Was McCandless from Into the Wild a noble, if misguided, an idealist or a reckless narcissist who brought pain to his family? and explain why.

Krakauer tells us in his Author’s Note that the
interpretation of McCandless’ actions is very much dependent on the individual and their
own history, as much as a knowledge of the events concerning
McCandless-

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 My convictions should be apparent soon enough,
but I will leave it to the reader to form his or her own opinion of Chris
McCandless.

Krakauer sets out
to offer detailed evidence to support his theory that McCandless was a passionate and
exacting young man, driven by his complex human relationships to seek a clearer
understanding of life by challenging himself and living at the mercy of nature. Through
the use of literary reference and interviewing those who knew McCandless, we are given a
picture of an intelligent young man who had a profound effect on those he met, and whose
fervour was all-consuming.

My personal viewpoint is then
formed from my experiences in relation to those of McCandless. I see the torture he put
his family and friends through as supremely selfish and cruel. He was an arrogant young
man who built his life on the fictional experiences of writers he adored but who were
wiser to catalogue the experiences of the wild rather than live it. Krakauer himself
reflects-

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 Like Chris MCandless, I was a raw youth who
mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic…I came
to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams.