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Transcendentalism In Into The Wild

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Recommended: Into the wild essay describing chris mccandless

Catherine Davis
Ms. Gregory
AP English 3
7 March 2023

Into the Wild Essay

The rejection of society, also known as modern-day transcendentalism, holds a tight grip on dreamers and individualists. Over the course of the last few decades, it has proven to be a stealthy and brutal killer. Young men and women such as Chris McCandless have fallen prey to the entrancing ideologies of transcendentalism, including the rejection of society, a desire to connect with nature, and individualism. While such qualities are tantalizing and freeing, recent transcendentalism secludes its partakers from human life, encourages dangerous and risky behavior, ultimately creating a delusional sense of modern society and nature. Modern transcendentalist beliefs, while not inherently bad, are simply too dangerous. To seek inner …show more content…

Two partakers, Henry David Thoreau and Chris McCandless sought out peace and calm, but in doing so exposed themselves to cruel elements and lonely isolation. Like McCandless, Thoreau longed to “live deliberately” and yearned for something more from life (Thoreau, line 24). Both Thoreau and McCandless were in search of serenity; desperate for enlightenment and an escape from modern society. After years in the wilderness, Thoreau decided to return to society, a decision similar to one made by McCandless. Embracing the wilderness and seclusion seemed to answer McCandless’s philosophical questions and he decided to conclude his odyssey. However, after attempting to rejoin society, McCandless found himself “trapped in the wild” and passed away due to the harsh and unforgiving environment (Krakauer, page 195). Regardless of his untimely death, Carine McCandless muses that “‘because of the trails he had chosen, he died at peace’” (Saverin, page 6). Regardless of the beauty and truth transcendentalism reveals, grave consequences defeat its

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