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Differences And Similarities Between Chris Mccandless And Thoreau

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Chris McCandless and Thoreau had a lot in common. Both men had the same intelligent and wise thought and actions. Transcendentalism means to assert the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that empirical. Its scientific reality and is knowable through intuition: (quote- Webster’s Dictionary Online). We all can see that Chris and Thoreau share the same beliefs of individualism, self-wisdom, and self- confidence. One of the very first rules Chris McCandless follows is the anxiousness of individualism when he deserts all his belongings , grants his savings to charity, and leaves his family. After Chris abandoned his own belongings and everyone he associated with, he worked up the urged of seeking individualism. There is a quote from Thoreau that can be a comparison to Chris McCandless. Thoreau states that, ”let everyone mind his own business, and endear too be what he was model” (Walden). This quote clearly can relates to what Chris is trying to achieve in life. So seeking individualism is one of the main keys …show more content…

We can tell that Chris wanted self-wisdom because, he always wanted to be by his- self reading books and studying. He wanted to witness and endure the life of the wild for his-self, so that he could see for his-self how the life of a super tramp was. There is a quote from Thoreau states that, “ if it proved to be mean, why then to get whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world ….And be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion” (Walden). This quote clearly relate to Chris urge of seeking self- wisdom, by always isolating him-self from everyone to be alone and get the full understanding of life as well as the wild. So seeking self-wisdom is the second main key to becoming a “Transcendentalist”. There is one more of the main characteristics that Thoreau and Chris had in common for as the comparison of the three elements individualism, self-wisdom, and

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Henry was also a transcendentalist (“Henry David Thoreau). A transcendentalist is a person who believes in individuality and self-reliance. Henry’s adventure in the woods can also be related to his transcendentalistic views. However, it was never stated that Chris was a transcendentalist, so one must believe he chose to live in the wilderness due to his lust for adventure.

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Henry David Thoreau and Chris McCandless embrace beliefs from the Transcendental philosophy. In the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer and the excerpts from Walden by Henry David Thoreau readers can see connections between the beliefs of McCandless and Thoreau. They show that McCandless and Thoreau share the Transcendental beliefs of being one with nature, having self-wisdom, and simplicity. Parallels exist between the Transcendental beliefs of Chris McCandless and Henry David Thoreau.

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Dead Poets Society Transcendentalism is about life in which nature and the soul connect. In the movie Dead Poet Society, one of the characters who shows transcendentalism in Neil Perry. In the movie the students quoted poems and had their alone time with nature. They also relied on themselves and sought the spiritual side of things.

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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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Chris McCandless: A Reckless Idiot Chris McCandless was a reckless idiot and there is no denying that basic truth. Chris McCandless was a man born into a middle class family. Chris had parents that loved him, a roof over his head, and food to eat. Despite all those riches he had, he threw them away. Chris was a very selfish man.

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1065 Words | 5 Pages

Chris McCandless has been described in many words. Dependable. Intense. Passionate. Bullheaded. Every person who has the opportunity to meet Chris finds that he is many things.

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988 Words | 4 Pages

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”- Henry David Thoreau. Transcendentalism is an American philosophy that revolves around self-reliance and independence, commonly in nature, a Transcendentalist wants to find the true meaning in life. I believe that Chris McCandless was a Transcendentalist because he was able to leave his whole life behind and take on a minimalist lifestyle while having a strong relationship with god. However, I believe that I am not a Transcendentalist, but simply an adventurer.

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1348 Words | 6 Pages

In a letter Chris wrote to Ronald Franz, he talks about how we have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in an out of the ordinary lifestyle, just like Chris did. So yes, Chris did bring himself peace, and he did live up to Emerson’s standards. Many believe that Chris was ignorant and was a fool for stepping into the Alaskan wilderness unprepared. Yes, Chris may have been unprepared, and some believe that it cost him his life. You can’t argue the fact that Chris was unprepared, but you can argue the fact that he was happy.

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This also shows that Henry David Thoreau was inspired more by the Transcendentalist movement while Chris was not, although he did have some Transcendentalist beliefs. When he was in Alaska, he became extremely upset that he did not make full use of a moose (which we later found out to be a caribou) that he hunted. The caribou was not preserved correctly, and this lead it to spoil (Krakauer 167). One of the main transcendentalist beliefs involves the preservation of nature, and he acknowledges this.

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Chris had a huge impact on everyone he knew, but he would not let them influence him or his decisions at all. He rebelled against his family because his father was too controlling. Later on, when any of his companions told him not to go to Alaska, or tried telling him to do anything that he did not want to, he would totally ignore them, and change the subject. As Krakauer writes in chapter 6, “McCandless…relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it. He had fled the claustrophobic confines of his family.

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Transcendentalist writers were focused on the belief of the divinity of the individual soul, the inner voice, (Crawford, Kern & Needleman, 1961) to overcome social stereotypes and to avoid conformity. It is highlighted the importance to return to nature to enhance the quality of humans beings by living simply since being apart of common social rules is the only way to be in communion with nature’s wisdom. Those transcendental characteristics could be seen in Emerson’s ¨self-reliance¨ or Thoreau’s ¨Walden ¨ bearing in mind that although, Emerson’s ¨Self-reliance¨ adheres more descriptive examples to illustrate metaphors and Thoreau’s ¨Where I lived and what I lived for¨ introduces metaphors creating much more imagery, both make a critique of the modern individual using

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Henry David Thoreau is one of the primary promoters of the transcendentalist movement and has been inspiring people to take on the transcendentalist lifestyle ever since the mid 1800’s. Mccandless was an admirer of Henry’s philosophy but he wasn’t as fully immersed in his work and ideals as Thoreau was to his own. His intentions were not as closely aligned to the movement as Thoreau’s and the difference between these icons are clearly visible. Self reliance is one of the most significant components of the transcendentalism movement that Henry David Thoreau contributed to in his literary career. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” - (taken from Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”).

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353 Words | 2 Pages

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau on Nature and Humans Emerson and Thoreau are both considered Transcendentalists, they both shared many beliefs and ideas about the world. They both felt strongly about nature and how it was good for humanity as well as what humans were doing to nature Nature to Emerson is anything that hasn’t been changed by man, anything that has been changed by man is art. (Emerson, 692) Now to us this may seem strange, art is a beautiful thing and isn’t bad at all, Emerson disagrees however, to him if a man truly wants to be alone then he must stay away from everything that is “art.” This doesn’t have to be a permanent move away from art but he believes that “[you are] not solitary whilst [you] read and write,”

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1066 Words | 5 Pages

Transcendentalism is the belief that man is inherently good, is an independent thinker, and goes out into nature to get in touch with himself. Generally, man has good intentions and intends no harm unto others. In addition, man does not need society to give him and develop his thoughts, as he already has them within. To help bring out these already installed beliefs, man has the desire to go out into nature to get in touch with himself and find deeper notions within. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writings “Self Reliance” and “American Scholar”, he writes about how being a true individual means that one must have his own beliefs, and not copy someone else’s ideas.

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637 Words | 3 Pages

Transcendentalism, a philosophical and social movement, demonstrated how divinity spreads through all nature and humanity. One of the main ideals of transcendentalism, living simply and independently, define as the principle. In matters of financial and interpersonal relations, independence projects as more valuable than neediness. Henry david Thoreau elaborates on these transcendentalist ideals when he travels into the woods and writes an essay.

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