Reflection upon Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson has a lot to teach about how to respect the earth because it is a mighty force but Nature also teaches what it means to be connected with nature and the feelings that are associated with connection. During my close read of Nature I faced challenges, successes, and a greater appreciation for the writing from a world that is drastically different from the one I live in. One of my biggest struggles while annotating the piece was looking at the big picture and what the paragraph as a whole was telling me. While I am annotating I tend to focus more on the smaller pieces such as the meaning of words and decoding what a sentence is saying. It’s hard to pull back from that and connect the bigger pieces to find what the

There are an infinite amount of unique responses to the question “What is the meaning of life?”. However, the majority of people will agree that the true meaning of life is to find happiness and what is really important to one’s self. In Jon Krakauer’s, Into The Wild, Chris McCandless conveys this idealism through his life’s journey as he bravely defies all limitations. Chris McCandless isolates himself from society in his Alaskan Odyssey as a way to defy accepted expectations and to begin discovering the meanings of life without any corrupted influences.

Lastly, Chris Mccandless got to fulfill his dream, live his own life, and now he even got to find his inner self, find out who he truly is. Chris was the kind of person that lived dangerously unlike most people, he was different “It is hardly unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders...Danger has always held a certain allure. McCandless, in his fashion, merely took risk-taking to its logical extreme” (Krakauer, 182). Chris’s true self-was one that was riskful and daring until he could finish the task. Furthermore, he was different from others and throughout his journey, others could see that. In the end that was the kind of person Chris Mccandless was, and this is the person he became after fulfilling his dream and living his own life. In contrast, others did

Chris McCandless was a man who had everything to have a successful life. However, Chris McCandless decided to leave it all behind. Chris thought that he was going to go leave all society behind to go live in the wild. Chris thought that it was going to be very hard. Krakauer He was arrogant and ignorance toward the nature and society. In Into the Wild Chris leaves his life behind to live a life alone in the wild. In Into the Wild Krakauer’s message from Chris’s journey is for people to never get too ignorant or too confident because anything can go wrong at anytime.

"In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, - no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, - my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space, - all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God."

Throughout his life, Chris McCandless shows multiple examples of transcendental actions. McCandless does what he wants and does not care what people think about him. Chris McCandless would set up tents and live away from society because it was where he was happiest. As a child, McCandless did not like playing with other children. He preferred to be alone and entertain himself. Chris McCandless did not like to wear socks; he felt confined in them. He demonstrated Transcendentalism through reduce dependence on property, self-reliance, and nonconformity.

First things first, Chris Mccandless followed his dream to escape society and live in nature. Once he got out of society and was on the road he delighted, "McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well—relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy” (Krakauer, 55). Chris had the capability of escaping the society where he could go off on a journey to find himself. Chris is one of the few people out there that has the mindset of doing whatever it is to achieve his dream. Not many people in this world are able to do that especially if it is going out into the wild to fulfill your dream, maybe they will swim 50 miles in an ocean

Chris McCandless: a man so infatuated with nature, he practically committed suicide to bring himself nearer to it. This extreme liking for nature, along with other ideals, makes up the core tenets of the transcendentalist philosophy. McCandless demonstrates other tenets of transcendentalism as well, most notably the supremacy of the individual, by detaching himself from the mammon of this world. Another way he shows the supremacy of the individual, by the belief that one should not conform to the usual policies of life, causes him great trouble in some cases. As well as the belief that the individual supersedes all else, McCandless received much of his inspiration from nature. Finally, always following what he believes correct, McCandless

To begin, living freely, being one with nature, and not conforming to society is what Chris McCandless shows through his actions. Living freely is what the meaning of life is to Chris McCandless as shown through his actions.This quote is from one of his letters he wrote to his friends, “ This is the last communication you shall receive from me. I now walk out to live amongst the wild. Take care it was great knowing you” (Krakauer 69). This is an example of him living freely by cutting off all his communications with his friends and going to live in the wilderness. Furthermore, Chris McCandless finds it important to become one with nature and to be one with it. By going into the wild he is surrounding himself with nature and nothing else,“The beauty of this country is becoming part of me”(Krakauer 91). What this means is that through living in the wild he becomes closer to his surroundings and finds out what life really means. Lastly, the final meaning of life is to not to conform to society as Chris McCandless did. He did this through not listing to people who just wanted to make him better, “But if you tried to coach him, to polish his skill, to bring out that final ten percent, a wall went up. He resisted instruction of any kind”(Krakauer 111). This shows nonconformity by him not accepting advice from anyone to make his skill the best he is resisting giving into what everyone wants him to do and not conforming to society.

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.

Henry David Thoreau once said, “live the life you dreamed.” To follow the words of one of his biggest influences, Chris McCandless did exactly that, live his dream. After graduating college, McCandless embarked on an adventure across the United States, living as a rubber tramp to a leather tramp. In May, 1992, he finally set off on the adventure he most desired for, and trekked into the Alaskan wilderness. There, McCandless would live completely off the land away from society, so he could find himself. Just like Thoreau did during his time at Walden Pond. Sharing many of the same ideas and beliefs, McCandless included much of Thoreau’s views into his own philosophy; such as, a rejection towards society, a need to simplify, and a respect towards nature.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emerson is a firm believer of maintaining self-reliance and values rather than following the crowd. He also explains that in order to be truly successful in life, a person must make decisions and trust in his or her judgment. In today’s society, teenagers are more likely to not be self-reliant because the teens feel they will be judged for having different beliefs. People today need to realize that they should not conform to be like the rest of the world, they must not depend on the judgment and criticism of others, and people must refuse to travel somewhere in order to forget their personal problems. Through Emerson’s piece, readers are able to

In a society where individualism, simplicity and the divinity of nature, are no longer a top priority; many individuals go on odysseys to find those values. That is the case of Chris McCandless, who spend the last portion of his life living out his philosophy on life. Looking for who he was and what he believed in. Chris McCandless led a life that was similar to that of transcendentalists, through their shared values and outlooks on life.

McCandless speaks and acts nearly exactly how well established transcendentalist speak and act. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who led the transcendentalist movement during the mid-19th century, believe that “the only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be” (Ralph Waldo Emerson). One cannot deny that McCandless absolutely refuses to let anyone shape his life and destiny other than himself. He not only constantly fights against the grain of society, but rather leaves it entirely. When he began his societal departure, “he intended to invent an utterly new life for himself... free to wallow in unfiltered experience... he even adopted a new name... he was now Alexander Super-tramp, master of his own destiny”(Krakauer 23). This adaptation of a new name shows that both well known transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson, and McCandless, believe that destiny is what you make of it; what you decide, and no one else. Transitively, this shared core belief with transcendentalism that ultimately directs McCandless’s entire lifestyle in the years leading to his death, validates beyond doubt that McCandless’s guiding philosophy is in fact

Emerson's "transcendentalism" is essentially a romantic individualism, a philosophy of life for a new people who had overthrown their colonial governors and set about conquering a new continent, in hopes of establishing new and unique views. Though Emerson is not a traditional philosopher, the tendency of his thought is toward inward reflection in which soul and intuition, or inspiration, are fundamental. The new American needed less criticism and a rejuvenated sense of personal inspiration. Taking a practical and democratic, yet philosophic interest in all of nature and in individuals of every walk of life. Emerson stresses the potential for genius and creativity in all