Similarities Between Jack London And Chris Mccandless

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

Chris McCandless hated the idea of materialism. He didn’t accept gifts from anyone including his parents. This is shown when his parents wanted to buy him a car and he got mad at them. He wanted to work hard for what he earned. He did not believe that possessions could give him happiness. Even on the way to the woods, he did not accept things like clothing and unnecessary items from other people. Before he left on his journey he donated most of his money to charity and burned the rest. He also threw away his I.D. and credit card.

Materialism was a value that was rejected by Thoreau because he wanted to live with simplicity and life’s essential while Chris rejected materialism (gifts etc.) because he when receiving material objects he felt that he wasn’t deserving of them. Thoreau was not really fond of society materialistic views. “Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits

Chris McCandless had heartily believed in Emerson and Thoreau’s opinions on the corruption of society, and was inspired

In the story, Henry David Thoreau has implemented numerous ideas that help Chris McCandless in his journey. During his journey to Alaska, Chris had to find ways to find food, build shelter and basically survive in this environment. One day, Chris killed a moose and started to cut him for food. After a couple of hours, he started to read one of his books, Walden by Henry David Thoreau. He circles and underlined one of the paragraphs in the book where

Chris was an adventurous person and was very fascinated by pieces of literature that grabbed his attention on interest he could relate to. He read classic novels from authors such as Dickens, H. G. Wells, and Mark Twain. The one author who stood out to McCandless and also happened to be his favorite was Jack London. He has been fond of London since his childhood. He has also read numerous pieces by London

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

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

Chris McCandless is not a modern day Thoreau in many ways. Chris went out in the wild unprepared and not knowing what he was doing, he didn’t have plan. McCandless never showed a true purpose or reason for his doing, while Thoreau had clear and understandable reasoning. Thoreau was writer who spent his time alone enjoying nature focusing on the pieces he was writing. He also did this as way of protest. McCandless was a smart young man who was trying to run away from his problems with his family at home. He did this by changing his name and running off to Alaska where no one knew who he really was. He wanted a new start.

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

“McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but, rather, to explore the inner country of his soul” (Krakauer 183). By the end of McCandless’s great Alaskan odyssey he found his answer, “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” (Krakauer 189). McCandless realized that you can only be truly happy when you share your happiness. It shows the critics that McCandless was not a kook who went to live in the wild ill-prepared, he was seeking happiness and answers. Chris McCandless was at peace before he passed away. I believe he lived his life how everyone should,

Chris Mccandless thought about life very deeply and lived by standards set in many of

Thoreau left society and went into the woods because he wanted to live life to the fullest and learn what life had to teach him, while Chris wanted to leave his problems at home. Thoreau was living in solitude in the woods. He liked living in solitude because he didn’t have to change his way of life to make others happy. He was also able to do his own work and did not have to worry about other people. Thoreau was not lonely in the woods because he was connected to nature like a flower is. He wanted to learn everything that the world had to offer by living with simplicity and focusing on his “needs” instead of his “wants”. We know this because Thoreau said, “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” Thoreau went towards solitude and fully

Jack London and Stephen Crane obsessively fixated on the theme of death in their writing. The two writers were both similar and dissimilar. Both died young: it is unsure whether or not Crane committed suicide. Both wrote about contemporary and realistic topics and both dwelt heavily on existentialist themes. Both too were very realist. In 'Buck', London has the character live in the real world not escape it, whilst Crane has his character thoroughly absorbed in the vicissitudes and realities of war. Both also use mediums to convey their message: with London it seems to be the dog (for instance in To Build a Fire who connotes superior friendship and loyalty to that of the man) and in Crane it is the extent of human fear in the human when faced by war.