Friday, April 2, 2010
Mapless McCandless
I feel that my general view of McCandless has not changed much, or at least recently. For awhile, I have thought that he knew what he was getting into, but wasn't fully prepared. But I don't think that it means he is irresponsible or anything like that. However, the not having a map thing made me wonder as to why he wouldn't bring something of that importance. I think it had a lot to do with him wanting to challenge himself as much as possible. maybe he knew that having a map would have made things too easy for him, which we all know is not what he was looking for. I'm fairly sure that this was not him being ignorant, because I have a feeling that he contemplated taking a map and didn't just forget to bring one. I do feel that Krakauer bringing up these "mistakes" is both helpful and important. This shows that he is acknowledging what people have to say about Chris, and that it doesn't change his views at all. This is Krakauer's way of recognizing the naysayers, and proving them wrong. One part that stuck out to me was when there was the big controversy of whether Chris shot a moose or a caribou. In the end it turned out that Chris knew exactly what he shot, and that the people assumed that he was stupid and didn't know what he was doing. it seems like the Alaskan people did everything they could to prove that Chris was ignorant. This also reinforces my views on Chris, and that he knew what he was getting himself into and wanted to challenge himself as much as possible.
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I wouldn't call McCandless irresponsible. He followed his own beleifs and did what he wanted to do. His trek was all about gettign to Alaska, but he did do things while on his way there. He met random people, slept wherever he wanted too, and came and went as he pleased. In my opinion, you are considered irresponsible only if you are unsuccessful when dealing with other people. I don't see it common to be irresponsible towards yourself. You make your own decisions therefore establishing responsibility for yourself. Having no map, I saw McCandless only trying to challange himslef. No more or less. He doesn't seem like the person who would try to impress others by not bringing a map. And he doesn't seem like the person who would bring a map on a trip where he continously goes astray of his desired destination. Krakauer's analysis on the moose vs caribou delimma was a great way to show the naysayers side of the argument. Even though Krakauer tries to prove them wrong, he still emphasizes their point. I didn't even think about this scenario until I read your blog. This was a perfect example to argue that the Alaskans are trying to cover up Chris' incident with the animal he shot because they it shows that they are tryig to prove that they know everything. Chris did know what he shot, and if you think about it, who cares what he shot. The Alaskans have nothing else to argue about so they attack him on the animal he shot. Sick title by the way.
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