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Into The Wild Individualism

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Into the Wild The legendary Chris McCandless was known for many things consisting of both positive and negative ways people saw and viewed him. McCandless had a different way of seeing things and wanted to be himself and not follow what society had to say. He wanted to be close with nature and find himself through individualism. Although McCandless was so called “unprepared” for the wild he survived months out there on his own and escaped society for good. McCandless died doing what he loved and what he believed in without the influence of society. In Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, McCandless was in all means justified in shunning society and societal norms in favor of individualism because he took Thoreau’s view in “Walden” and wanted to …show more content…

Thoreau left society to experience life in a new way and be an individual in nature. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (Thoreau 1). He wanted to live simply and he did when he exited nature to become an individual. He was free and found himself when he left. Thoreau’s journey and escape from society succeeded and McCandless wanted to become an individual as well. "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; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor-such is my idea of happiness, and then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children, perhaps-what more can the heart of a man desire" (Krakauer 169). McCandless was truly happy in the secluded life that was nature and he found what he wanted. He became an individual just like Thoreau and nothing else made him happier than the fact that he was away from society and being that individual. McCandless was justified to shun society and leave the societal norms for his right to be an individual. He went and followed his dreams which is something that not many people do, he died doing what he loved and that’s not something many people can

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