Billie and Walt McCandless quietly shed tears concerning their twenty-four year old son, Chris McCandless, who had not talked to them for over two years and was found dead in the Alaskan woods. They question why their son had left society, left his own parents nevertheless, and risked his life which ended in his fatality. The transcendental principles which include rejection of society, intuition, and searching for a purpose of life may have guided the aforesaid experience-seeking individual. Chris McCandless’s identification as a transcendentalist is confirmed through his nonconformist actions, his human relationships, and his quest for a higher truth.
Ralph Waldo Emerson is considered the Father of Transcendentalism because he first introduced the idea of a simplistic and intuitive way of life. He claims, “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist . . . Nothing is at least sacred but the integrity of your own mind” (“Self-Reliance” 392). Nonconformity is an essential part of Emerson’s definition of a transcendentalist. To be able to live a truly boundless and accomplished life, one must not fall into the daily, busy life of society. He or she must stand out and follow their intuition, even it is not considered the norm. The only way to be content is to trust one’s instinct, not be jaded by the pressures society.
Chris McCandless, throughout his journey across the country, performed numerous acts which are divergent from the rest of society. For example, he burned $123 in order to show that material things are of no real significance to his life (Krakauer 29). Furthermore, Chris points out in a letter to 81-year-old friend, Ronald Franz, “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the i...
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... Chris McCandless’s quest for a higher truth gave him imperative incite that human relationships are necessary in order to live a happy life.
Works Cited
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature.” The American Experience. Ed. Kate Kinsella. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005. 388-390. Print.
---, “Self-Reliance.” The American Experience. Ed. Kate Kinsella. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005. 391-392. Print.
Hampson, Thomas. “The American Renaissance and Transcendentalism.” PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.
Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor Books, 1997. Print.
Saverin, Diana. “The Chris McCandless Obsession Problem.” Outside Magazine. Mariah Media, Inc., 18 Dec. 2013. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
“Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy.” U.S. History Online Textbook. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
In the film Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn, viewers may have gathered enough evidence to back up their thoughts on Christopher McCandless being a transcendentalist or a non-transcendentalist. Chris portrayed the effort of being a transcendentalist just as Ralph Waldo Emerson and David Thoreau did. He abandoned his nice life to hitchhike all over North America and he was happy about it. McCandless unfortunately died in the wilderness of Alaska after he had eaten moldy seeds. Sooner or later, that mistake was enough to end his life. He shows behavior of being a Transcendentalist by the ways that he despised society, burned his money after he abandoned his car, and went out to Alaska on his own.
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.
Chris McCandless lived a life in which he disgusted by human civilization, and left it, eventually being led to his death in Alaska. McCandless entered the Alaskan wilderness severely unprepared, a brutal error that cost him his life. In the novel, Into the Wild by John Krakauer, Chris glances into his mindset by they way of his journal, history, and analysis of his life reveals that Chris McCandless as an arrogant and judgemental narcissist, while not mentally unstable, had a condescending attitude towards society and perished not only from his reckless stupidity but also from his unparalleled ego. Chris McCandless was immune to love and had an obsession with nature and society, him showing characteristics that created the appearance of McCandless
In 1990, when he was 22 years old, Christopher McCandless ventured out into the Alaska wilderness in search for true happiness, and 2 years later he suffered a tragic death. An aspiring writer, Jon Krakauer, found McCandless’ story fascinating and chose to dedicate 3 years of his life to write a novel about him. The book entitled “Into the Wild” tells the tale of Christopher McCandless, an ill prepared transcendentalist longing for philosophical enrichment, who naïvely, failed to consider the dangers of isolating himself from human society for such a long period of time. Though Christopher McCandless made a courageous attempt to separate himself from society, in order to achieve self-fulfillment, the stubborn nature of this reckless greenhorn led him to his unfortunate demise.
...fe for oneself. McCandless primary tragic flaw being his unwillingness to form long-term relations brought him both to the happiest moment of his life, but also to his demise. McCandless never had a problem with people, but rather with the status quo of society, the idea that a man or a woman has to live inside of a coordinate plane. McCandless left home and went on his adventure simply for his own well being, he achieved both what he wanted to accomplish while learning a valuable lesson along the way. He learned that happiness must be shared, and while everyone has his or her flaws, it is important to let these go. Christopher McCandless should teach people the importance of following your dreams, and the importance of enjoying the natural serenity of life.
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
Chris McCandless is regarded as being something as a spiritual figure almost as a cult hero, some call him a disillusioned fool, some call him a great adventurer, and the debate still continues. As Matthew Power calls in his article, an article where he tells the story of McCandless,“The debate falls into two camps: Krakauer's visionary seeker, the tragic hero who dared to live the unmediated life he had dreamed of and died trying; or, as many Alaskans see it, the unprepared fool, a greenhorn who had fundamentally misjudged the wilderness he'd wanted so desperately to commune with.” Like so many stories covering Christopher McCandless’ death, both ends of the argument are discussed in an unfavored manner in the hopes to help develop an opinion on the McCandless story. This open ended question can only be answered open-endedly based on what the readers base for themselves as covered stories intend. Like Power has done, ...
In the movie Into the Wild Chris McCandless, the main character, held many of the same transcendentalist ideals that influential transcendentalists such as Henry David Thoreau held; however, Chris is a prime example of someone who missed the point by a long shot. In accordance to the transcendentalist beliefs, Chris decided that after going to college he would go out into the world by himself instead of going into the workforce. From there, he went on a long and exhausting journey to eventually end up in Alaska. He did this based on his gut feeling at the time, something that Thoreau urged people to follow. As with many transcendentalists, Chris valued his individuality and broke off all ties to society that he had during his journey. Chris
Transcendentalism was born between the 18th and the early 20th century. It's a philosophy of individualism and self-reliance. Transcendentalists strongly believed in the power of the individual. Their beliefs are intently linked with those of the romantics but varied by an endeavor to embrace or to not abjure the factual science. Additionally, they believed that society and its institution primarily manipulated the integrity of the individual. They had faith that people are at their best when they are frankly self reliant and independent. Both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau believed in transcendentalism and dedicated their occupation to follow transcendentalist philosophy. Furthermore , they were major figures in the American Intellectual movement . They shared congruent ideas but used different ways to deliver it .
In the nineteenth century there are several schools of thought that are emerging, struggling to be recognized. Of these schools there are transcendentalists. A transcendentalist that can be pointed out as a great author is named Ralph Waldo Emerson. In the time period of the 1840’s Emerson is accredited with the Transcendental movement. Emerson is acknowledged as “one of the most influential figures of the nineteenth century” (274). Emerson is an American essayist and poet. He published numerous pieces of work which portions of them were at a moment in time when he was going through a great deal of pain. Most critics refer to Ralph Waldo Emerson as one of the most significant American writers of the nineteenth century, but are having difficulty deciphering which one of his creations earn the most interest. As time goes by, he continues to write incredible literary collections that are well recognized by his contemporaries. All of these conceptions have exposed an intellect of great uniqueness. They were critiqued by several authors that provided insight to the meaning behind the words. Emerson’s most talked about and most critiqued works include Nature, The American Scholar and The Divinity School of Address.
In the life of McCandless, he went to college, and graduated with a GPA of 3.72. He was given a large amount of cash for college purposes, and he donated that. He had an offer of a new car for himself from his parents. He had a clear path for himself that was set by his lo...
Transcendentalism is a major concept that originated in New England from 1836 to 1855. It is the idea that people have knowledge about themselves that rises above or goes beyond the five senses. The man credited with leading this revolutionary movement was Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was born in Boston, and used his experience at Harvard and as a Unitarian Reverend to help start this revolution. He eventually would come to the conclusion that the individual is more morally just than religion. He started this shift with his book Nature, which he published in 1836. Nature was a collection of papers, an essay that read like a disjointed nightmare would. This revolution has translated into modern society; however, there are still many aspects of
Transcendentalism is the American literary, philosophical, and political movement of the early nineteenth century. This movement had a large focus on the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was considered
Transcendentalism is not reserved to just the US but exists all over the world. Mahatma Gandhi, originating from India, initiated a revolution in India by forcing out the British through the practice of peaceful non-conformity. Gandhi touched those around him through his willingness to receive punishment for what he believes is morally ri...
The movement of transcendentalism was a powerful movement that began to emerge in American in the nineteenth century. These powerful movements made readers question, challenge, and examine what they were accustomed too. Transcendentalism was the belief that what the person can see, touch, feel, taste, or comprehend goes beyond those senses. People were to knowledge their thoughts through instinct and imagination not through logic or the senses; they were to trust themselves to be their own authority on what is right. When people were able to receive these ideas not as a religious beliefs, but as a way of understanding life then they were consider a transcendentalist. Transcendentalism was one of the many literary writing styles used during