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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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Chris McCandless and Thoreau had a lot in common. Both men had the same intelligent and wise thought and actions. Transcendentalism means to assert the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that empirical. Its scientific reality and is knowable through intuition: (quote- Webster’s Dictionary Online). We all can see that Chris and Thoreau share the same beliefs of individualism, self-wisdom, and self- confidence.

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He wanted to hide from reality from the mistakes his father made so with a surge of recklessness and erroneous optimism he went into the wild. Thoreau went into the wild for a greater purpose to live simply thinking on a higher plane, understanding the human heart, and connecting to nature. Perhaps it could be argued that McCandless lived out Thoreau’s beliefs in terms of living modestly in nature better than Thoreau because McCandless actually ventured into the wilderness rather than living outside of town, he lived in solitude rather than Thoreau who had many guests, and he risked his life to live out his philosophy. This shows the main discrepancy between Thoreau and McCandless – the planning and execution. Thoreau never advocates the need to be reckless but he escapes to the woods for inspiration and discovery.

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In the short story, “Death of an Innocent” by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless travels into the Alaskan wilderness with the intention of relying completely on himself. In the true spirit of transcendentalism, McCandless travels to escape the bounds of society and to remove himself from a materialistic world. Many argue, however, that Chris McCandless was not a transcendentalist because he travels to exotic lands as a means of avoidance, but actually, Chris McCandless is the epitome of a transcendentalist. Transcendentalists, however, rely on themselves and nature to survive and do not depend on material items. Transcendentalists romanticize individualism and believe that intuition is the best guide through life.

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Ultimately both Mccandless and Thoreau shared alike principals but, sought separate

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The novel Into the Wild written by Jon Krakauer centers around a young man named Chris McCandless who embarks upon an adventure leading to his tragic death; however, critics accuse McCandles of being naive and dumb, but on the other hand, he could be considered a transcendent. McCandless embodies transcendentalist thought by becoming one with nature and then ultimately withdrawing from the world and everyone in it. Throughout the novel, McCandless struggles by alternating between the two philosophies of transcendence, but ultimately he attempts to focus on self-regulation to make himself happy. Often to accomplish this task, he avoided the “impending threat of human intimacy” and avoids relationships by leaving quickly (55). Thus, McCandless,

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Chris McCandless looked up to Henry David Thoreau’s ideas in his Walden excerpt. John Krakauer went on to make McCandless’ journey a novel of its own. However, Chris McCandless and Henry David Thoreau’s ideas on how one should live their life didn’t always compare as much as contrast. Thoreau does not like the outdoors as much as Chris does, “I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one” (Walden).

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In the 19th and 20th century transcendentalism was a new and exciting topic that caused tremendous controversy. In the novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless was a man with a very unique character. In more detailed words Chris McCandless was a transcendentalist. His actions and moods played a big part in his life, from beginning to end. He was a transcendentalist because of his self-reliance, confidence and non-conformity.

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Thoreau’s goal of living in a cabin allowed him to forget the materialistic things in life, similar to Mccandless. Thoreau's ability to recognize the life he still had to live recognizes his regard for life. In contrast, Mccandless does not think about leaving the woods until it is far too late. This argument is one of the most important in comparing the transcendentalists and Mccandless, but it is left out completely. This is not the only argument Chat GPT leaves out from its essay though.

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(199) Theses are the last words Chris McCandless wrote down and they prove that he was satisfied with his life despite them leading to his death. It also proves that even in his final moments he was happy with his transcendentalist life style. As a conclusion Chris McCandless was devoted to transcendentalism even with his last

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"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.”- Henry David Thoreau. Transcendentalism is an American philosophy that revolves around self-reliance and independence, commonly in nature, a Transcendentalist wants to find the true meaning in life. I believe that Chris McCandless was a Transcendentalist because he was able to leave his whole life behind and take on a minimalist lifestyle while having a strong relationship with god. However, I believe that I am not a Transcendentalist, but simply an adventurer.

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Transcendentalism is a philosophical and literary movement that emphasizes themes of nature and self-reliance while going against society and materialism. Many transcendentalists including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are the creators of this movement impacting many others. Chris McCandles, the young and fearless main character, in Jon Jrakauer’s text Into the Wild, follows these transcendental leaders shown in his actions. Chris finds himself exploring throughout North America and reaching his goal to make it to Alaska. Like Thoreau, McCandles loves nature and finds it his “congratulation”, “greets everyday with joy”, and “follows his genius”.

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Was Chris McCandless a true transcendentalist? Transcendentalism is a system developed by Immanuel Kant, based on the idea that, in order to understand the nature of reality, one must first examine and analyze the reasoning process that governs the nature of experience. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures. In Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into the Wild, McCandless is viewed as a transcendentalist.

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Consequently, what Thoreau proposed was simplicity rejecting modern civilization to return to nature and let the individual to develop his/her highest possibilities. Thoreau not only made a critique of the modern society as Emerson did, but also he practiced his ideology: he experienced that life is better without crowd, luxuries and complexity. The transcendentalist poet spent two year close to nature. He lived at Walden Pond where he wrote entire journals recounting his experience. Thoreau is well known for his book “Walden” (1854).

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The 60s revolved around free love, psychedelic rock, bell-bottoms, and extremely long hair. The style and culture was once viewed as unethical, revolutionary and anarchistic, but is now portrayed as a party theme or a style. The views and perspectives of the 60s definitely shifted, but the importance of the counterculture and what it represented is in need of an in depth explanation. For some people, counterculture was less about style but more about philosophy. There have been claims that American society was corrupted by capitalism and stereotypes that later lead to opposing the prevailing social norm.

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