted to be free from his parents, peers and all of his background information. He was a boy of rich family, but he wanted to challenge himself through living with no security and stuff that he had.
When I continue to read this, I realized that the problem wasnt his parents, he was a lonely person who wants to do something big for his own, to demonstrate himself his brave and kindness with this.
These are well-thought-out answers. I see many follow-up questions or ideas in them. Read carefully and then remember to respond to two of your classmates. Show that you have understood and thought about your classmate's opinion before you answer.
In my opinion hi's running away of all the materialism and from his family. I think he feel like don't belong there, so he ran away from all his stuff, money, clothes, family, etc.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do agree with your opinion, I think that another reason was that CHris was looking for an adventure. As you can read in the begging of the third chapter, Chris underlined a sentence from one of Tolstoi's stories were it was written he wanted to experience a great adventure.
DeleteI think he's running away from his superb life, he wants to challange the mother nature, because he belive's powerfull in the society in wich he live's - IMHO.
ReplyDeleteMay be, Raffi, but we will have to keep reading to find out more about himself, but I think that some people have their own challenges just to accomplish themselves more than making an impression on others.
DeleteIt could be true, and in some way I am agree with both of you, but also, seems to me that he avoid be part of the society, of the mainstream. He was a lonely man, with some issues to create a solid relationships. As soon as he can, he went to a solitary landscapes to be by himself.
DeleteI believe Chris was running away from everything he had. His family, the material things, responsibilities. He did all of this to be alone and be able to think about everything he left behind. He wanted the right answer to everything, so maybe he wanted to discover with his journey what the purpouse of life is.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Chris´s final objective, as you have just mentioned, is to find out the real purpose of life. To discover it, he might probably go through different situations that will go teaching him what life is about. I also think he is maybe not completely conscious he wants to understand the meaning of life, but he must have many questions he would like to answer.
DeleteI like your statement, although I disagree with the part where you said he wanted to be able to think about what he had left behind, I actually believe that his intentions were to leave everything behind, including his memory of it
DeleteChris had some kind of pressure or discomfort, which I think includes social relationships, and lack of joy towards life. "preparing to fulfill an absurd and onerous duty, to graduate from college(...) emancipating from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess... " (Krakauer, 1996:22)He is definitely not comfortable with his life or he just doesnt agree with that kind of life he was living and he has decided to start a new one, far away from everything that can disturb on his way to his own accomplisment.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing romantic and wonderful about stumbling off into the wilderness and starving to death. What is great about the Christopher McCandless story is that it proves, in Alaska at least, natural selection is alive and well.
DeleteThis sounds like a quote, Raffi. Where did you find it?
DeleteAlthough it is completely evident that Chris is searching for a change, I believe his main objective goes further his own accomplishment. Maybe, he intends to find something else while running away from home. Off course, we can´t still state something since the narrator hasn´t, until this point, reveal us the protagonist´s real intention.
DeleteIt´s not a quote professor, you remember when I said in class that I dont like him in the beggining.
DeleteHowever during the reading of the next 40 pages, I understand how special he was and the importance of his acts in the people that he knows during his odissey. BR - Raffi.
In my opinion Chris is running away from a life style that doesnt correspond to his personality and to the way he sees the world. He is a person that seems to like the adventure and the nature, however his life in atlanta is full of safety, material things and boredom. I think he decided to run away from that life wich he wasnt enjoying.
ReplyDeleteI know your opinion. I have not yet understood why he ran away in spite of full of safety and material but at the same time, I realized that what is a good value or not is depends on every person. So I want to understand what values Chris had.
DeleteI agree with Mateo as he says that the desition Chris made is strongly attached to his personality, not everyone is willing to have such an adventure.
DeleteI totally agree with you. Like you, I also think that the life style that he was having was very different from what he enjoys. That, and his will of leaving behind all the material things that surround him made the perfect excuse for him to lbegin his odyssey.
DeleteIn my opinion, Chris is running away from his unfitted of the modern life. He is not able to follow the social rules of this materialist life, especially on the American way. He's trying to find himself in another perspective of what should be a good life.
ReplyDeleteLorenzo I believe your opinion is right. Chris wanted to forget all about his old life, and get rid of the material things and society that sorrounded him. Yet, I think another important reason was rhe bad relationship he had with his parents and how annoying it was for him the fact that they thought they could buy his respect.
DeleteI agree with your opinion in the point that Chris was running away from his life. In my opinion, however, something he wanted to escape from is not the only materialistic life. This is because he felt unhappy at the relationship with his parents, so in my opinion, he wanted to escape from people who knew him.
DeleteI agree with you, Lorenzo, and disaree with Yoko because if he was just trying to escape from the people he knew he would have settled somewhere. Instead, he abandoned everything he had that he didn't need.
DeleteIn my opinion, the main reason why chris is running away is his family. The book describes a bad relationship between him and his parents, and he seems very reluctant when it comes to receiving anything from them (gifts, their money for law school, the car). He talks about being very close to his sister but no to his parents, and he spends months without even talking to them. Chris also seems to be very unattached to material things, which would explain why he didn't mind leaving his car and his money behind when he decided to go to Alaska and why he would go in such an adventure alone and without resources.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you Isabela when you said he is unnatached to material things. Maybe most of those things were not too important for him, but some of those were . In page 21 paragraph 2, he literaly said he was strongly attached to his car in the letter he write to his sister. Of course, this could be an excuse for not getting a new car, but he didn't abandon the car because he was unnatached to it. He did it because he ran out of gas and battery, and if he looked for help he would have gotten in trouble because he didn't have the car papers up to date.
DeleteAs we continue reading the book, we will notice that our answer to the question can change. In the first part of the book the answer isn't clearly stated, but we can conclude two different hypothesis. On one hand we can conclude that our protagonist was runing away from his old life, his history and what defined him. Maybe he was feeling that the world was making decisions for him and he just wanted to have control over his own life. On the other hand we can also think that maybe our protagonist just wanted to live an adventure, to do something different that makes him feel that he's still alive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your opinion. I do not have any clear idea what is Chris running away from, either. The second hypothesis is especially new and interesting to me because I had tried to answer the question in the conceptual way. I think your second opinion is like straight thought and is direct, which meant it was easy to understand. If I raise a question with your opinion, I want to know the differences between 'his old life' and 'his history'.
DeleteI like your idea that he wanted to feel he was still alive though running away from his old life and getting a new life. I think he could see the future of him when he was living an old life full of security, but he wanted to lead a different life, the life that he have no idea how it ends, to challenge himself and to make it sure that he is still alive.
DeleteI personally believe that Chris is running away because he is searching for a change. McCandless has probably understood that his family and his material stuff do not offer him a way to happiness. As a consequence, he decides to run away, intending to built a whole new life where he abstractes himself from all materialism.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in your point that he ran away because he realized that his family and his material stuff do not lead him to happiness. He was a smart person and a person he had met described him as a thinker. I think he had always had the question "What is happiness?" in his mind, and the answer he got was not to tied down by his family and his material stuff and lead a new life.
DeleteI'm agree with you guys. I think Mc Candless was trying to search some deep meaning of the existence, and after a few pages we were discovered that at least, in his nomad existence he found some kind of path. He avoid all the materialism life. Also, he is looking something else further than just a good relationships in this life. Seems like having a good relationships it is not his goal in his life.
DeleteIn my opinion, Chris is running away from the simplicity and monotony of life. He is tired of the routine and the lack of variety that that his parents and peers represent on his life. He is runnig away from all the things that other people may consider necessary for living. That is why he decided to start a new life in which his personal joy is the most important thing in all the world.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with you in a total way Juan, I think that he had a major reason to run away, for example something more personal. I believe that being bored isn't a reason big enough.
DeleteI think he had two reasons why he ran away. First reason is that he was fed up with everything around him and wanted to live a long way from it. Second one is that he wanted to know what he could do without any help of parents and money.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about him wanting to know what he could do without help. I think this also shows that he was a determined person that needed challenge in his life and had to do something big with his life.
DeleteI agree with your second reason. Living by yourself in a rough environment prices that a person is really determined. Although I don't agree with your first reason. I think that if he wanted to scape or leave all the persons that he knew, he would had settled down in one of the cities of his odyssey.
DeleteActually, at least for me, this is the most important question and it hasn't been completely ansewered in the book yet.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I infer it is mostly becuase Chris didn't have the best relationship with his parents, although he enjoy talking to her younger sister. On the other hand I think he was looking for adventure, to make a change in his tipical boring life. He was tired of having whatever he wanted thanks to his parents economical resources. Maybe that's the reason why he invented a new identity, to start fresh, from zero. Eventhough, it hasn't been explained why he wanted to go out into the wild, where he could be alone, far away from civilization, without enough food, its for sure Chris wanted an epic journey once in his life.
I agree with you Paolita, I also think that he wanted to do something that changes his life, but I think that the main purpose of his journey is to challenge himself, to break his own limits and prove that his existence isn't limited by his way of living.
DeleteIn my opinion, Chris is running away from what he thinks limit him such as parents, friends, siblings and the society which he belonged to. He strongly hoped not to be filterd and censored, so he might try to escape from a current situation in which he feels unconfortable.
ReplyDeleteI believe that he was running for what was limiting him like you say, in the way that he didnt feel free. I think that main thing that he was looking for was freedom, and he didn't find it were he was.
DeleteHe wanted to be free from his parents, peers and all of his background information. He was a boy of rich family, but he wanted to challenge himself through living with no security and stuff that he had.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, because he did wanted to be free, but he also wanted to be closer to nature, to challenging him in every posible way.
DeleteWhen I continue to read this, I realized that the problem wasnt his parents, he was a lonely person who wants to do something big for his own, to demonstrate himself his brave and kindness with this.
DeleteThese are well-thought-out answers. I see many follow-up questions or ideas in them. Read carefully and then remember to respond to two of your classmates. Show that you have understood and thought about your classmate's opinion before you answer.
ReplyDeleteHe wanted to do something "important." This is a new angle on ideas we've been talking about. Let's see what he says later that relates to this.
ReplyDelete