Chris Mccandless Transcendentalism

What does it take for someone to be considered a transcendentalist? Can someone be a transcendentalist if they do not mean to be one? In the life of Chris McCandless, many transcendental aspects are exhibited, such as nonconformity and self-reliance, but experts and readers are left wondering whether or not to consider him a transcendentalist. McCandless exhibits these traits willingly, which leads most readers to call him a transcendentalist. Chris McCandless is a transcendentalist because he knowingly follows the transcendental tenets and is heavily influenced by the works of the transcendentalists before him. Examples of the tenets that he follows are nonconformity, love and treasury of nature, self-reliance and free thought.

Chris McCandless left all that he had back home to go on this long transcendental trip to the Alaskan wilds that he thought he would find out who he is. He left behind family, friends, college, burned his money, and his life. When he left he did so without saying anything to his family and changes his name so he can truly start over. During his trip he has had many hardships and points where he should have died, but he kept going on in the end to reach his end goal of reaching Alaska and a goal he managed to complete, but it would not last long as in August of 1992 Chris died from starvation, but one question arose from his story. Was he truly transcendental? Some believe he was and other do not, it is sometimes up to opinion to decide whether he was or not, but you must first must understand what transcendentalism is before you can decide whether or not Chris McCandless was a transcendental person or not. The key things to know about transcendentalism is its core beliefs, those who “found” transcendentalism and their differences, and how these beliefs from these founders differed from what McCandless did during his transcendental trip. So, did Chris McCandless leave everything behind to become transcendental and die as a transcendentalist or was he a fool that left home because he was a rebellious person who ended up dying alone in a bus in the middle of the Alaskan wilds?

Krakauer himself agrees with such claim. Before he even begins to tell the tale of Chris McCandless, Krakauer speaks directly of McCandless transcendance. In the authors note Krakauer writes that McCandless “invented a new life for himself...wandering across North America in search of raw, transcendent experience” (Krakauer Author’s Note). To deny such a direct assessment from someone who shares so many sympathies with McCandless, is ludicrous. Krakauer also compares Mccandless to transcendentalist monks on several occasions. From the description of Chris’s “monkish room furnished with little more than a thin mattress on the floor, milk crates, and a table”( Krakauer 22), to stating that he is “as chaste as a monk” (65). Krakauer even goes

He was self absorbed and cared about no one else’s feelings. There may not be textual evidence but it’s true; Chris only cared about his view, his goal. He knew the risks and he took them anyways. Did he even consider the repercussions of doing this? His parents were going crazy searching for their son, his sister included, Ron Franz denounced his religion when he found out Chris died in the wilderness. Chris was just narrow-minded; all he thought about was his own goals. When working at McDonalds he didn’t work fast, why? Because he didn’t want to… he worked at his own pace and didn’t follow rules. “…he cooked in the back- but he always worked at the same slow pace... he wouldn’t understand why I was always on his case.” (40) Chris was just selfish, couldn’t see past his narrow, self-absorbed,

Lastly, Chris Mccandless got to fulfill his dream, live his own life, and now he even got to find his inner self, find out who he truly is. Chris was the kind of person that lived dangerously unlike most people, he was different “It is hardly unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders...Danger has always held a certain allure. McCandless, in his fashion, merely took risk-taking to its logical extreme” (Krakauer, 182). Chris’s true self-was one that was riskful and daring until he could finish the task. Furthermore, he was different from others and throughout his journey, others could see that. In the end that was the kind of person Chris Mccandless was, and this is the person he became after fulfilling his dream and living his own life. In contrast, others did

Henry David Thoreau, Jon Krakauer, and Chris McCandless all believe deeply in transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is a religious concept that values self-wisdom, the human soul, and nature. All of which Thoreau and McCandless grasp strongly.

Chris McCandless: a man so infatuated with nature, he practically committed suicide to bring himself nearer to it. This extreme liking for nature, along with other ideals, makes up the core tenets of the transcendentalist philosophy. McCandless demonstrates other tenets of transcendentalism as well, most notably the supremacy of the individual, by detaching himself from the mammon of this world. Another way he shows the supremacy of the individual, by the belief that one should not conform to the usual policies of life, causes him great trouble in some cases. As well as the belief that the individual supersedes all else, McCandless received much of his inspiration from nature. Finally, always following what he believes correct, McCandless

In the brighter spectrum of Mr. Chris McCandless, is his deep and intellectual personality, shining through on most every occasion with cynical value or an interesting opinion every now and then. In Chris’s deep scholarly thought he decides to give up many things for his own self righteousness in attemp to make himself free of any evil or distraction as well as anything that may hold him down. As a younger boy in high school he proved his good Samaritan self by spending weekends taking to the the streets, spending nights with prostitutes, the homeless, and the addicts, feeding them and experiencing a little of what they felt. As I mentioned before he gave up what he thought would ruin his dreams and soil his life, he rid his life of luxury and wealth along with long-term relationships with people. As one of the things that he had apparently given up was the desire of sex and all of it’s evils, and proclaimed that his need was much to great for something so petty. Truly I believe traveling as a child with his family engineered a mind set within Chris that made him feel as if familiarity was just a weight holding him down from the flight toward his dreams. He also thought that being lost in such a superficial and trivial society could help no one

     During Chris’s journey he never really opens up to anyone about his family. He doesn’t really show any affection towards them and if any it would be toward his sister Carnie. He writes in a letter to her stating that he is going to divorce his parents. The last time his parents saw him was after his graduation. Chris told his parents “ I think I’m going to disappear for a while” and that is the last they ever heard of him again.

Many times in my life, I have wanted to be alone: whether it be in my bedroom, relaxing in my backyard, or watching Netflix. During this personal time, I can decompress following a rough or stressful day. At times, I envy people like the Transcendentalists who always strive to be alone with their own thoughts. The more they focus on their own opinions the more they believe in them. Moreover, Ralph Waldo Emerson states “To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me” (Emerson). A true Transcendentalists does not hide away with literature or Netflix, instead, they have no outside forces influencing their true thoughts. Contradicting ideas, in

Into the Wild This essay will explain the similarities in the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, Krakauer, and Donovan. All writers I have listed all have something to do with transcendentalism, especially Thoreau and Emerson, both writers published major books during the transcendentalism era, transcendentalism is a way people, during the early 1830s, would express independence, simplicity, and individuality through all of nature. The books they wrote were Thoreau’s Walden and Emerson’s Nature, the other book and poem we will discuss is Krakauer’s Into the Wild and Donovan’s “It's All-On-Me”. The shared themes between these writers would be their sense of independence.

Non-conformity and individualism of many breeds have popped up throughout into history and society. A popular idea is transcendentalism, the philosophy that spirituality and thought are more important values of life than materialistic items and common life. Chris McCandless was a suitable example of modern-day transcendentalism, given the difficulty and near impossibility of being a transcendental in today’s materialistic society.

Throughout his life, Chris McCandless shows multiple examples of transcendental actions. McCandless does what he wants and does not care what people think about him. Chris McCandless would set up tents and live away from society because it was where he was happiest. As a child, McCandless did not like playing with other children. He preferred to be alone and entertain himself. Chris McCandless did not like to wear socks; he felt confined in them. He demonstrated Transcendentalism through reduce dependence on property, self-reliance, and nonconformity.

If you attempted to talk him out of something, he wouldn’t argue. He would just nod politely and then do exactly what he wanted” (Krakauer 182). Chris did exactly as Carine stated he would when someone tried to stop his trip to Alaska. Chris understood what the trip to Alaska would entail but decided to continue anyway. He was confident in his abilities and constantly felt the need to challenge those abilities. According to Jon Krakauer, “He had a need to test himself in ways, as he was fond of saying ‘that mattered’. He possessed grand- some would say grandiose- spiritual ambitions” (Krakauer 182). Although Chris’s ambition is surely admirable it also could be credited as his tragic flaw. Chris strived for perfection in everything he set his mind to. He refused to listen to individuals who were trying to help him when saying he was ill prepared; instead he ignored their efforts and went into the wild. Chris’s unpreparedness could later be identified as the cause of his death but in his mind, his supporters would like to believe, it did not matter. Chris died doing what he loved, living in isolation with nature being his only companion.

To think philosophically, the reality of living does not really has a definition. Around the 1840s, specific groups of people known as transcendentalists argued that there’s an intensive connection among God, man, and nature. They emphasizes that the main truth of understanding reality in life should be an individual epiphany. Christopher Johnson McCandless from Into the Wild shared similar philosophical ideas as two notable transcendentalists known as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and lived life like a transcendentalist based on his behaviors and life values.