Chris McCandless’ thought process is easily said to be from the numerous amount of books that he read throughout his journey. Within the book Into the Wild you will find that Henry David Thoreau is mentioned more than almost any other abolitionist. As a matter of fact, when McCandless’ remains were found so were the highlighted passages in Henry David Thoreau’s books along with the work “ TRUTH ” written above the words of Thoreau (Krakauer 117). “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all” Oscar Wilde. Chris McCandless and Henry David Thoreau, two transcendent men who aimed to complete the rarest thing in the world, to truly live. “Let us consider the way in which we spend our lives” Life Without Principle. In …show more content…
He suggests that you might look around yourself and really take into consideration as to how you are spending your short time you’re given in this life. Much like Chris McCandless, Henry David Thoreau looks around him and finds himself to be displeased. To quote Thoreau, “ 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.” Much like McCandless, Thoreau thought very little of money, jobs and other things of the civilized world. Henry Thoreau concluded that to live, not much is needed. Rather than seeing Arndt 2 how much you can obtain, try to see how much you can live without (The Great Philosophers: Henry David Thoreau). Chris McCandless had much of the same thought process when he was going throughout his journey. McCandless despised money and he often got embarrassed or upset that his family had so much of it. Chris believed that wealth was shameful, corrupt and evil (Krakauer