Christopher McCandless-Contemporary Tragic Hero

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Who Did What?

Gabby: Intro and Additions/Revisions
Jimmy: Outdated and New Theory of Tragedy
Alan: Essential Parts and Works Cited
Sabrina: Pyramid for the Modern Day Tragic Hero and Pyramid for Christopher McCandless

Intro

Christopher McCandless was born into an upper middle class family, where his father physically abused his mother in front of him and his sister. He grew to hate society and how the people who constantly surrounded him were so cruel and only placed value in material possessions. In pursuit of an escape from this oppressive society and search for self and happiness, after he graduated from Emory University, Christopher cut up and burned his social security card, birth certificate, and any other identifying material. He then donated his entire life savings ($24,000) to charity, drove his car as far as it could go until it got destroyed in a flash flood, and changed his name to Alexander Supertramp, chronicling his journey in a journal.

The audience finds out that Alexander’s goal is to get to Alaska and live in the wilderness, which is understandable as he grew up reading books such as Jack London’s Call of the Wild describing Alaska as the perfect place for a man to be alone and fully embrace happiness. Along the way, the tragic hero meets some amazing people who change his life, such as: Jan and Raini, a Hippie couple; Wayne, a wheat farmer; Tracy, a young singer; and Ron, a Vietnam war veteran who had lost his family in a car crash. All these people loved Alexander and wished for him to stay with them, one even offering to adopt Alexander before he made the final trek to Alaska. But he left everyone soon after meeting them.

He ended up arriving at Alaska during the winter months, crossing a river to find an abandoned bus which he makes his home. Life for Alexander becomes harder and he becomes less hopeful of survival. As his supplies begin to run out, he realizes that nature is also harsh and uncaring. In the pain of realization, he seeks to return from the wild to his friends and family. However, he finds that the stream he had crossed during the winter has become wide, deep, and violent due to the thaw, and he is unable to cross. In desperation for food, he accidentally eats a poisonous plant. As he is dying, Alexander realizes that true happiness is only real when shared with others.

Outdated Parts

Key:

Aristotle’s Theory (Black)

Irrelevant (Highlighted)

Why it is irrelevant and comparing the two different time periods (Red)

We realize that a person may be destroyed even while attempting to be good

Whereas Oedipus was doing his best to find the truth, save his people, and return Thebes to its normal, un-plagued state, Christopher McCandless from Into the Wild is purely attempting to escape society’s over-materialism and corruption.

We realize that there is a conflict between human goodness and reality

As stated above, Christopher does not attempt to be good in his endeavor to have a solitary life: it is simply an escape

We see that even in the name of goodness a human can cause his/her own downfall (IRONY)

While yes, his downfall is a result of his decision to live a life in the wild, he did not perform any major acts that would benefit others in any way (it was in his own self-interest)

He identified 5 essential criteria:

A tragedy is an imitation of action (mimesis) that is complete -- it has a definite beginning, middle, and end (Freytag's pyramid is seen: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution).
A tragedy has a unified, complex plot in which all actions are connected -- every cause has an effect, there aren't any random events or loose ends.

Although in Into the Wild, there is a unified, complex plot in which all actions are connected and every cause has an effect, there are many random events and loose ends. While in The Great Gatsby, everything is summed up very nicely at the end, and there are no random events, as the reader learns about Gatsby’s funeral and what happens to Daisy and Tom. Into the Wild has many random events in it because the point of the movie is that enjoyment in life comes from little random moments. The loose ends occur when the audience doesn’t know what happens to Christopher’s family or anyone he met on the way.

A tragedy possesses a certain magnitude (universal relevance or significance).
A tragedy arouses pity and fear in the audience.
A tragedy causes catharsis (purging of emotions) at the end.

Eventually the Aristotelian tragic hero dies a tragic death, having fallen from great heights and having made an irreversible mistake. The hero must courageously accept his/her death with honor.

Other Common Traits:

Hero must suffer more than he deserves.
Hero must be doomed from the start, but bears no responsibility for possessing his flaw.

This is not apparent in Into the Wild like it is in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus was fated to kill his father and marry his mother, but Christopher made a decision to live a solitary life, ultimately leading to his downfall

Hero must be noble in nature, but imperfect so that the audience can see themselves in him/her.
Hero must have discovered his/her fate by his/her own actions, not by things happening to him/her.
Hero must see and understand his/her doom, as well the fact that his fate was discovered by his/her own actions.
Hero’s story should arouse fear and empathy.
Hero must be physically or spiritually wounded by his experiences, often resulting in his/her death.
Ideally, the hero should be a king or leader of men, so that his/her people experience his/her fall with him/her.

While the decisions he made did indeed affect others, such as his family and those he met during his journey, he was no leader of men like Oedipus or Hamlet.

Hero must be intelligent so he/she may learn from his/her mistakes.
Hero must have a weakness; usually it is pride.

Unlike Gatsby who was prideful and overly optimistic, Christopher’s error in judgment was his belief that a solitary life would provide him with true happiness. In the end, he discovers that true happiness is shared with others.

Hero has to be faced with a very serious decision.
Hero must have something gone wrong in his/her current life.
The suffering of the hero must have meaning.

Freytag’s Pyramid

Inciting Moment

Exposition

Exposition consists of early material providing the theme,
establishing the setting, and introducing the major characters and sometimes
early hints of the coming conflict.

Rising Action

Rising action is an increase in tension or uncertainty developing out
of the conflict the protagonist faces

While in the Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby did slightly lose certainty in his pursuit of Daisy, Christopher never loses certainty until he recognizes that he cannot cross the river to return back to where he came from.

Complication

Climax

Traditionally situated in the third act of a play, the climax is the moment of greatest tension, uncertainty, or audience involvement. The climax is also called the crisis.

Since not all movies are split into acts in modern times, this typically occurs in what could be considered ⅔ of the way into the storyline

Reversal

The moment of reversal is also called the peripeteia. In classical tragedy, the reversal is that moment in which the protagonist’s fortunes change irrecoverably for the worse. Frequently, the very trait we admire in a tragic hero is the same trait that begins about the hero’s downfall. At some point after the reversal, the tragic hero realizes or verbalizes his tragic error. This moment of tragic recognition is called the anagnorisis.

Falling Action

During the falling action, the earlier tragic force causes the failing fortunes of the hero. This culminates in the final catastrophe and invokes catharsis (emotional purgation) in the audience

Catastrophe

The catastrophe often spirals outward. Not only does the hero suffer for
an earlier choice, but that choice causes suffering to those the hero loves or wants to protect.

While in Hamlet, the catastrophe spiraled outward as everyone he loved around him was affected by what had occurred, in Into the Wild, Christopher was, in the end, the only one that was greatly affected by his decision. His parents and friends had already come to the realization that he would not be coming back, and had already moved on.

Moment of Last Suspense

After the suspense ends, the denouement unwinds previous tension and helps provide closure.

Unlike in Hamlet where previous tension with Fortinbras is relieved, in Into the Wild, after Christopher dies, there is no further closure (the story simply ends).

Essential Parts

Most of the essential parts of Aristotle’s theory of tragedy found in The Great Gatsby, Oedipus, and Hamlet remain relevant and parallel with our modern day version of the tragic hero. Certain parts of the first identified criterion of the tragedy, essentially Freytag’s pyramid, are important to all four tragedies. For instance, the inciting moment in Into the Wild is when Christopher McCandless learns that he and his sister are in fact bastard children since his father was never legally married to his mother and had another family prior to meeting her but denies this information to him. This revelation causes him to cut all ties with his family and leave. The exposition for Hamlet is revealed early on in the first act with the information that King Hamlet has died and Gertrude is married with his brother Claudius. Another important part of Freytag’s Pyramid is the complication which is different for each tragedy and for Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby he suffers from his inability to pass this social boundary to be a part of the American upper class and be with Daisy Buchanan. In Oedipus, the reversal of intention, or peripeteia, occurs when the Corinthian messenger speaks of Oedipus' birth in the Thebian royal household and Oedipus realizes that his horrible prophesied fate as his father's killer and mother's husband are true. The falling action is the last vital part of Freytag’s pyramid as every hero suffers from earlier tragic forces and invokes catharsis in the audience, whether it be pity and fear for Oedipus who stabs his eyes to suffer for the pain that he has caused his people or astonishment of the death of almost every major character after an unfair sword fight in Hamlet without any closure.

One of the most common elements is the universal and timeless magnitude in each of these tragedies. In The Great Gatsby, we see a man, Jay Gatsby, who falls into the myth of the American Dream. Despite being able to attain fortune and a reputation for himself, he is unable to cross this indiscernible barbed wire into the wealthy and highly respected class that is born with pedigree which still exists in our modern day society. Although Oedipus provides a highly sophisticated and unlikely story, some great questions are raised as to whether or not we as humans are really free or are we ruled by an unseen and commanding force? Hamlet also presents great importance to today through Hamlet’s reflections on mankind questioning the calamity of life, whether life is worth putting up with the ridiculousness people put us through on a daily basis. In Into the Wild, Christopher McCandless holds strong to this strong idea that one can live independently off nature and that society and its institutions ultimately corrupt the purity of the individual that has lasted since the early 1800’s through the transcendentalists. (see video below)

Each one of these tragic heroes also arouses pity and fear in the audience by the end of their story. Beloved Jay Gatsby, a self-made man, achieves fame and fortune but is dismissed for not being born of noble birth. Although he made money by means of illegal activity, people can appreciate how far he has made it from a poor German farming family in rural North Dakota and his immense optimism. Oedipus, on the other hand, suffers from his bizarre yet tragic fate that he cannot escape. The audience is able to pity Oedipus for his severe actions as he had no way of knowing what he had done and even when he had suspicion of the truth, he continued pursuing it for his people and takes full responsibility by banishing himself from Thebes. Hamlet is a young man who is able to transmit pity into audiences of all ages by posing the essential question of what is the purpose of life. He is put into a position where he is confined by the limits of a higher power and is damned if he kills Claudius, damned if he does not. We also sympathize for McCandless who shows his growth in his journey to Alaska where he leads himself to his own death after eating poisonous berries. It is not a quick and painless one, but one hard to watch as he realizes his error in judgment moments before his death. (see video below)

Lastly, we experience a purge of emotions after all of these characters have died or realized their downfall at the end of their catastrophic tale. Jay Gatsby managed to have entire crowds of people to celebrate and let loose in his home and spent years of his life striving to make Daisy fall in love with him. In the end, he is left with nothing but being accused of murdering Myrtle Wilson and nothing but careless people ignoring his existence besides the man with owl-eyed glasses and Nick Carraway at his funeral while we are left with nothing but disgust for the higher class society. Oedipus provides a different source of catharsis as he blinds and banishes himself for his grave wrongdoings despite the fact that none of it was ever his fault, just his inevitable fate. At the end of Hamlet, Hamlet, his mother Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern are discovered dead and even Fortinbras, prince of the enemy of Denmark, realizes that there is something very wrong with this scene. Into the Wild offers a more pleasant emotional relief moments before our tragic hero dies. McCandless sees the error in his judgment and comes to the conclusion that true happiness can only be achieved when shared with others, allowing us to appreciate those around us and open up to the people we will meet along our own journey. (see video below)

Additions/Revisions

A tragic hero is a literary character who makes an error in judgment that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction.

We realize that a person may be destroyed even while attempting to be good to achieve happiness.

Christopher McCandless is not attempting to be good because he is already good. He wants to achieve happiness that he reads about in books and can’t seem to find in the reality he was living in.

We realize that there is a conflict between human goodness happiness and reality

Initially, Christopher was extremely unhappy in his reality when he was living in society. He tries to achieve happiness by escaping from his reality of a college graduate who needs to find a job and takes himself into the unknown of life away from others.

We see that even in the name of goodness a search for happiness, a human can cause his/her own downfall (IRONY)

Through Christopher’s journey to find happiness, he meets amazing people and changes their lives, but takes them for granted. This realization in the end destroys him physically when he becomes trapped in Alaska, and emotionally when he realizes how truly happy they had made him and how he had left.