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Transcendental Beliefs Of Chris Mccandless And Henry David Thoreau

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After reading Krakauer’s Into the Wild and Henry David Thoreau’s exerts from Walden, we can see a deep connection between Christopher McCandless and Thoreau’s transcendental beliefs. Both Chris McCandless and Thoreau show transcendentalism in their actions of self-wisdom, differences, and liberation. Chris McCandless life choices in Into the wild reflect the transcendental beliefs of Thoreau’s Walden. The first transcendental belief of McCandless is that he marches to the beat of a different drummer. For example, in chapter 11 Betty tells a story of how McCandless marches to the beat of a different drummer. Betty tells a story of how “in third grade McCandless scored high on a standardized test, but instead of accepting the high achievement …show more content…

The reader can find a great example of this in chapter 6. In this chapter Chris sends Ron Franz, his friend he met in Salton city, a letter that says “Ron, I really hope that you, as soon as you can you will get out of Salton city, put a little camper on the back of your pickup and start seeing some of the great work that god has done here in the American west” (krakauer 59). We see here that McCandless believes Ron should get out into the world and discover himself through god’s creations. From this, the reader can infer that McCandless feels that going out into nature or god’s creation is a way for one to truly discover one’s self. This reflects back to Thoreau’s Walden when he says “ I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advance confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him” (Walden). This quote reflects back to McCandless’s believe in acquiring a since of self-wisdom through nature. From reading the quote from Thoreau and McCandless’s letter to Ron the reader can infer that they both have strong moral believes in the transcendental idea of discovering one’s self

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This relates to one of Thoreau’s teachings in Walden. Thoreau says, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer” (Walden). Thoreau relates to McCandless because both men are heavily into themselves and does not keep up with friends. Individualism, someone who relies on oneself, is a true meaning of both McCandless and Thoreau. The last transcendental belief that stands out in Into the Wild and Walden is self-wisdom.

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