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Into The Wild Transcendentalism Essay

1093 Words5 Pages

Dylan Farr
Mrs. Russ
12-14-22
Into The Wild Transcendentalism Essay The story of Chris McCandless, a nomadic traveler, was a charismatic tragedy because of the way he polarized the world with his tale. He grew up with a family that he couldn’t wait to get out of and get away from, and when he did he started his journey throughout the United States. He traveled from coast to coast, making an indent in the minds of anyone who met him. This led to the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer to popularize his journey in which he spirituality reconciled and led to his transcendentalist values to show through. Despite some breaks in ideals, Chris McCandelesses’ journey throughout the United States reflects transcendental ideals of individualism and minimalism. …show more content…

Money can be seen as a symbol of materialism and the plasticity of society that people conform around, so McCandless makes a statement that he does not need money to be happy and leaves behind the greed for money and riches that most people like to hold on to. His abandonment of money connects to the quote from Thoreau about abandoning things to be able to achieve true happiness. Chris obviously agrees with this term because of his abandonment of materialism to be able to not conform to the materialistic values of society. His abandonment of money also speaks to another cornerstone of transcendentalist values because of how throwing away money follows through with living a minimalist …show more content…

His minimalist actions when partaking in his journey are evident when he cuts down to the basics in order to focus on his spiritual journey instead of relying on materials to get his happiness. On the other hand, though, he does break his minimalistic lifestyle by getting a job at Mcdonalds', “flipping quarter pounders,” (39). It is evident that his employment at Mcdonalds' doesn’t represent a minimalistic person as it does support people with a decent amount of money which is very materialistic and ultimately against minimalism. But to contradict, that is very much of a reach because of how it might also be just to gain money so he can continue supporting living a minimalist

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