Transcendentalism In Jon Krakauer's Into The Wild

Chris McCandless can be seen as a Transcendentalist hero because of his curiosity for what life could possibly hold and integrity for others. In the eyes of the author Jon Krakauer throughout the book Into The Wild.

Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless, and Henry David Thoreau embrace the true ideology of transcendentalism in their writings. Transcendentalism is the belief that people can spiritually grow by becoming one with nature. They believe, however, that they do not need things of this world to do so. Between their stories, we can clearly see the parallels between McCandless’s life and Thoreau’s life.

Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that revolved around the works and ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson. The transcendentalist wrote about his discoveries while studying philosophy, religion and literature. In Emerson’s collection of essays, Nature, he stresses the concept of finding one’s own personal understanding of the universe. In another one of Emerson’s works he presents the over-soul-- which goes into deeper detail of the unity of God, man and nature. Chris McCandless, the protagonist of the novel Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, tells the story of a young male who elects to leave his upper-middle class life and travel the United States . Chris McCandless was heavily influenced by Emerson and became a living example of Emerson’s works.

Finding the true identity and relation with society can be accomplished in many ways. Transcendentalism is a philosophy which says that logic and metaphysical things are more real than typical human experience and material things. In Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book Into the Wild, he argues that Chris McCandless devotes his life to Transcendentalism because he rejects society and materialism to live individually in the Alaskan Wilderness. Although, McCandless makes mistakes, he shares happiness with the people he meets and impacts their lives.

Transcendentalism is a religious, philosophical, literary, and social movement of the nineteenth century. Essentially, this movement was based upon the ideals of the “sixth sense,” nature, and non-conformity, as well as individualism, intuition, idealism, imagination, and inspiration. A few of the works featured in the transcendental unit include Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Song of Myself by Walt Whitman, and Walden by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The primary focus of this essay is to provide an opinion on a strikingly debatable topic; Whether or not Christopher McCandless, hero of Krakauer’s Into the Wild, was a true transcendentalist. Despite the bold actions of Chris McCandless on his daring Alaskan odyssey, he turned out to be far from a true transcendentalist, failing to meet the definition of transcendentalism, being solely concerned with himself, and acting out of revenge rather than seeking self discovery - nothing more than a childish suicidal rebel.

In Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, Chris McCandless' actions exemplify transcendentalism through three of Thoreau's principles: living in the moment, lifting people up, and listening to one's instinct. By living in the moment, Chris plays with Jan Burres and her dog. To Chris, nothing else seems to matter. Chris lifts up his father when he thanks him for everything he has done. He listens to his own gut by keeping in a secret and entering the wild causing his parents pain and suffer.

The concept of transcendentalism was created in the 1820’s through writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Transcendentalism explores numerous ideas that were very new for that era. Some key ideas within this movement can be seen through the life of, “Man vs Wild’s” host, Bear Grylls. Valuing nature, as well learning self reliance are some ideas that can be shown in both transcendentalism and the life of Bear Grylls.

Transcendentalism is an idealistic,philosophical,and social movement that developed in New England around 1836. It taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity and that by experiencing nature one could experience divinity. A Transcendentalist is someone who lives outside the confines of societys rules, finding inspiration and meaning through experiencing nature. Transcendentalism rose as a reaction against 18th century rationalism,sensualism ,and calvinism, it is composed of a variety of ideals spanning from Hindu texts and other such various religions. Several authors came about that influenced and pushed the transcendental movement to progress and evolve past what it originally was, among them being Ralph Waldo Emerson, (who is credited with pushing Transcendentalism to become a major cultural movement) and other such

What is transcendentalism? How is Christopher J. McCandless a transcendentalist? Transcendentalism is a philosophy, and a way of life. It consists of being a non-conformist, becoming one with nature, and rejecting materialism. Throughout Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into The Wild, McCandless happens to achieve all of the above. “Whoso would be a man, must be a non-conformist” (Emerson). He defied society, lived in the wild, and never cared about “things”. He existed off the land in Alaska, the west coast, and even Mexico. McCandless did not want anything else in life but happiness; he found this in the wilderness.

Throughout history, people encounter a stage in their lives where they feel the necessity to assert their independence and challenge their abilities and self-worth. In the book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the author shares his understanding and kinship with the main character, Chris McCandless, a young man who thrusts himself into a life of solitude and a harsh environment during his search for meaning to his life. Krakauer depicts himself and McCandless as modern day transcendentalists with an abundance of competency, resourcefulness and skills as naturalists. Although McCandless chose to experience a life of solitude and face the hazards that nature presents, his lack of preparedness prevented him from completing his endeavor successfully.

However, the dark side of this perspective is we do not follow our true beliefs. Transcendentalism certainly does not mean getting out of control and live freely under your will (The Positives and Negatives of Transcendentalism). Transcendentalism certainly means to live to adapt to the surroundings based on what suits the situation well, but still have an appreciation towards natural surroundings. By one appreciating their own instincts and beliefs, they can certainly pioneer a new pathway that could be harder to pass through, but can bring one more joy and happiness after. The movie “Into the Wild” explicitly portrays the main character - Chris McCandless - who was highly educated and was interested in transcendentalism, connects with the nature and with him living under hard circumstances, he learns that fully adapting himself into the nature is very hard as he does not have any knowledge about the setting around him. After Chris living in the nature for a certain time, he learns to celebrate his natural surroundings. However, as he was not prepared to fully commit himself into the world of nature, he reaches death by eating the

The transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau once wrote, “Most men even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the facetious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them.” Thoreau advocated simplifying life and the benefits of living in isolation from society in the wilderness to “suck the marrow out of life”. In the non-fiction book titled Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the young man Chris McCandless’ story is told. McCandless traveled to Alaska to experience the most extreme transcendentalist existence foretold by Thoreau. While in Alaska he meet his end, and many historians contemplate why he took this tremendous undertaking to

Transcendentalism was an American literature movement urging people to look past everyday material life, and reach into their souls to find inner peace with themselves. Transcendentalism originally came from Kantian idealism. This idealism was credited by Immanuel Kant.

American Transcendentalism was an important philosophical and literary movement which placed an emphasis on staying true to one’s beliefs and expressing oneself no matter the situation or consequence. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau fully embraced these beliefs as their influence has allowed these

Into the Wild shows Chris McCandless’ journey to Alaska in search of enlightenment. Chris graduated college feeling disconnected, and felt life was meaningless. In his pursuit of happiness and enlightenment, he left his family and went across the country eventually ending up in Alaska. Chris McCandless should be considered as a modern day transcendentalist because he is self-reliant, a free thinker, and appreciates the importance of nature.