ipl-logo

The Moral Of My First Summer In The Sierra By John Muir

777 Words4 Pages

On page x of John Muir’s non-fiction book, My First Summer in the Sierra, Galen Rowell states that “Muir’s amazing destiny can be directly traced to right intentions practiced during his lifetime.” There intentions play an enormous role in the shaping of Muir life: his ideals, morals, and values. Ultimately it is the intentions he grew up with that defined who he was as a naturalist, author and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States. Furthermore, his “right” choices in life influenced every one of his actions following. Eventually aiding in the protection of the beautiful land now known as Yosemite National Park. I believe “right intentions” means consciously choosing to act in the nature of others, to be selfless. …show more content…

Maintaining right intentions to be means not just a single choice, but consciously and continually choosing to be aware and choosing based on a purpose. From simple choices such as studying and doing well on a test, to decision that have a larger impact not only on my life but on others and the environment. I want to protect the environment and do what I can to conserve its resources. By simply choosing to take a bike instead of a car, or recycle my cereal box, take a good ol’ nature walk, I am actively making the choices and my actions speak to my good intention and purpose of working to care for our earth. As I get older, and have more responsibility, I carry out more and more of these actions with right intentions in mind. These choices have began to have a greater impact on my life, slowly shaping the person I will become in later years.As can be seen in the later years of Muir’s life, the fact that many of his actions were done with right intentions in mind, displays how these simple decisions and actions can have a dramatic effect on ones life.
My way of action and mindfulness of right intentions, much like John Muir’s, stems from my upbringing in the community I was raised in and school I am taught through. Moreover, my community is very liberal, non-conformist, environment-loving, “hippies.” I learned to eat my whole apple (core and all), to have no waste, and to kiss banana slug before I even got to middle school. I have been constantly reminded by my peers, teacher, parents, and environmental to practice good intentions personally, professionally, and

Show More
Related

Analysis Of The Book Mountains Beyond Mountains By Dr. Paul Farmer

2244 Words | 9 Pages

Dr. Paul Farmer has been referred to as a saint for most of his professional career as a physician, not just at Harvard University, where he attended medical school and taught, at Boston Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he worked as a physician, but also in Russia, Lima, Peru and even Haiti where he worked to eradicate tuberculosis. Dr. Farmer wanted to help those people who couldn’t help themselves. He wished to “give a voice, to the voiceless.” This wish was a major part of the book Mountains Beyond Mountains, written by Tracy Kidder. Dr. Farmer had a unique style of administering care to the people of Haiti.

Read More

A Sand County Almanac By Aldo Leopold

676 Words | 3 Pages

Within Aldo Leopold’s novel, A Sand County Almanac, the concept of trophic cascade is brought forth with his idealistic mindset for “a land ethic”. To Leopold, the land ethic “changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members and also respect for the community as such” (Leopold 871). Utilizing this mindset, the actions, consequences, and events from Timothy Treadwell’s life depicted in the documentary Grizzly Man have an understanding and purpose for why they transpire the way they do.

Read More

Chris Mccandlessness In Into The Wild

1772 Words | 8 Pages

Because of this his life and journey was not only something to criticize but something to both admire and celebrate. While others who came before him, like author Henry David Thoreau sought to live similar lifestyles, none truly took advantage of their life the way he was able to. As a young boy he idolized men like Thoreau and of Mccandless’s greatest successes was having not only lived up to these men, but in fact surpassed them in their journeys and experiences. Unlike Thoreau, Mccandless devoted the entirety of his life to both helping those in need and living what he believed to be life to the fullest for the ENTIRETY of it. Thoreau spent a short limited time in a cabin that was less than 2 miles outside of the nearest town, his charitable contributions are nothing noteworthy, and he is never recorded as benefiting the lives of nearly anyone close to him.

Read More

The Oregon Trail Francis Parkman Analysis

120 Words | 1 Pages

“The Oregon Trail,” written by Francis Parkman is a description of the experiences traveling into the unknown depths of the American west in 1846. The story is told from the first person point of view of Parkman, a scholar from Boston who embarks on the great expedition of traveling into the west in hopes of studying the lives of the Native Americans. His journey is also one of the first detailed descriptions of the beauty and the bounty of a largely uninhabited North American territory. But one of the most critical elements of the story was Parkman’s encounters and recruitment of members to his band of travelers who ultimately play a major role in the success of the western journey.

Read More

Obstacles In Into The Wild

1336 Words | 6 Pages

A book author on the verge of his name-making exposé depicts his belief of success, though one might find it controversial. The word success derives on the tingle of enjoyment about what one does, sticking with what matters through hard times, and living out the full potential of a soul. Protagonist Chris McCandless, from the novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, was in his early years of adulthood from El Segundo, California. He embarked a journey (by foot) to his destination goal--Alaska. Chris left most of his possessions and ‘became one with nature’ during the process.

Read More

Chris Mccandless Transcendentalism

988 Words | 4 Pages

I had the opportunity to go to Mexico and visit the Yucatan rainforest and this lead me to be able to explore nature and feel the peaceful impact it can have on someone 's life. Chris McCandless was determined to create a new life for himself and be the one to control his own destiny. “Chris changed his name, gave the entire balance of a twenty-four-thousand-dollar savings account to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet…. His family had no idea where he was or what had become of him until his remains turned up in Alaska”. This quote is from Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild and shows how McCandless left everything from his old life in order to create a new life for himself.

Read More

Into The Wild Synthesis Essay

688 Words | 3 Pages

Everyone sets their goals at different expectations than others which is why you typically don’t go for the same goal as other people. The adventure that McCandless went on was dangerous, but it fit his expectation to be independent and to find where he belongs. McCandless valued self-reliance ,he needed to be his own person, with his own vision and way of thinking so that others wouldnt influence him along the way. He recognized that the only way for him to find his own truth would to be self-centered and focus on his own being first, without others clouding his sense of

Read More

Analysis Of The Trouble With Wilderness By William Cronon

90 Words | 1 Pages

In his 1995 essay “The Trouble with Wilderness,” William Cronon declares that “the time has come to rethink wilderness” (69). From the practice of agriculture to masculine frontier fantasies, Cronon argues that Americans have historically defined wilderness as an “island,” separate from their polluted urban industrial homes (69). He traces the idea of wilderness throughout American history, asserting that the idea of untouched, pristine wilderness is a harmful fantasy. By idealizing wilderness from a distance, he argues that people justify the destruction of less sublime landscapes and aggravate environmental conflict.

Read More

Into The Wild Transcendentalism Essay

747 Words | 3 Pages

Christopher McCandless, a 29-year-old dreamer, went on the journey of a lifetime to involve himself with nature and being truly independent. He had lived a life of privilege, made amazing grades in school, and even went to school at Emory College, getting degrees in both history and anthropology. Even though he seemed to have everything good going for him, it’s not the life he wanted. McCandless decides after law school to go deep into the “wild”, with no map, no resources. All he kept was a small journal and camera in which he captured and recorded all of his experiences in, allowing people for the rest of time to read and learn about his journey in his book titled Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer.

Read More

What Is John Muir's Interpretation Of Time?

700 Words | 3 Pages

John Muir wrote how it takes years for trees to grow but only a day to cut them down is like life. Rachel Carson writes how pollution from modern industrial has ruined the balanced of the Earth overtime. In the essay “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” by Thoreau, he writes about a time where he moved to Walden Pond. Thoreau wrote how he would go a-fishing in the pond and he would drink directly from the pond.

Read More

Henry David Thoreau And Transcendentalism

783 Words | 4 Pages

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”).

Read More

The Influence Of Hiking On The Appalachian Trail

498 Words | 2 Pages

“Why am I doing this.” said Ron Tipton when he was walking the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. This is the question that pops up into everyone’s head when they are trying to complete the Appalachian Trail. Everything started off 10 days ago when Will Henderson decided to deter from the Appalachian Trail. He had been hiking all of his life, he is 39 years old, and is a part of the National Hiking Association. He had began his journey in Georgia and was unable to complete the trail but got all the way to Tennessee.

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Into The Wild

915 Words | 4 Pages

However, Jon Krakauer proves his argument that McCandless was not arrogant, foolish, antisocial, or crazy by giving examples of other young men who were similar to McCandless to show that his journey wasn’t unprecedented. He also proves that McCandless wasn’t antisocial because he developed personal relationships with Ronald Franz, Wayne Westerberg, and Jan Burres in such a short amount of time and explaining the many times that McCandless respected the Alaskan Bush. Krakauer admits that McCandless may have suffered from hubris; he was still a victim of circumstances. Krakauer proves that McCandless had an intrinsic motivation to discover and that he wasn’t alone because Krakauer too ventured into the Alaskan Bush when he was younger. The Alaskan Bush is a very difficult place to survive if one isn’t prepared for many challenges such as hunting for food or staying warm in the frost ridden

Read More

What Makes Right Acts Right Analysis

728 Words | 3 Pages

Jieni Peng CA1 “What Makes Right Acts Right” by W.D Ross In the article “What Makes Right Acts Right” by W.D Ross, he debates the about idea of duties and how humans in general understand if their actions are correct. Ross mentions that humans do not deliberately execute their duties because of the consequences resulting from those duties. Rather, they perform those duties because of an innate form of common sense that humans possess inside of themselves. One example of this is the act of fulfilling a promise that an individual made to themselves or others not because of the end results but because of their sense of “duty.”

Read More

Aristotle: The Ultimate Goal Of Human Life

758 Words | 4 Pages

He says that as long as you are aware of the truth and you know what the good is, it automatically means you will do the good. We all have the capacity to see the truth and the “eidos” of the good but it needs to be developed. Once it is developed that means it is logical that you will automatically do what

Read More

More about The Moral Of My First Summer In The Sierra By John Muir

Related Topics

Open Document