Examples Of Transcendentalism In Into The Wild

The book, Into The Wild, provides the most popular and detailed outline of Chris McCandless’ adventures. Through the examination of this book, it can be seen that Chris McCandless is a transcendentalist. A transcendentalist is a person who seeks to find their relation to the universe through a direct relationship with God and nature and believes in the tenets of transcendentalism. The validity of McCandless being a transcendentalist can be seen in his time in the Detrital Valley. In addition to examining whether McCandless is a transcendentalist, it is helpful to self-reflect and determine if I am a transcendentalist. It is difficult for me to self-reflect, but through the examination of my time in the woods hunting and my current ideology,

We can tell from McCandless being all alone in the Detrital Valley that he wants to spend time in nature alone to better understand himself and his relation to the universe. It is harder to tell if he finds this relation through God as well in this scene, but an examination of part of his letter to Ron, “I fear you will follow this same inclination in the future and thus fail to discover all the wonderful things that God has placed around us to discover.” shows that he believes God was the creator and thus most likely has sought his relation to the universe through God. This message from Ron also points to tenet five of Transcendentalism that God is present throughout nature because Chris says that God has placed wonderful things around us to discover implying that God created nature and is present in his creation. Chris’ belief in tenet one that the individual is important, inherently good, and has free will can be seen in the scene in the Detrital Valley when he is disregarding the signs and exercising his free will to continue off the pavement. He also exercises his free will by not conforming to society’s standard that money should not be burned. After analyzing this scene, Chris McCandless is found to be a transcendentalist due to seeking his relation to the universe through God and nature,

It has been over a year since I have been out into the wilderness in Southern Illinois. The last time I was there I can remember seeing the endless amount of trees swaying in the wind with the ice and snow from a recent snowfall. My father and I huddled in a deer blind for hours with a space heater and still felt the chill of the sub-zero temperatures running down our spines. After sitting for hours, we still saw no deer because it was even too cold for the deer to move. Despite the immense cold and boredom from sitting silently for the deer that never came, I was at peace, and the time to myself helped give me another perspective on life. This peace from the wilderness coupled with a sermon from my youth pastor the previous week on the distractions of an ever-moving life and how it leads little time for God had made me realize the necessity of a break from the business of life. There are many times when I am constantly in motion and leave little time to appreciate some of the best, most beautiful things God has placed around us like the droplets running off the windshield or the countless leaves blowing amongst the trees. When I am in too much motion and don’t stop to appreciate these little, stunning things my life often seems to become boring or meaningless and that is usually