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Essay on how chris mccandless connects with transcendentalism
Essay on how chris mccandless connects with transcendentalism
Essay on how chris mccandless connects with transcendentalism
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Many find themselves wishing that they could “leave it all behind,” abandon their responsibilities and shed their life as a member of society to pursue their own dreams. Few actually take the transcendental idea to heart. Chris McCandless is one of those few. His wanderlust is fueled from the discontent with his resentment towards his family and the idea of social normalcy, his indulgence in ¬the boundless literature of authors like Emerson and Thoreau, and his overall attitude of rebelliousness growing up. Most of his discontent is due to his father’s infidelity, and the dependency of money set by social standards. When his father’s secret of infidelity is brought to the surface Chris broods over the audacity of his father to put two families at risk for his selfish desires. This increases the tension already present shared between his father and himself because of their opposed ideas and stubborn stances on them. Chris, even as a child, always opposed the idea of monetary dependency that his parents worked so hard to obtain. Chris loathes his family and society’s infatuation that...
Chris McCandless’ relationship with his father was not ideal. Built up resentment caused by unfaithfulness to his mother caused Chris to cut ties with his father. For most of Chris’ life, his father played
For someone who is very compassionate and always looking to help those less fortunate, Chris is, ironically, unable to forgive his parents’ mistakes. Krakauer reflects on Chris’s inability to forgive his father. “The boy could not pardon the mistakes his father had made as a young man…” (Krakauer 123). Forgiveness is important in Chris’ story because the resentment he has for his parents expands to other aspects of his life, and he begins to isolate himself. His isolation continues through college and ultimately leads...
Beliefs are what define humans not as a society, but as individuals. Individualism is a large part of Transcendentalism, which was a movement started in the mid-nineteenth century led by figures such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Into the Wild, written in 1997 by Jon Krakauer, is a modern novel that examines a transcendentalist young adult. That young man is Chris McCandless, who leaves his family at the age of 23 to live the Transcendentalist dream. He hitchhikes and travels through many rivers and cities to get to Alaska, the place where he believes he can finally experience that dream. Transcendentalism is the idea that humans are innately one with nature, and therefore God, and that nature is the only place where humans belong because society is poisonous. By enjoying himself and connecting with god through the environment in an isolated location, Chris McCandless demonstrates that he is a faithful Transcendentalist.
...r the inspiration he requires to learn more about himself. Finally, McCandless follows his own intuition to the point of death. These ideas presented by McCandless not only demonstrate transcendental ideals, but the fathers of transcendentalism themselves lives closely resembling that of Christopher Johnson McCandless, a man who desired to live as close to nature as possible; however, volition alone could not save him from his unintentionally self-inflicted demise.
Eustace Conway, a man of nature, of brotherhood, of struggle and strife perfectly represents the Transcendental ideal with impeccable execution. Eustace has lived the life of many Transcendentalists, such as Thoreau, Whitman, and Frost. He has long dreamed of owning pristine land, untouched by any man, a place where he can live, and teach. His dream came true for him, and that land is called Turtle Island. But Eustace, a simple man, yearns for the day when people come to their senses and return to the place from which they came… nature. Until this day comes, Eustace feels the need to educate people about how he lives, and how fulfilling it can be. He contends that we all live in boxes. From our houses, to our cars. The source of our food, to the entertainment we take in, all comes from a box. He wishes we would all break from these boxes, and return to the perpetual circle that is nature (Gilbert, paraphrase).
Ralph Waldo Emerson is known as the father of Transcendentalism, a philosophical movement based on feelings rather than logic, it is a movement for the nonconformists and unique thinkers. Transcendentalism’s main ideas are individualism, intuition, imagination, idealism, and inspiration. When Emerson created the movement in the nineteenth century he was a well known writer and is still today a prominent figure in American Literature. Christopher McCandless was also a transcendentalist. He left everything he had in order to go on a great Alaskan voyage. Unfortunately, during his journey, something went wrong and he died due to uncertain causes. McCandless is also the protagonist of the nonfiction novel, Into the Wild which Jon Krakauer wrote about McCandless’s life. Emerson and McCandless show similarities with each other such as their transcendental thinking, their individuality, and their life goal of searching for their identity.
Although, Chris McCandless may be seen as stupid and his ideals uncanny, he gave up everything to follow his heart he escaped the world that would have changed him, he wrote his own tale to feel free, and he left a conformist world to indulge in true happiness. How many people would just give up their lives, family, material goods, to escape into a world of perfect solitude and peace; not many and Chris was one of those that could and he became and inspiration. “The idea of free personality and the idea of life as sacrifice” (187).
Chris McCandless does not wish to follow defined life structure that society enforces to simply be alive, instead, he chooses to take a seek a path to live a life with purpose. Such an eagerness to seek detachment from what is expected by society, is enforced by not only McCandless but also Thoreau. A primary factor resembling this, is McCandless’ view that many people “live within unhappy circumstances...yet will not change…they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism...damaging to the adventurous spirit(40).” The detesting tone risen through the confliction of “unhappy circumstances” and “damage,” to “safety, conformity and conservation,” emphasis his will to separate from a lifestyle lacking change. This is done
Before Chris McCandless had ventured off into the woods, he discovered that his parents had kept a secret and there was more to his family than he thought. He is described as someone that, “seemed like a kid who was looking for something, looking for something, just didn’t know what it was yet.” (Krakauer, 42). People can easily make hasty decisions in a spurt of anger or sorrow which is why Chris did not take into consideration the feelings of the people that cared about him. Even though a person may be dealing with something unfortunate that they might not even understand, it is important that he does not push away the people close to him because they are the ones that will help him move passed his hardships. While personal struggles get in the way of making the right choices, personal gratification can be just as
Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, describes the adventure of Christopher McCandless, a young man that ventured into the wilderness of Alaska hoping to find himself and the meaning of life. He undergoes his dangerous journey because he was persuade by of writers like Henry D. Thoreau, who believe it is was best to get farther away from the mainstreams of life. McCandless’ wild adventure was supposed to lead him towards personal growth but instead resulted in his death caused by his unpreparedness towards the atrocity nature.
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 and writings featured in the transcendental unit include Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, The Beatification of Chris McCandless: From Thieving Poacher into Saint by Craig Medred, and Nature 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 truth of life and existence is only achievable through personal satisfaction of goals and breaking away from the expectations of society. Chris was not one to stand by and let society define his path, instead he took control of his own destiny and found his own “truth”. In all, Chris McCandless should be considered a transcendentalist. He chose to live a life of simplicity, with a spartan apartment and living in the woods, lived a simple life in an off campus apartment until he left to live off the land in the Alaskan wilderness and rely on himself and his skills and talents to make it. Although, he was unfortunate and did not live to tell his story, his beliefs and ideas will be remembered as those of a transcendentalist.
Chris McCandless was a young man from Washington, D.C.. In an effort to live closer to nature, he abandoned his life and education at university studying. He gave his life savings to a charity and started hitchhiking and traveling for almost two years. He eventually finds himself in Alaska, where he lived for four months before he unfortunately died due to starvation. McCandless’ journey was in tune with the movement of transcendentalism, a movement in which its founders were a strong inspiration to Chris. Chris McCandless was very in tune with his surrounding and the nature within it and his connection with it. A turning
Nothing hurts more than being betrayed by a loved one, Christopher’s father has no trust in Christopher and tells him that his “Mother died 2 years ago”(22) and Christopher thinks his mother died of a heart attack. When Christopher finds out his father lied, he runs away to live with his mother and his father despritally looks for him and while looking for him realizes the importance of telling the truth. When someone betrays one’s trust, they can feel morally violated. Once Christopher finds his mother, she begins to realize how unfit her living conditions are for Christopher and brings him back to his father, bring him “[..] home in Swindon”(207) Christopher feels incredibly hurt and distressed he does not want to see his father. Whether a relationship can be repaired depends entirely on whether trust can or cannot be restored. Christopher’s father works very hard to regain his trust, he tells his son “[..] I don’t know about you, but this...this just hurts too much”, Christopher’s father is dealing with the result of being dishonest with his son and himself.
The settings in the story have impacts on the theme of young manhood. Chris leaves his family and decides to go on a journey to find a new life. Christopher felt affected in his family presence so he sends his final school report to his family: “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, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it”(Krakauer,55). He believes that this is a way to find his true identity and peace of mind, which he thought could be achieved by fleeing into the wild. Chris seemed to have a bad relationship with his parents, especially with his father because Chris found out that he had a child with his first wife when Chris was born. This fact is revealed by his dad’s old neighbour, “Walt’s split from his first wife, Marcia, was not a clean or amicable parting. Long after falling in love with Billie, long after she gave birth to Chris, Walt continued his relationship with Marcia in secret” (Krakauer121). Chris knew about his father’s affair with another woman and this made it easier for Chris to not care about what his family has to say ...