Compare And Contrast Henry David Thoreau And Into The Wild

Henry Thoreau loved the simplicity of living in the wilderness, just as much as McCandless did, however he loved just to stay put. Thoreau wanted to uncage himself from the outside world and the interferences it had with him living a “full” life. Thoreau thought

Both Henry David Thoreau and Christopher McCandless ventured out into the woods to get away from the dreariness of everyday society and to find themselves. Only one lived to tell the tale. What was the fatal flaw of the man who didn’t continue on? The only way to find this is to analyze the differences and similarities between the two. McCandless, while embracing some of the same values as Thoreau, was ultimately a different man. While they led very contrasting lives in very distant times, both McCandless and Thoreau sought a type of freedom that can only be achieved when immersed in nature. Thoreau’s entitlement and cozy cabin in the woods is a far cry from McCandless’s constant struggle during his expedition, however, certain parallels

Author, Henry David Thoreau and Mary Oliver are both very passionate about nature and what it has to offer in life, as well as the symbolism behind nature and its creatures in their works of literature, in “Walden”, and “The House of Light”, Both authors discuss their views of nature and the beauty of the world that they want to make familiar to their audience. In this essay, I’ll provide my reasoning behind this statement.

In Ticknor 2). Some people are too afraid to change how they’re living, even when they don’t like it, they don’t like being confined. Especially, for a man or boy, they’re the ones that generally are more adventurous and bold, keeping people confined or secured doesn’t bring out their inner self and who they are. He even says in his journal he was keeping: “He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others…I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet, secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them” (Qtd. In Ticknor 3). Which is him saying that leaving his home and going into the wild to be independent, he did find himself along with finding happiness. It also says: “Thoreau’s teaches us about the importance of having a vision, of believing in truth, whatever we call that truth, and of seeing our existence as the exploration of multiple possibilities” (Qtd. In Thoreau 4) which is probably where McCandless acquired his idea of going into the wild to find himself, arise from. McCandless knew there were multiple possibilities as well as different things to do in life, he was

To some, adventurers like Chris McCandless are young, idealistic, and resolute people with high moral standards. They want to take everything they can out of life, and they want to experience every facet of it. However, this isn’t a view everyone shares. To some, McCandless was an irrational kid with no experience who couldn’t handle is family issues. On the other hand, Henry David Thoreau is viewed as a calm, steady, and contemplative man with a strong love of nature. Chris McCandless and Henry David Thoreau share many similarities, but they also have defining differences. There are three ways that we can compare these people: Chris went to the woods to escape his past whereas as Thoreau went there to be with nature, Chris was very

Thoreau wished to live with only what was essential. He felt that how people in society were living was not how a man should truly live. At one point Thoreau described how most people go through the day as people who are sleeping.The text reads”The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred millions to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive”(14).The people who are sleeping just go about their day not really living, but just getting by. In order to keep himself awake, Thoreau distanced himself from society and decided to “drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”(16) McCandless held a similar view. He wanted to get out of the simple suburban life he had been raised in and live on his own away from others. In a letter to Ronald Franz, one of the many people touched by McCandless’ company, the young man encourages the older man to drop everything and do the things he may never have thought of doing before. he continues in saying,”So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure

McCandless was trapped in a society that created an illusion of his own fake happiness while he was looking to discover himself. He possessed a desperate need to find the true meaning that only he could answer. McCandless quotes “I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me

The arguably most apparent aspect in which the personalities of Chris McCandless and Henry David Thoreau truly paralleled one another can be quite blatantly seen within their shared initial and over-arching motivation supporting their unified desire to journey into the wild: The burning need to escape materialism as a whole, as well as constantly progressing technology, both of which were, and still are, prominent in every area of society. This core incentive is very evidently described in the line, scribed within Walden, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life” (Thoreau 59). He then expands upon this belief, and provides support for his naturalistic intentions, with the following statement: “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life... to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms” (Thoreau 59). Thoreau passionately felt that civilization as a whole had become entirely over-dependent upon a chaotic mess of irrelevant details, the majority of which everyone had begun to mistakenly perceive as necessities, to the point where he finally announced the complete control he felt technology had over society through the phrase, “We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us” (Thoreau 60). Each of these meaningless affairs, he said, revolved solely around the very concepts from which he was determined to find refuge

To Henry David Thoreau, nature serves as a reminder to take a break from the fast paced style of life. Thoreau is a transcendentalist writer who isolated himself from society to live a life at his own pace. The title of his work, Where I Lived and What I Lived For, presents the purpose of his writing. Thoreau expresses where he resided and his reasoning for living there. He successfully achieves his purpose through the use of aphorisms and paradox. He begins his essay with direct and simple vocabulary that clearly states his purpose. He “went to the woods” in order “to front only the essential facts of life”. His destination and intentions are clear. His diction represent his way of thought where details are not needed. His use of aphorisms

Chris McCandless went out into the wild with different intention’s then Thoreau. One of Thoreau’s intentions was to get away from the government because of his disagreements with slavery. He left because he didn’t want to support the government by paying his taxes. Chris McCandless never showed any reasons for leaving that helped anyone else. He left in his own selfish manner. McCandless was running away from his own problems that could have been worked out with his family. When reading Thoreau’s Experiment at Walden Pond it states that Thoreau spent his time at the house writing, reading, taking long walks, observing nature and entertaining visitors. This quote explains that Thoreau used his time alone to focus on his writing and observing nature. McCandless’s main focus was surviving. He didn’t have time for anything else.

In Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and in Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, both address the responsibility of the individual to stand up for their beliefs and to defy any idea that goes against their consciences or their moral standards. From this defiance, Thoreau states the need for civil disobedience. King later uses this term to respond to the white moderates and to express the need for direct action, as does Thoreau. The idea of civil disobedience expressed by Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr are evident in today’s nation through their methods , however, these beliefs can be spread further as the nation progresses.

Civil disobedience has been shown in a great amount of different ways throughout the years. Martin Luther king Jr. expressed his way of civil disobedience by taking direct action but in a calm way which was effective. He wanted the people to be aware of what was going on and open doors for better groups of people who weren't given the same rights as others. Henry David Thoreau on the other hand took action as well but in a different manner directly with the U.S. citizens and government because he wanted more individual rights for the people. Both had the same ideas but took action in different ways and at the end, ended up succeeding in their persuasive ways.

     Henry David Thoreau was man of simplicity, and if he were to experience life in Cary, he would not only be surprised, but disappointed in humanity itself. Thoreau believed in the necessities of life, nothing more, and the people of Cary live lives exactly the opposite. Cary residents live lives of material possessions, business, and over-complexity. These traits of society are precisely opposite of Thoreau’s

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American philosopher, author, poet, abolitionist, and naturalist. He was famous for his essay, “Civil Disobedience”, and his book, Walden. He believed in individual conscience and nonviolent acts of political resistance to protest unfair laws. Moreover, he valued the importance of observing nature, being individual, and living in a simple life by his own values. His writings later influenced the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. In “Civil Disobedience” and Walden, he advocated individual nonviolent resistance to the unjust state and reflected his simple living in the nature.

Henry David Thoreau, author of “Civil Disobedience” and Walden, has become one of the most influential authors of all time in the eyes of many. Though some might be led to believe his essays and writings, including “Where I Lived, and What I lived For”, make him a down to earth and even rugged author, as he spent some of his life in the forest. However, his life in the woods was not one of heavy duty work and he often was supported with objects and material possessions, contrary to what many of his essays describe. Although some might think of him as a cheater or a liar, Thoreau’s conflicting lifestyles prove him to be a literary genius as he successfully dictates a lifestyle he himself does not take part in throughout paragraphs one