"Happiness is only real when shared"

"HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED" (pg189)
Happiness is much harder to find by yourself than it is to find with others. Chris says he is against society and materialism and thinks it is evil and corrupt. However, this doesn't mean he doesn't like people. He made many friends on his adventure that he thought highly of and shared happiness with. I believe that happiness is definately better when shared with people you enjoy being with. For example most weddings are big events no matter where you are in the world. Usually many family members and friends go to weddings to share the happiness between the groom and the bride. By sharing happiness with others, they create an  elevated emotional state that couldn't be achieved otherwise.

Chris Mcandless and his search for contment

Chris Mcandless didn't go on this journey without a purpose. He clearly was searching for contment and happiness in the wild. He wanted to be genuinely happy instead of materialistic happy. When he left Gallien, he gave him his watch because he didn't even want to know what time or day it was. He was searching for contment, not for a short amount of time, but a permanent amount of time. People in society are constantly searching for happiness and are capable of finding it for a temporary time. However, usually what makes people happy for a temporary time are materialistic things such as a new phone, car, computer, etc. I believe that Chris is searching for a greater, more permanent happiness that most people don't have. He was trying to find a place where he wouldn't have to search or want anything more. A place where he was permanently content with his life.

What did Chris have against accepting gifts from people?

"I can't believe they'd try and buy me a car (...) a car that has in all those thousands of miles not given me a single problem, a car that i will never trade in, (...) I'm going to have to be real careful not to accept any gifts from them in the future because they will think they have bought my respect" krakauer 21.
This is the quote where it demonstrate Chris's frustration with materialistic gifts such as the car that was given to him by his parents. It also demonstrates Chris's values of being self-made and not relying on anyone to do anything for him. I think that was one of the main reasons he went into the wild to begin with, because he wanted to prove to himself that he could do this on his own and prove that he was a selfmade man.