Synthesis Essay - Comparison between Frederick Douglass and Jon Krakauer

Synthesis Essay - Comparison between Frederick Douglass and Jon Krakauer It is sometimes said that nothing in life that is worthhaving comes easily. I have noticed that what oftenseparates those who attain their hopes and dreams fromthose who do not is that they possess a certain driveand determination to stop at nothing to achieve thosedreams. Although the two individuals Chris McCandlessand Frederick Douglass lived in different time periods,and grew up in totally different environments, theypossessed the will to overcome whatever obstacles lifepresented them and achieved the goals that they set forthemselves. Chris McCandless was determined to live anunconventional, nomadic lifestyle like those of hisidols Henry David Thoreau, Boris Pasternak, and theJules Verne character Captain Nemo. Growing up, hewaited until the time was right to begin his journeyacross the country and into the wilderness. JohnKrakauer wrote: Five weeks earlier he'd loaded hisbelongings into his car and headed west without anThe gravestone of Frederick Douglass located at Mo...itine rary. The trip was to be an odyssey in the fullestsense of the word, an epic journey that would changeeverything. He had spent the previous four years, as hesaw it, preparing to fulfill an absurd and onerous duty:to graduate from college. At long last he wasunencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of hisparents and peers, a world of abstraction and securityand material excess, a world in which he felt grievouslycut off from the raw throb of existence. (22) Later inthe book we were again given a glimpse of Chris's grittydetermination to achieve a goal that he had set forhimself.During his travels Chris stopped in the small dustytown of Tapock, Arizona. It was there that he noticed anold secondhand canoe which he purchased in an attempt tofloat from Lake Havasu...