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Analysis Of The Book ' Into The Wild ' By Jon Krakauer

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Elements of Transcendentalism In the book, “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless is an in-the-closet transcendentalist; all of his ethics match up with those of a transcendentalist, yet he never admits he is one. McCandless agrees with all of the components of transcendentalism and follows them unremittingly as soon as he graduates from college, and he lives by those components to a fault, which ultimately led to his death. Deliberate living, nonconformity, and simplicity are three cardinal elements to transcendentalism. Deliberate living is compatible with this philosophy because directing your life based on desire and inclination is necessary to living a life worth living; simplicity is imperative to this ideology because in order to learn about one’s self, you must sometimes live without distractions. Nonconformity is essential to this philosophy because living deliberately takes nonconforming to society to fulfill your longings in life. Simplicity is imperative to transcendentalism because one has to live in simplicity, without distractions, in order to get know one’s self. Chris McCandless was a firm believer in those three qualities; Hell, he lived in the Alaskan bush for months with only a gun, clothes, and a whit of equipment. Though McCandless did not follow through safely with his desire to live deliberately, simply, and in a nonconformist way, he was a transcendentalist; McCandless advocated those ideas by living by them, and he also agreed that

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