At first, it gave the impression that what motivated Chris to pack and run away was his sour relationship with his “disrespectful” parents, according to his complaint to his sister, Carine, “Since they won’t ever take me seriously, for a few months after graduation I’m going to let them think they are right, I’m going to let them think that I’m ‘coming around to see their side of things’ and that our relationship is stabilizing. And then, once the time is right, with one abrupt, swift action I’m going to completely knock them out of my life. I’m going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live. I’ll be through with them once and for all, forever” (64). And then, during the last two years in his life, Chris really lived like a lone vagabond, hitchhiking around the West, sleeping at wherever allowed, taking employment sporadically, and even pedaling all way down to Mexico. Only personal freedom, solitude, the wildness thrilled Chris the most, as in his letter to Wayne Westerberge to elaborate his tramping lifestyle, “As for me, I’ve decided that I’m going to live this life for some time to come. The freedom and simple beauty of it is just too good to pass up” (33). Conspicuously, the thought of a pilgrimage was not the thing that crossed his mind. Actually, even the site of the …show more content…
Essentially, asceticism centers on the doctrine that an individual should live a frugal, abstinent, and austere life in pursuit of spiritual or religious goals. Since Chris transformed himself into a died-hard follower of asceticism in college, he had faithfully followed the exact principles of asceticism wherever he went and whatever he did. In his daily life, “Chris was very much of the school that you should own nothing except what you can carry on” (32), as his mother observed. Regarding money, although Chris displayed the unusual talent of making money and being an entrepreneur in his early years, he never hesitated to divest himself of any money, either through donation to charity or burning them into ashes, because owning money had become a symbol of sinful self-indulgence and material pleasure in the eye of an ascetic Chris. Also, most likely in name of asceticism, Chris felt an enormous amount of animosity toward his father as Walt’s bigamist secret was brought to light, “he’d been a bigamist at one time—and that kind of went against Alex’s grain”(159). Undoubtedly, that explained the reason why the relationship between Chris and his folks was so unpleasant and hostile. Then, even his parents’ offer to buy Chris a new car as a graduation gift was consider by Chris as a