In reading ‘Death of an Innocent”, I figured that it would be fitting to say that Chris McCandleless was far from being the average college grad in terms of how he lived his life. Chris was a nonconformist, living his life the way many would perceive as “different”. Instead of going with the trends of sororities and fraternities while at Emory, he preferred to be a loner and focused on himself. Instead of heeding his parent’s warnings and being more careful, he died doing what he wanted to do in the end. Instead of going out drinking with friends, he spoke to people who lived their lives on the streets and tried to help them.
In today’s society, to see a man like Chris is like seeing five dollars on the street; it is almost impossible if not extremely rare. Chris found value in things that people today would define as worthless simply because people’s priorities have changed since 15 years ago. It seems as if people care about money and their financial situations nowadays more than anything else. People are more prone do some questionable things in our society as long as money is involved. When he burned his money and buried his possessions, Chris proved that money was not the source of his internal happiness. The source of his happiness came when he was seeking to experience the affliction, adversity, and peril that Tolstoy had encountered and to do it all without major help from anyone.
If many were to hear the story of Chris and his living choices all while possessing a degree, they would call him insane since majority of all college students attend college for the potential to make a better living for themselves. Chris, however, did the polar opposite. He was different because instead of trying to get a high paying job with his educational status and degree, he chose to free himself from civilization as a whole and explore the west with just a backpack and a gun or two. He felt that instead of going on to further his educational endeavors, he graduated from Emory and moved on to do what he wanted to do all along, traveling and exploring.
I believe that if he had to make a decision with the choice of hitchhiking or going to college, he probably would have chosen hitchhiking because it seemed as if he were happier spending time living in the harsh conditions of Alaska than being at Emory. This is somewhat proof that college is a waste of time and money because he spent four years obtaining a degree that he really did not need for what he was doing. In modern society, a lot of someone’s happiness depends on their personal wealth and Chris was living according to his happiness rather than his worth, which is commendable. It takes a very strong individual to live the kind of life Chris lived given all of the situations he had to face. To see a college graduate defy every stereotype of what a college graduate should be is shocking and remarkable; so remarkable that it could not have happened 15 years later.
In today’s society, to see a man like Chris is like seeing five dollars on the street; it is almost impossible if not extremely rare. Chris found value in things that people today would define as worthless simply because people’s priorities have changed since 15 years ago. It seems as if people care about money and their financial situations nowadays more than anything else. People are more prone do some questionable things in our society as long as money is involved. When he burned his money and buried his possessions, Chris proved that money was not the source of his internal happiness. The source of his happiness came when he was seeking to experience the affliction, adversity, and peril that Tolstoy had encountered and to do it all without major help from anyone.
If many were to hear the story of Chris and his living choices all while possessing a degree, they would call him insane since majority of all college students attend college for the potential to make a better living for themselves. Chris, however, did the polar opposite. He was different because instead of trying to get a high paying job with his educational status and degree, he chose to free himself from civilization as a whole and explore the west with just a backpack and a gun or two. He felt that instead of going on to further his educational endeavors, he graduated from Emory and moved on to do what he wanted to do all along, traveling and exploring.
I believe that if he had to make a decision with the choice of hitchhiking or going to college, he probably would have chosen hitchhiking because it seemed as if he were happier spending time living in the harsh conditions of Alaska than being at Emory. This is somewhat proof that college is a waste of time and money because he spent four years obtaining a degree that he really did not need for what he was doing. In modern society, a lot of someone’s happiness depends on their personal wealth and Chris was living according to his happiness rather than his worth, which is commendable. It takes a very strong individual to live the kind of life Chris lived given all of the situations he had to face. To see a college graduate defy every stereotype of what a college graduate should be is shocking and remarkable; so remarkable that it could not have happened 15 years later.
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