Transcendentalism In Civil Disobedience And Walden

Transcendentalism is widely known throughout the world and some people believe themselves to be transcendentalists even to this day. Most know transcendentalism to be a movement started in the nineteenth century; it is a idealistic philosophical and social movement. Beliefs of a transcendentalist consist of but are not limited to: being a nonconformist, nature is spiritual, inspirational and symbolic, self-reliance is important and following personal beliefs is the key to a happiness and leads to a fulfilling life. To show, in Self-Reliance written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Civil Disobedience and Walden, both by Henry David Thoreau, focus on the topic of transcendentalism and share their own opinions towards the subject. However, Christopher

Hence, during the movie Into the Wild by Sean Penn, Chris is shown abandoning his car (getting rid of the license plate), changing his name, hiking without maps, also finding a bus and making a shelter inside. He casted aside materialist items because he believed he could survive without them. For example, with a new name no one would be able to track him down, without a map he was traveling freely, he began to live inside of a bus in the middle of nowhere and believed he could his life off the surrounding land. Ralph Emerson states in Self-Reliance, “the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” In other words, man can do wonders with independence instead of relying on others, such as Chris kept to. He only ever needed his wits and confidence to keep him alive; or so he

Chris was no doubt a nonconformist and proves so many times throughout the movie. To exhibit, he burned his money, quit his job because they told him to wear socks, and road both a train and river illegally. In order to be free from society’s boundaries he decided it would be a good idea to burn his money as well as quit his job to escape. Likewise, he went against the law by stealing a train ride and a trip down the river helping him near his future destination. Henry Thoreau agrees when he writes “we should be men first, and subjects afterward,” in Civil Disobedience. Accordingly, people should not be bound to rules or laws; in fact, they should be their own person and make their own decisions before succumbing to conformity. Ironically, Chris follows suit and lives his life the way he wants to, though it might be