The meaning of Solitude is the state of being alone. Chris McCandless believed that the way you should really experience and enjoy your life is in the wilderness, alone, away from technology and the works of society. For him, it was the only place that made him happy, or even just hitchhiking on the roads made him happy, he just wanted to take adventures that got him away from society. That was Chris’ meaning of life. I agree with Emerson’s ideal of solitude, which was that to experience solitude you must get away from society as much as you want to get away from yourself because if you don’t get away from society than you simply are not alone which goes against with the definition of solitude. I agree with Emerson’s ideal of solitude because if you truly want to be alone and experience life by yourself then you must get away from society as much as you can, while also trying to leave yourself. Furthermore, I think each person can depict it differently. …show more content…
One who may also disagree with Emerson’s ideal of solitude would argue that you could go into solitude without entirely leaving society. In one of Walden's articles, Economy, he claims that you do not need to completely leave society, yet there are only four things that you need to live a happy and complete life, “None of the brute creation requires more than Food and Shelter. The necessaries of life for man in this climate may, accurately enough, be distributed under the several heads of Food, Shelter, Clothing, and Fuel.” (Economy, Thoreau). Thus you are not leaving society but you are merely just living on the bare minimum, so you don’t fully experience solitude. Chris McCandless went into the wild with no food, shelter, or fuel. He had to hunt and find his own food, while he got lucky by finding a bus to provide him shelter; therefore, he may have died a lot earlier if he never found good
People in modern day society should learn from past transcendentalists and engage in the concept of solitude. Henry David Thoreau and Chris McCandless were both transcendentalists that believed in the key fundamental idea of solitude. Henry Thoreau was a transcendentalist that practiced the form of solitude throughout his life. Later in his life, he left society and moved into woods to be alone. Henry David Thoreau wrote a book called, Walden where he recalled important lessons and ideas that his master Ralph Waldo Emerson taught him about transcendentalism. Along with Thoreau, a more modern-day transcendentalist was known as Chris McCandless. McCandless journeyed to the wilderness in Alaska to be able to experience a minimal amount of human
Both Thoreau and McCandless had a deep appreciation for solitude in nature. In Walden, Thoreau explains how he’d “... love to see Nature that is so rife with life that myriads can be afforded to be sacrificed and suffered to prey on one another; that tender organizations can be so serenely squashed out of existence..” (Thoreau, Walden 238). While being on his “adventure”, Thoreau was able to observe all of the little things in nature, and appreciate all of the little things. While in civilization, one would not be able to notice such things because there are much too many people around to notice. While on his journey, McCandless “No longer.
...o The Wild and Walden it was clear that individualism heavily influenced both Chris and Thoreau through their journeys. It can also be taken that the act of being your own person or an individual is one of the key parts to leading a happy and fulfilling life. Not only was this demonstrated in the books Into The Wild and Walden but also throughout history were it has always human nature to live free and as your own person. Throughout the ages, it has been seen many times that those who lead most meaningful and fulfilling lives are individualists. In order for somebody to become an individual, they have to understand what it means to be one and disregard what others may think of them.
One of the primary issues that Emerson tried to convey was that one must follow what they believe is true for themselves and not listen to what other people think. He states, “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps perfect sweetness the independence of solitude(Emerson 151).” One of the definitions of the word “world” is “human society.” The word “opinion” means “a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter.” By putting these words together, Emerson is implying that the “world’s opinion” is the general point of view accepted by most of society. Emerson also uses the word, “solitude” which means, “the quality or state of being alone or remote from society.” By also using the word “solitude” in this sentence, he shows a contrast between the majority (society), and the individual. What Emerson suggests is that if one can live in a world full of people who think a certain way because they were taught to believe that way, but still hold your own ground and follow what you believe, you are a great person.
But some of them, don't. Instead they alienate themselves from society further. “The Hunger Artist”, by Franz Kafka, and “The Secret Society Of The Starving”, by Mim Udovitch feature the few people that prefer to stay in isolation. They illustrate the true extent that many are willing to go to be alone. They supplement each other.
Describing a course in history when isolation was highly adopted, Deresiewicz writes, “The mob, the human mass, presses in… The soul is forced back into itself—hence the development of a more austere and embattled form of self-validation…where the essential relationship is only with oneself” (par.8). Deresiewicz describes the time of urbanization, when country folks began flooding into cities. With so many people moving into the city, there was not any room to breathe because there was not any privacy or space—all the voices and thoughts were forced into one sector of society. This forced some people to advance past the crowd and focus on oneself, on the soul. When submerged by a sea of people, the best shelter is inside the body and mind, where one can reflect the internal self and external world in a serene environment. Extending on the importance of temporary isolation, Deresiewicz adds, “Solitude becomes, more than ever, the arena of heroic self-discovery, a voyage through interior realms” (par. 8). When engaged in the physical world, people don’t focus on themselves because there is too much stimulation occurring around them. But when alone in solitude, when there is no around except oneself—no noises, sounds, distractions—then a person is able to reflect on his or her character. It is important to immerse in introspection because mental health is as vital as bodily health. And by delving deeper into the psyche, individuals discover new information about themselves that wouldn’t have been uncovered with others because the only person that truly understands him or her is that
In William Deresiewicz’s essay, “The End of Solitude,” he describes how technology has made it impossible to be alone. Media, social networking sites, television have so much influence on our mind that our lives revolve around these things. Everyone wants to be recognized, famed and wants to be appreciated by others such that being alone isn’t appealing to them. William Deresiewicz argues that being alone is a vital part of life and everybody should try to achieve that solitude in their lives, but with technology it has become impossible to be alone when we have technology in our pockets. He suggests that solitude is very important to hear God and to hear our inner selves. He compares the eras Romanticism, Modernism and
Romanticism seeks nature as a means for obtaining knowledge, and while Thoreau heavily spends his time in the woods and around the pond by himself, he inevitably feels a sense of solitude. Solitude is not necessarily loneliness or intentional isolation of oneself. It is merely an acknowledgment of the fact that he or she is alone. Thoreau has his own thoughts about solitude in which he writes:
Like stated prior, although Thoreau, for the most part, is completely isolated in nature, he never feels truly lonely:
He builds his own cabin and documents his experiences amongst nature. He observations led to his personal beliefs of how one should truly live. He was alone when he recorded his understandings of nature and himself which some might call his journey a visions quest. “The book has inspired other young people to follow his example and retire to a lonely spot--even if only in imagination--to ponder the world and their place in it” says Elizabeth Witherell, author of Reflections of Walden (Witherell). The comparison of Emerson and Thoreau works are very similar when relating their books to transcendental characteristics which Woodlief elaborates on. Woodlief
Solitude. Examples are found of this idea throughout the one-hundred-year life of Macondo and the Buendia family. It is both an emotional and physical solitude. It is shown geographically, romantically, and individually. It always seems to be the intent of the characters to remain alone, but they have no control over it. To be alone, and forgotten, is their destiny.
Across the poems, Come In, In Winter In, Dust of Snow, Stopping by a Wood on a Snowy Evening, and Beech by Robert Frost all share a common theme: Man’s Isolation. While every poem is unique to their text, Frost implies that he would rather be alone, than with the crowd. Some poems portray isolation in a different way, but when you look carefully, they are saying the same thing across all works. The definition of isolation is the state of being in a place or situation that is separate than others.In general, isolation can mean plenty of things, regardless of it’s definition. The poems that all carry this theme all interpret different meanings of isolation, while still being one theme. When looking at Dust of Snow, for example, the speaker shows some sort of sadness or depression, there’s not a soul in sight.
Everyone has times when they are alone for situational reasons, or because they have chosen to be alone. Being alone can be experienced as positive, pleasurable, and emotionally refreshing if it is under the individual's control. Being alone and lonely, and even
There are over seven billion people in our world today and yet many of them claim that they are alone in life or that they feel lonely. Even in the small town of Worland, Wyoming that only has around five thousand people in it, no one is alone. Everyone knows somebody, everyone has a family member or a friend that lives here or nearby, and everyone has some sort of interaction with other human beings on a regular basis. I strongly agree with many of the things John Donne has to say in Meditation 17 and I do think that many of the points that he makes still apply to our world today. Whether you are the most antisocial person that you know or you’re the biggest person you know, no one is alone and no one is an “island”.
Solitude is a major theme in the book, as is evident from the title. Here, solitude doesn't necessarily mean loneliness; it is a fated seclusion by space or some neurotic obsession. It is the sense of being apart from others. Examples of solitude can be found in the one-hundred-year life of Macondo and the Buendia family. It is both emotional and physical solitude that is shown geographically, romantically, and individually. Each character has his or her own particular solitude. It seems that it is always the intent of the characters to be alone, and there are even those who deliberately cut themselves off from the society. These are the characters that are contrasted to others who combat solitude by doing strenuous effort to reach out to others. This is not the case, though, for the solitary characters in One Hundre...