Examples Of Transcendentalism In 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.

Chris McCandless was a man who had a very bright future ahead of him, and he excelled in school was a hard worker in everything. He realized that he didn’t want to live the life of any average man, he wanted something more from life. As McCandless tried to find that “something” he made many decisions that is centered by transcendental keys. There are several Transcendental writing pieces that relate to different aspects of McCandless’s time on the road.

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.

Transcendentalism by definition means to live a rational life with nature and becoming one entity that rules over itself. That seems difficult though because living in this day an age without having to worry about anything or about anyone else is like asking for forever lasting gum. In the book Into The Wild, Chris McCandless tries to do just that and succeeds. While on his journey to Alaska, Chris becomes the embodiment of transcendentalism. He embraces multiply of the qualities of transcendentalism but there were three that were the most prominent throughout the story. He believed in living closer to nature, relied on self trust and self reliance, and also he insists on breaking from traditions like government or paying taxes like most

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.

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 a philosophical and literary movement that has major themes of nature and spirituality while going against society and materialistic things. Christopher McCandless is a Transcendentalist in every sense of the word. The young adventurer, who is the main character in Jon Krakauer's nonfiction text Into the Wild, travels throughout North America, following three main Transcendentalist ideals: the disconnection of society, a minimalist lifestyle, and a reverence for both God and nature.

An animated television series that ties into Transcendentalism with the concept of oversoul. In the series, the fantasy world is divided into four nations that are based on the four classical elements shown throughout many common ancient philosophies. Each generation there is one person who is capable of controlling and manipulating all four elements, the Avatar. The Avatar possesses a unique ability, that allows him/her to be able to gain knowledge, powers, and abilities of all the past Avatars that opens his/her mind, during times of need or meditation. With this ability, the Avatar’s purpose is to keep the four nations harmonious and to maintain world peace.

Moving out into the the woods and off the grid isn’t for everyone. For a few families, this is a way of life. This lifestyle showcases many beliefs of transcendentalism, many that are still abundantly present in society today. Transcendentalism is shown in the way people live and in the television shows like “The Boonies”. In “The Boonies”, transcendentalism appears in the ideas of Idealism/Individualism and in Nature.

Christopher McCandless was a man that could not stand to abide by other people’s rules. In the novel, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer documents his interview with McCandless’ sister, Carrie. She tells the audience that he always wanted to live by his own rules and despised restrictions. By saying this, he came to the conclusion that he had followed societies’ rules for long enough. He thought that the only way to escape their regulations was to begin a transcendental lifestyle. Transcendentalism is going above and beyond a belief system by experiencing life “outside” the normal range of experience. A tTranscendental lifestyle can be described as: detaching oneself from society, developing a spiritual connection to nature, and becoming self-reliant. Within five weeks, he was free from his parents and peers and a world that revolved around materialistic objects. Throughout his adventure, he read novels from other transcendentalists such as: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Chris McCandless can be seen as a good example to a transcendental life because he separated himself from modern society, was self-reliant, and immersed with nature.

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

In Into the Wild tells the tale of Alexander Supertramp venturing out into the wild and leaving his whole life behind to live out on the road. Throughout the movie, it engages naturalist and transcendental ideas. Inspired by Emerson and Thoreau, Chris faces naturalism because he is unprepared for his life in the wild. He is part of the majority that believes that when you love nature, nature will love you back but alas nature doesn’t care who you are, it’s always ruthless. Alexander liked the challenge of following the norm and challenging himself to survive an unforgiving wilderness landscape of Alaska.

The Sixth Sense “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” This quote from Transcendentalist writer, Henry David Thoreau, exemplifies the characteristics of Romanticism and Transcendentalism. He is saying, it’s not what you look at, but how you look at it. These characteristics are in almost every T.V. show or movie whether we realize it or not.