Chris Mccandless In 'Into The Wild'

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In the book ‘Into the Wild’, there is much speculation as to what drove Christopher McCandless to such extremes. Some believe he was a nutcase that finally snapped, others thought that he was drove off by the boiling rage he held towards his father for the wrongs of the past. My belief is that, not only was Chris perfectly sane but, others held no blame for the path he chose to take. I perhaps that it was something inside Chris that led to such actions. I think that, potentially because of childhood issues, Chris showed many signs of schizotypal due not only to his eccentric tendencies, but his distrust of others and their motives. Schizotypal: Schizotypal is a personality disorder most often categorized by someone who has difficulty establishing…show more content…
If you add in the fact that Chris seemed to have eccentric tendencies from a young age, that could lead to extreme behavior. In fact, those with schizotypal also tend to exhibit eccentric tendencies. This shows not only was he naturally eccentric, but this eccentric behavior could have been added by schizotypal. One example of his eccentric behavior is his journey. Not only was it extreme, but dangerous. He went unprepared, alone, and without telling anyone his exact location; not to mention, he did all of it, seemingly, on a whim. Though, really he just had more of an idealist view of Alaska than most and dreamed of the adventure that lay there. But the author is on point when he says ‘McCandless distrusted the value of things that came easily. He demanded much of himself-more, in the end, than he could deliver.’ Living in the Alaskan wilderness is already more of a challenge than most could handle, not to mention he made it so much harder. He took his travels to much more of an extreme than he safely should…show more content…
The book says that Chris “did not confront his parents with what he knew, then or ever. He chose instead to made a secret of his dark knowledge and express his rage obliquely, in silence and sullen withdrawal.” This way of responding to such events strongly shows signs of schizotypal, in which case one has trouble creating and maintaining close relationships with others and has consent doubts about the loyalty of others. In fact a fellow student at Emory, Eric Hathaway, described him as very introverted and cynical. Showing after he had came upon the knowledge of his father’s past, he became less trusting of not only Walt, but everyone around
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