In this essay I will be talking about the way that the McCandless family is presented in the both the novel and the film. Firstly the film presents Walt McCandless as a world apart from his son. Meaning that him and his dad were two different people that didn’t get along, they also both liked different things (one reason why they didn’t get along) making them separate even more. When the sport team entered the formal dining hall there was an over shoulder shot of Walt’s reaction and the reaction of Chris was very different compared to his dad. This shows that McCandless and his dad always thought different about things, and they will always be different ,and have their own opinions. The novel is similar to the film, as the novel presents Walt and Chris as sharing similar core characteristics. This means they were two very similar people. They was both smart and both new what they wanted in life.Most people saw Walt as a brilliant clever man while Chris came into the world with unusual gifts.This shows that the novel shows that Chris and his dad was similar, as they was both very clever and Chris was clever in an unusual way, but still brought clever thoughts to the family. They also knew every thing that they wanted in life.
The film presents Billie (the mum) as a mum who wants her son to do good in life and get a good job and earn lots of money, as he was very smart she thought that would be best for him.In the film when Chris graduates from university his mum and dad takes him to a high quality restaurant. While they was eating his mum mentions about buying Chris a new car ,as his old car was on its last legs and was not safe.This shows that she is a caring mum that wants her son to have new and safe things around him which will make him happy. she also wanted him to have the most expensive things so every one knows that he is wealthy. Similarly in the novel his mum is a caring mother that wants all the best for her son and also wanted him to be safe. In the novel its speaks about Billie knitting a sleeping bag for Chris. this shows that she loved Chris and she wanted him to be safe, and she didn’t want him to die.
The film also presents Chris as he is only behaving negative only towards his parents, as his parents were trying to make him happy with money and big expensive things that wasn’t needed in life, and Chris thought different about things to the way his parents did.In the film his parents offer Chris a new car but he didn’t want it and his attitude towards his parents was very wrong, as they are always trying to make him happy with new and expensive things, and he didn’t like that he also didn’t want a new car as he had the car he was currently using for long and he has so much experience that particular car. The way he talked back to his mum and dad was rude and the tone of his voice kept on raising and the expression on his face wasn’t very nice. This shows that he didn’t really like the way his parents treated him, and he didn’t like money and new things he just wanted to be left alone. It also shows that when something doesn’t go his way he acts negative towards his parents, and he makes sure that his parents agrees with him and makes sure that what ever they want to get him they don’ get him. whereas in the novel Chris is more caring to his parents and to other people around him, as he is not rude to his parents and he actually thinks about his parents and his sister. In the novel on mothers day Chris brought his mum a present. This shows that he cared about her and he wished good things about her . He also made himself look like a loving and caring son for a mum to have as he cared about her so much.
The film presents Carine (his sister) as a sister who is happy for her brother graduating and that is also very supporting when he says something, also she cared about him a lot, as in the film when Chris graduated she was happy for him, she was also in the front row with her parents jumping and chaining for him, she also followed them to the restaurant and ate with them and when they was going in she was holding his hand and in the film it said that they had each others backs. in the film there is also a voice over when Carine is talking about Chris when he came home and she says t”he year Chris graduated high school, he bought the Datsun used and drove it cross-country. He stayed away most of the summer. As soon as I heard he was home, I ran into his room to talk to him. In California, he’d looked up some old family friends. He discovered that our parents’ stories of how they fell in love and got married were calculated lies masking an ugly truth. When they met, Dad was already married. And even after Chris was born, Dad had had another son with his first wife, Marcia, to whom he was still legally married. This fact suddenly redefined Chris and me as bastard children. Dad’s arrogance made him conveniently oblivious to the pain he caused. And Mom, in the shame and embarrassment of a young mistress, became his accomplice in deceit. The fragility of crystal is not a weakness but a fineness. My parents understood that a fine crystal glass had to be cared for or it may be shattered. But when it came to my brother, they did not seem to know or care that their course of secret action brought the kind of devastation that could cut them. Their fraudulent marriage and our father’s denial of his other son was, for Chris, a murder of every day’s truth. He felt his whole life turn, like a river suddenly reversing the direction of its flow, suddenly running uphill. These revelations struck at the core of Chris’ sense of identity. They made his entire childhood seem like fiction. Chris never told them he knew and made me promise silence, as well”. that shows how much she loved and cared about him and she wont stop caring.When ever Chris said something she always supported him and she always helped him and also told him what was wrong and what was bad. Every day she wrote about Chris she kept a journal about him, she never stooped thinking about him, and she was sad when she heard he died. This shows that she was the perfect sister for Chris that cared a lot about him, she never stooped caring. She also wanted the best for him as well as his mum. This also shows that she supported him for every thing and didn’t turn him down for any thing he asked her. The novel is similar to the film, because Carine is a sister who is happy for her brother that graduate and this is very supporting,and also who is very caring and wants the best for he brother, whereas in the novel Carine is a quite girl who only wants to make her brother feel that he has someone that supports him when he says something. Also in the novel it hardly speaks about his sister. In the novel when ever Chris said something she always supported him as a sister who loved her brother with a passion and some one who is there looking out for him that wants to help him. she also cared about when Chris disappeared, because she spoke about it in the book and she said “With almost a year having passed since Chris’ disappearance my parents’ anger had turned to desperation. Their guilt was giving way to pain. And pain seemed to bring them closer. Even their faces had changed. She convinces herself it’s Chris, that’s her son whenever she passes a stray. And I fear for the mother in her. Instincts that seem to sense the threat of a loss so huge and irrevocable that the mind balks at taking its measure. I had begun to wonder if I can understand what Chris is saying any longer. But I catch myself and remember that these are not the parents I grew up with. That people soften by the forced reflection that comes with loss. Still everything Chris is saying has to be said. And I trust that everything he is doing has to be done. This is our life”. This showed that she didn’t stop loving and caring for him either in the film or in the novel, as both in the film and novel she kept on writing about Chris and didn’t stop thinking about him. She also didn’t want him to go and she was so sad when she found out he was gone in both the novel and the film.
In conclusion to this essay i think that Chris and his parents did not get along, because they wanted to try and make him happy with money and with expensive goods, but he didn’t want any of that he just wanted to live a normal live style, but his parents wanted different, and his parents never listened to him.The major difference between Chris and his family was philosophical and based on different world views of what one needs to do to be happy in life.There is a real tragedy in the fact that Chris McCandless and his parents were unable to connect in a way which may have saved them all from heartbreak. Chris only got along with his sister, because she cared about him, she listened to him, she wanted the best for him and she was always there to support him unlike his parents. she also didn’t want him to go and she wanted to see her big brother do something good in life. Chris wasn’t right for everything he done as it was his parents who brought him into this world so they can get him what ever they want when they want and he will have to accept it. Even though he had his own thoughts he should of respected his parents and listened to them. He shouldn’t of just left and left a note saying buy and making sure he was undefinable until he was dead, because he has now broken he parents and brothers and sisters hearts, and they didn’t get to say good bye. Now he has left them all in tears.
Recent Comments