Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Did They Get What They Deserved?
Today in class we watched the movie documentary, Grizzly Man. The film followed Timothy Treadwell into the Alaskan peninsula every summer for 13 years. Many see a resemblance between Mr. Treadwell and Chris McCandless from Jon Krakauer's novel, Into The Wild. Each boy passed away after living alone and off of the land for a long time. Timothy lasted 13 summers and Chris lasted 113 consecutive days. Even though they lasted so long, some people would call Timothy and Chris idiots for leaving their lives and going to Alaska to live. Since both boys died out in the wilderness some people think that they got what they deserved. However, Timothy spent 13 consecutive summers with wild grizzly bears and never suffered any injuries. Along with Chris who ate a poisonous root mistaking it for a very similar looking edible one. After lasting so long, the two made one mistake which in both cases resulted in death. After lasting so long without any mistakes, do you think that Timothy and Chris should be considered idiots for traveling into the wild and never returning? Did they get what they deserved?
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6 comments:
Alex made a good point: Treadwell and McCandless had lasted for a long period of time in the wilderness. I think that this fact alone changes the way that we think about each of their experiences. I know that if either Mr. Treadwell or Chris McCandless were to have died after a week in the wilderness I would probably have to say that they were acting like idiots for adventuring into the wild in the first place. The fact the Treadwell had already survived in the wild each summer for thirteen years makes me think that he knew what he was doing, but I do think that he did not make the smartest decisions. Although, they didn’t deserve their deaths, both Treadwell and McCandless could have made smarter choices to help avoid this tragic event. For example, McCandless should not have eaten unfamiliar food. He should have used the money and food he was offered to help him survive. Also, Treadwell treated the bears, wild animals, like people. He should been more cautious around these animals.
I completely agree with you Kimber! It is not as if they had no connections with the wild in the past. They both thought of the wild as their mian passion in life. They obviously knew some what of what they were getting into and not just going into it blindly. The fact that they both lasted as long as they did shows that they were knowledgable in a sense. They both just had life ending, unfortunate events. Although they died at such young ages, they were able to accomplish at least part of their goals. They could have made some different decisions to make the out come of their travels more pleasant, but that is not the way that it happened. From what it seemed, they both died where and how they would have wanted to die anyways. They were both alone on the adventure that they had longed for and died in the places that made them the most comfortable and happy.
Alex,
You mention some good ideas here. Their considerable intelligence and drive are easy for people to overlook. It'd be nice to see you come to more decisive conclusions here, and to raise questions of your own instead of restating the one from Mr. B's original post. I think it's interesting you call them both "boys" when they were both grown men (physically if not emotionally). Treadwell was in his 40's.
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