Chris Stender Research Paper

Growing up in Chicago, I attended a neighborhood school from preschool through first grade. Although it was an exceptional school for elementary kids, the education for middle school and high school students was not as adequate. Seeking a better place to raise their children, my parents were faced with a tough choice. When I was in 2nd grade, our family made the decision to move to the suburbs. On July 3rd, we all packed into our Honda minivan and drove 45 minutes to a new home in the town of Winnetka. Within my first year at Crow Island, my new school, I learned so many new things. I started playing the violin and speaking Spanish, neither of which were offered at my old school. I met my best friends that I'm still close with now. Over the

He succeeded in getting good grades at school but defied the rules his teachers laid out for him. Chris learned guitar, piano, and french-horn as he was growing up. He later became a talented French-horn player, and was a member of the American University Symphony. Chris succeeded in forming a strong bond with his sister, Carine. Carine remembers him as her best friend. He was always there to protect her. Chris did well when he played sports. He never kept up playing them though, because he didn't agree with the rules and techniques. In high school, Chris was the captain of his Cross Country team. He set standards for himself to run his best. If he didn't succeed, he would be disappointed with himself. Chris thought he could do anything, all it required was for him to decide to do it. He once told a friend that they could raise the money to travel to South Africa to fight apartheid. On the weekends, McCandless would stay away from trying to sneak into bars, and instead talk to homeless people and prostitutes. Chris succeeded in trying to improve their lives. During Chris's junior year, he was hired by a building contractor and became a successful salesman. He was a prized

If his parents had a more normal and peaceful relationship, the outcomes would not have been so extreme. For example, having a stable family creates a healthier, more open and secure environment. Instead, Chris started to develop a distant relationship with his parents because of one of the choices the dad made, maintained two relationships. In addition, when a family relationship is in a chaotic stage, it will affect how the person treats other people. The person would be more distant, distrustful, self-sufficient, etc. That is, what Chris ended up to be when he decided to

Born into a rich family, Chris was ashamed of his wealth. As a child, Chris was often brought on cruises with his family. He “was embarrassed by all that”(Billie McCandless). On the other hand, Chris was extremely successful at earning a profit. As a child, he sold vegetables and started a copy business in his neighborhood. In his junior year in high school, Chris’s talent caught the interest of a construction company that was willing to pay for Chris’s college education should he choose to work for them. On the other hand, some argue that Chris continued to make money, therefore he did was not embarrassed by his talent. However, Chris was never ashamed of his talent to make money. He sought employment throughout his life. For example, in college, he worked as a deliveryman for Domino’s Pizza. Chris just felt guilty that he did not have to work for his large inheritance. Again, Chris was an independent person. He would have wanted to acquire his wealth through his own hard

Once you become a certain age most kids tend to get a job so they can start paying for things on their own. Once Chris got a job, he wanted nothing from his parents. He didn’t want them thinking that he needed their help in anyway shape or form. You also become independent once you get a job too, which is exactly how Chris was. For example, in Into The Wild, page 64, states “Given Walt’s need to exert control and Chris’s extravagantly independent nature, polarization was inevitable.” Which goes to show the strain they had on their relationship.

With everything Chris and his son went through it would seem almost impossible to be optimistic in that situation. Optimism was a crucial factor in his successes. It brought him to a place where life was better, allowing him to overcome dire circumstances despite the doubts of others. When his wife left him, it seemed it would be impossible to survive with the internship that gave no salary. It seemed like their life would take a turn for the worse. However, the optimism and belief that Chris had in his abilities led to him finally being able to defeat the negative outlook of others on his choices. His positive outlook on his situation gave him the strength to beat the odds against him. His chances to get into the internship seemed very little, but he had hopes to make it in. The day of his interview, he did not have time to dress appropriately, but he took his bad situation and turn it into a positive

What seems most hurtful and regrettable is Chris’ resentment towards the parents who did so much for him. Chris spent two years with no contact, and now they will never be able to see him again. His childishness clouded his judgment, and caused him to rewrite history, convincing him that his parents were his enemy when instead, they were supportive and proud of Chris. It was shameful “that a kid with so much compassion could his parents so much pain”(104). His travels seemed to be an escape from his family, and a reactionary revenge against his comfortable life. Something strange was happening to him, he became resentful of the life offered

It is impossible to fully apprehend what was going through Chris’s mind and how it worked. But we can grasp that his resentment towards his father was deep. He was predetermined to become someone so different from his father because Chris didn’t care for or look up to the kind of person he was. Although he respected how he came up from nothing and made something of himself.

When Chris first started his adventure into the wild, he rejected the materialism of contemporary society and undertook his journey to find meaning and define identity in nature. He believes that he does not need anything more than what he can run with on his back. There has always been a vision set by the people around him of what he has to achieve in his life. His parents constantly reiterated the fact that after graduating from college, he must attend law school and become a lawyer. In their eyes, that is the definition of success. This package of success that has been pushed on Chris his entire life kept him from being able to find his true self. In an attempt to find out who he really is, Chris decides to leave everything he has ever known to find himself. For him, finding himself and embracing his individuality would be what made him

By practicing nonconformity, Chris made it impossible to have a good relationship with his father. Chris cleary demonstrates this hatred for his father in the letter he wrote to his sister ; “I’m going to completely knock them out of my life. I’m going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to those idiots again as long as I live. I’ll be through with them once and for all, forever.” (chapter 12)

Chris was brave enough to escape an undesired life. He stated in a letter to Franz “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit” (Krakauer 57). Chris took the initiative to change, he was

Chris was judged by many people who thought he was insane but really, he just had a troubled childhood. Chris and his father had many conflicts, mainly because his father lived a double life with another family and tried to hide it from Chris’s family. When Chris was a teenager and learned about his father’s past “[he] could not pardon the mistakes his father had made as a young man,

“While you are still waiting to find an easy way out some one is already getting results because they decided making progress is more important than making excuses.” (Unknown) Someone who I think represents this quote perfectly is Josh Sundquist. He astonishes me still. Josh was diagnosed with a rare type of bone cancer at age nine. The doctors told him he had a fifty-five percent chance of living. He spent one year doing chemotherapy and his left leg had to be amputated. At age thirteen the doctors declared his disease was cured. Josh said his parents had bought him a trampoline which helped him regain balance. After three years of arduous work he started skiing. He trained for about six years and in 2006 he was named to the US Paralympic

It was 2016, and I was finally a senior in high school. Being a senior in high school was something that I had dreamed of since my early middle school days, and at last, I was there. It was the last year in one of my least favorite environments, and I couldn’t wait to graduate and move away from the only place I had ever known. I had lived in the same town for seventeen years, and I had gone to the same school with the same people for thirteen years. I was looking forward to something new in my life. I was most excited for my senior year because it was the year that I was going to choose where I wanted to move away to and what school I wanted to spend the next four years of my life at. As the year moved along, I slowly realized that I wasn’t moving away and that I’d be staying home to attend college, which was one of the most difficult decisions that I ever had to make.

“Julie, we are moving again.” her father would echo those words every few years of her school life. Most kids would have found that physical move of schools and making new friends in a new place too intense of a change. Julie was different. She thrived on that change, taking her chances and embracing variety.