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Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

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In the biography, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer writes about a man named Chris McCandless. McCandless seemed like a normal person. He had good grades, a good home life, and had just graduated from college. Then, the 24-year-old went off on a journey, eventually ending up in Alaska, where he met an untimely death in an abandoned bus that he had taken shelter in. While McCandless never came out as a transcendentalist, his actions were indicative of some of the tenets of transcendentalism. One of the tenets that McCandless had adopted was that Materialism was bad. When remembering how McCandless would go feed and visit the homeless, his mom Bille said, “Chris didn’t understand how people could possibly be allowed to go hungry, especially in this
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“Actions speak louder than words” is a centuries-old idea that, in recent times, has been famously said by both Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain, and I think this idea should be the core of any look into the life and actions of Chris McCandless. However, I believe that this idea was hardly considered in Jon Krakauer’s interpretation of Chris McCandless in his book Into The Wild. Into The Wild is taken by many as the complete truth of Chris McCandless’ story, but many people seem to forget that Krakauer tells us in his author’s note at the beginning of the book that “[he] won’t claim to be an impartial biographer.” This means that any judgment of Chris that only uses this book is inherently flawed by Krakauer’s own views.

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Into the Wild Essay Most people go into the wilderness to go camping for a week or less than a week, then leave. Some stay for more than a week. Chris McCandless was in the wild for at least one hundred days. “ I’ve decided to live this life for some time to come. The freedom and the beauty of it is too good to pass up.”(pg.92)

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After reading Krakauer’s Into the Wild and Henry David Thoreau’s exerts from Walden, we can see a deep connection between Christopher McCandless and Thoreau’s transcendental beliefs. Both Chris McCandless and Thoreau show transcendentalism in their actions of self-wisdom, differences, and liberation. Chris McCandless life choices in Into the wild reflect the transcendental beliefs of Thoreau’s Walden. The first transcendental belief of McCandless is that he marches to the beat of a different drummer.

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Jon Krakauer has a high amount of respect for Christopher J. McCandless; not only because they have many similarities, but because McCandless searched deep for the meaning of life and did as he pleased. In the book, “Into The Wild,” Krakauer not only tells the story of McCandless, but also of his own life, and how he has been shaped into his own. Krakauer had a deep love for the wild, just as Chris did. Though, the two did not do the same things, they both pursued their passions which made it easier for Krakauer to relate to Chris. Once climbing a mountain, Krakauer had ran into trouble, just as Chris did on his journey.

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Many people have conflicting thoughts and beliefs about Christopher McCandless’ trek through the Alaskan wilderness. There is, however, one point to be made about his decision. Pleasure without conscience is profoundly the social sin McCandless commits, therefore leading to his eventual “no-contact” with his family. This social sin was the catalyst for his unfortunate demise in Alaska. Although McCandless’ journey was undoubtedly courageous, his decision to depart from all contact with his loved ones, including his sister, Carine McCandless, who he was extremely close with, was considerably uncaring of him.

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In the novel Into the Wild written by Jon Krakauer, it becomes apparent that some claim Christopher McCandless had “courage and noble ideas,” whereas others state that he was “a reckless idiot” and “a wacko,” but the question still remains, is he really a transcendentalist? Transcendentalism is a philosophy stating that spiritual things are much more real than material things and the basic human experience. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are two of the most important transcendental enthusiasts who shaped the beliefs of this ideology. Emerson founded the Transcendental Club and led the whole movement in the mid-19th century. He, as well as his friend, Thoreau -- an avid abolitionist -- wrote strong transcendental pieces explaining

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Have you ever met someone that everyone seems to love? This is exactly how Chris McCandless seemed in Into the Wild. Chris seemed to have a very loveable personality even though he did nothing to deserve it. But McCandles was too focused on himself, so he never grew attached to others that were willing to help. I believe that MCandles was selfish, independent, and arrogant.

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McCandless’s self-reliance is a big part of identifying him as transcendentalist. In the short story, “Death of an Innocent”, Chris says, “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.” McCandless feels that life should not be wasted doing what you do not love, and shows this by traveling and living off the land every chance he gets. Transcendentalists take in all of what nature has to give them by becoming one with it; like McCandless does throughout the story.

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Despite the seemingly random nature of this, my mother is well informed. My mother loves and cares about the people in her life and will always make sure to check in on her loved ones and ensure she's safe and well. McCandless, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have any concern for the people he connects with. He leaves, barely reaches out, and causes people heartache. After finding out that Chris had died, the news eventually got to his family.

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In the 19th and 20th century transcendentalism was a new and exciting topic that caused tremendous controversy. In the novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless was a man with a very unique character. In more detailed words Chris McCandless was a transcendentalist. His actions and moods played a big part in his life, from beginning to end. He was a transcendentalist because of his self-reliance, confidence and non-conformity.

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“Into The Wild” is a non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer in 1996. The book is an extended article on Krakauer’s take on the case of Chris McCandless, an example of a modern-day transcendentalist. Transcendentalism can be described as a philosophy that draws attention to the idea that people, both men and women equally, have a better comprehension or understanding of the world around them and themselves. In addition, McCandless enjoyed the simplicity and the beauty of nature, for which he was determined to go out into the Alaskan wilderness. As Chris McCandless is taking on his Great Alaskan Adventure, he met all kinds of people along the way, but there were a few he had quality time with and impressed.

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Mccandless’ Odyssey of Solitude “To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society” , Emerson on Nature. In the biographical narrative, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless, an unprepared teenager, walks into Denali, Alaska and never returns. After McCandless’ body is discovered in Fairbanks Bus 142, Jon Krakauer follows McCandless’ footsteps in an attempt to learn what he did and why. Krakauer discerns that McCandless’ ideas and philosophies were closely aligned with the teachings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Both Emerson and Thoreau are pioneers of Transcendentalism, the belief that the reality of oneself is discovered through nature.

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Was Chris McCandless a true transcendentalist? Transcendentalism is a system developed by Immanuel Kant, based on the idea that, in order to understand the nature of reality, one must first examine and analyze the reasoning process that governs the nature of experience. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures. In Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into the Wild, McCandless is viewed as a transcendentalist.

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Into the Wild: Transcendentalism Into the Wild is a harrowing account of the events surrounding a young individual’s death by Jon Krakauer. A question is presented within this novel about whether this man’s actions make him a transcendentalist or not. Christopher John McCandless is a modern-day transcendentalist in the minds of those who wish they were, but he is only a childish rebel in the minds of those who would think of themselves as, perhaps, realists. The type of people that idolize McCandless are the whimsical naturalists that trick themselves into thinking they are somehow more self-enlightened than those who take a more reasonable and levelheaded approach to life. “McCandless...read like...an above average, somewhat histrionic

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