Transcendentalism In Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

“It is easy, when we are young, to believe that what you desire is is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something bad enough, it is your God-given right to have it,” pg. 155 Into the Wild Jon Krakauer. Published in 1996, and made into a move in 2007, Into the Wild is a book about one man’s journey to follow his dreams, and discover who he is. The story is told, mainly, by the people he met along the way and his journal entries. Throughout the book the main character, Chris McCandless, demonstrates multiple characteristics that can be seen as transcendentalist characteristics. Transcendentalism is a term used to describe people who don’t comply to societal norms, and do what they please, instead of what’s expected.

Chris spends the majority of his life listening to his elders. He goes to school, get’s good grades, does as he’s told, and then he goes to college. When he graduates he decides that he isn’t happy with his life. He doesn’t believe this is the right path for him to follow. He wants to change his life and himself. When describing Chris the author, Jon Krakauer says ““He had spent the previous four years, as he saw it, preparing to fulfill an absurd and onerous duty: to graduate from college. At long las he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence.” (pg. 22) The author uses this quote when talking about why Chris originally went to Alaska. This quote shows that Chris rejects authority because it tells how Chris was basically just waiting to finish his responsibilities so that he could do whatever he wanted. He wants to quit doing what he is supposed to do and finally get to do what he

He never wanted to settle down and get a job and have a family. Chris wanted to go travel and see everything he could. He wanted to do what was abnormal and do anything and everything his heart desires. In the book Chris was talking about going on his trip to Alaska and said “I was dimly aware that I might be getting in over my head. But that only added to the scheme’s appeal. That it wouldn’t be easy was the whole point.” (pg. 32) Chris wanted to go on this trip even though everyone told him that he shouldn’t. Chris was set on going to Alaska and being told not to only made him want to stay more. Chris wanted so badly to go on his trip, he was willing to sacrifice many relationships by going. Chris believed that this trip was going to change his life and who he was as a person so he felt he had to