Throughout Krakauer's account of Chris McCandless’ life, we see Chris’s innate need to be his own person and to be one with nature. We discover his want to be away from a big government and from America’s imposing societal structure. Through his love of nature and want for individualism, Chris McCandless is a modern day Transcendentalist. Individualism is one of the fundamental ideas of Transcendentalism, throughout the book we see Chris leave behind his old life, to start a new. One thing that Transcendentalist believe is that money can lead people astray from the true meanings of life. This belief was conveyed when Chris said, “Tramping is too easy with all this money. My days were more exciting when I was penniless and had to forage …show more content…
This has to do with the belief that god is everywhere, especially within nature. We saw this in Chris’ life when he said, “You are wrong if you think joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience” (McCandless 57) Chris and many of the transcendentalist before him saw God's presence in everything. Even though Chris sees God in everything, it can be inferred that he recognizes it most in nature. “You think that I am stubborn, but you are even more stubborn than me. You had a wonderful chance on your drive back to see one of the greatest sights on earth, the Grand Canyon….. fail to discover all the wonderful things that God has placed around us to discover. Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon.” (57) Transcendentalism is built off of Christianity, the biggest call to being a Christian is to teach, spreading the word of God. We see Chris answering his Christian call when he speaks to his friend about the need to go out into the world. Chris first speaks to his friend of going out and experiencing nature, Chris then brings God into the conversation. This shows that Chris was following his belief, that God is in