Developed in the late 1820s, Transcendentalism was a philosophical, literary, and intellectual movement that emphasized the individual and living a simple life. It invited people to transcend knowledge that merely existed in reason and logic into knowledge that truly lies within imagination, freedom, intuition, and self-reliance. Interestingly enough, Transcendentalism itself was able to transcend time, as transcendentalist ideas still live in our culture in the works of the 20th century poets Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and Wallace Stevens. This philosophy is not only communicated through literature itself, but it’s also manifested and celebrated in contemporary films such as “Cast Away” and “Pursuit of Happyness”. In this essay, we shall examine two of the most eminent tenets of this philosophy in “Cast Away”: stressing a closer relationship to nature as one, and celebrating emotions and imagination as another.
In brief, “Cast Away”, made in year 2000 (80 years after the first practicing of Transcendentalism), is an American adventure drama film that tells the story of Chuck, a time-obsessed systems analyst, who travels worldwide resolving productivity problems at FedEx depots. He is unwillingly forced into the wrath of nature when his mail carrier malfunctions and crashes into the ocean near a small, uninhabited island. Chuck is the only person to survive the accident and is then forced to fend for himself for the next couple of years.
At first, we see a despondent, unaccepting person stuck on an island. This person refuses to have any relation to the nature and environment he is stuck in and is willing to do anything possible to escape the state of destitute he is imprisoned in. He initially tries to signal for rescue and ma...
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...lways in change, and that’s the only constant he can hold on to. As time progresses , a lot of things have to move forward , and if a human being is consumed in inspecting and analyzing every second and every minute passing by , that human will never evolve. In the 4 years Chuck has spent on the island, he has learnt lots about nature and himself. The experiences he has gained serve as hands molding Chuck’s character and engraving it with self-reliance. Self-reliance plays a major role in the plot of the movie, as it is the only way Chuck uses to reach safety. Without being self-reliant and depending on himself, Chuck would’ve never made that raft to reach safety and would’ve never been found drifting by a passing cargo ship. It’s just like the movie is itself screaming out loud a transcendentalist doctrine: Self-reliance is your way to safety and a better life.
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.
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).
“Everyman, I will go with thee and by thy guide, in thy most need to go by thy side,” said Randolf Hayes while talking about Ralph Waldo Emerson. One of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s pieces of literature is The American Scholar. This connects to Jon Krakuaer’s novel, Into the Wild. All of these pieces connect because they all show transcendentalism.
Throughout our history, we have repeatedly tried to exploit the environment (i.e. nature) in order to perfect our lives. We not only manipulated the materialistic and economic aspect of our world, but we have also struggled to use the moral and the spiritual in making progress within ourselves. Instead of relying on ourselves to accomplish this purpose, we have unfortunately sought help from society's traditional institutions. These institutions, in turn, have tired to manipulate us for their own good, resulting in more harm than help. During the nineteenth century, authors such as Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne recognized this and have tried to stop it through their writings. To this end, they have adopted Ralph Waldo Emerson's view that people choose to deny the power of reason, or their own mind. He believed that until people choose to see the "light" of reason, they will remain morally dead. With the achievement of reason, external institutions will remain useless and they will understand that the spirit they so vehemently desired is indeed within them and will without a doubt eliminate their moral darkness. Therefore, Emerson affirmed that the only eternal law is that of experience and that "the one thing in the world of value is the active soul-the soul, free, sovereign, active." This essay will discuss how these authors (Melville, Hawthorne, and Dickinson) composed writings that mimicked Emerson's view of life to accentuate individualism against subjugation.
Into The Wild by John Krauker is based around the story of Chris McCandless, a bright young man who believed that a life in the Alaskan wilderness would help him to live a more deliberate life. He followed many transcendentalist keys without openly admitting to it or stating it upright. Some of these include having few belongings when he passed away, not continuing the path that was in store for him, and braving the Alaskan wilderness with few belongings to his name.
A life of simplicitic values and self-awareness is crucial in reaching an internal meditative state. Transcendentalism was a spreading movement based upon values of self-enlightenment through reaching a state of living on basic necessities. These beliefs integrated that humankind, nature, and God were somehow all interconnected, but the link was out of reach to the participant of normal society. Likewise, they believes that one should extend the limitations that a normal way of life builds, to experience something greater. This pursuit of passion integrated a way of living independent from an outer society. These set of beliefs were based upon the internal need to find one’s identity through free will. The challenge of withdrawing from a life
Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless and Henry David Thoreau take in the 19th century philosophy of Transcendentalism. After reading Into the Wild by Krakauer and Thoreau’s excerpts from Walden, readers see the similarities between Chris’s beliefs and Thoreau’s. Both of them embrace individualism, simplicity and nature.
In the unit “The Spirit of Individualism” there are two parts, “Celebrations of the self” and “The Dark side of Individualism” with pieces that present very different perspectives on human nature. “The Dark side of Individualism” portrays human nature as greedy, confused, easily caught up in fame, and addicted to wealth and possessions. In “Celebrations of the Self”, human nature is viewed in a more positive light. The characteristics shown are self reliance, independence, wisdom and selflessness. “The Dark side of Individualism” pieces are written in a more macabre tone, whereas “Celebrations of the Self” pieces have a more positive and uplifting tone to them. The generalizations of human nature are different because of the pieces in “The Dark side of Individualism” and “Celebrations of the Self” have entirely different views on life and human nature.
Pearl from The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, exhibits many classifying traits of a transcendentalist. Her curiosity strengthened by an isolated childhood, her individualism and intellect, and her strong connection to nature are all leading themes in transcendentalist writings.
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.
When the doors to the port-a-potty washed up on the shore and Chuck began organizing his escape one would argue that this was Chuck’s self-actualization moment. He eventually finishes the raft and sets off into the ocean. One morning a storm hits, sending Wilson off the raft. With the majority of his raft destroyed, his food gone along with Wilson gone, Chuck falls back down the hierarchy. Luckily he was found and nursed back to health. The movie leaves off with Chuck standing in the middle of a crossroad deciding what he wants to do with his new found freedom and having yet to reach self-actualization again.
“Nature is not so helpless…it can rid itself of every last wrong.” This quote by Emerson illustrates a fundamental idea in Transcendentalism, that is that within nature there can be found an almost Devine Justice and that this Justice reverberates within the self, whether or not Emerson meant Natures Justice to be humanly observable, this directly contradicts with on of the clearest concepts Nathanial Hawthorn communicated in The Scarlet Letter. He described on page 431 the “wild, heathen Nature of the forest, never subjugated by human law, nor illumined by higher truth”. This says quite a lot about his character Hester and her development. Hester Prynne transcended Puritan society; she defined her own self and found an internal sense of morality,
They are forced to contend with the realization that their survival does not matter to nature. The correspondent comes to the realization, “When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples” (Crane 213). While the men may try to pin their trouble on the “mythicized deity,” that really does not serve them. When discussing this, Hilfer says, “The discomfiting thing about nature is that though we can address it, our messages can only come back stamped ‘return to sender’” (251). No matter how much the men in the boat try to make sense of what is happening to them, they cannot find the being or force behind
McDonald, Keiko I. Cinema East: A Critical Study of Major Japanese Films. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson Press, 1983.
Henry David Thoreau, a name heard endlessly by American Literature students, has contributed his outrageous views to society even after his death. Lectures and texts let his perceptions live on through teachers and professors that are all agreed on the significance of his writing to the transcendentalistic period. Definitely worth the merit he receives for his contributions, Henry Thoreau's views are nonconformist and thought provoking. "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away" (Thoreau, 14). Thoreau himself marched to a different drummer, and it is this aspect of all great men that set them apart from the average. Socrates, Newton, and Kepler all men who found popular belief not to be the only belief, became great because of it. Although Thoreau's views are not recognized until later in life, they in fact were being sculpted during his earlier years, and his adulthood literary works were directly effected by his childhood.