Transcendentalism was a movement in the 19th century created by New England philosophers. The main ideas of this movement were having unity of all creation, goodness of mankind, and intuition and creativity over logic. Transcendentalists believed that divine truth could be known naturally, and that going to a place of worship was not necessary. They believed that laws should be disobeyed if they felt they were wrong. In “Into the Wild,” by Jon Krakeaur, a man named Chris McCandless journeys into the wilderness to live in complete solitude. Through reading the works of transcendentalists, he received inspiration. Chris McCandless effectively enacted the transcendentalist philosophy, and his actions were justified because he died doing what he …show more content…
In Emerson’s “Self Reliance,” he lived a privileged life in society, but believed you should not blindly follow society and conform to social norms. Emerson is described as a transcendentalist who “believed focusing on the purity and goodness of individualism and community with nature was vital for a strong society.” (“Self Reliance”) Emerson remained in society and encouraged his readers that in order to create a stronger society, members should focus on themselves and follow their own instincts. Chris, also known as Alex, followed these ideas in his own journey in “Into the Wild.” Chris grew up in society having everything paid for by his parents. They paid for his college, offered to buy him a new car, and wanted to pay for his graduate school. Chris believed in the idea of transcendentalism, and that in order to have innate goodness one should not conform to society. Although Emerson did not go off and journey into the woods like Chris did, he still stayed true to his own ideas. In “Self Reliance,” Emerson “advocates for individuals to trust in their own instincts and ideas, rather than blindly following the opinions of society and its institutions.” This relates to Chris because instead of him living out the life his family and society planned for him, he decided to stray away and follow his own instinct. Chris originally planned on taking the transcendentalist philosophy to the extreme and going out into the woods, living completely on his own, and not engaging in society at all. However, this wasn't the case. Chris ended up meeting an old man named Ron Franz. Franz took a deep liking to Chris, and even asked Chris if he could adopt him. Months after Chris left Franz, he wrote him a letter. “In early April a long letter arrived in Franz’s post-office box bearing a South Dakota postmark. “Hello Ron,” it says, “Alex here. I have been working up here in Carthage South Dakota for