Chris Mccandless Transcendentalism

McCandless’s self-reliance is a big part of identifying him as transcendentalist. In the short story, “Death of an Innocent”, Chris says, “I've decided that I'm going to live this life for some time to come. The freedom and simple beauty of it is just too good to pass up.” McCandless feels that life should not be wasted doing what you do not love, and shows this by traveling and living off the land every chance he gets. Transcendentalists take in all of what nature has to give them by becoming one with it; like McCandless does throughout the story.

He desired to live off the land and travel across North America. One explorer who is similar to chris is Reinhold Messner. Explorers are motivated to leave their life behind and go on an adventure because of them being the center of their own existence, their mistakes turning into misery and them rejecting the established norms in society. McCandless had exceptional reasons for leaving home and taking on the life of a homeless person living in the wild. McCandless wanted to experience this type of individuality and to experience the life that Henry David

Family, friends, and possessions pressure individuals through the imposition of values that contribute to identity; we are told that we obtain our qualities simply by inheritance and association. The environment one chooses to surround themselves reflects similar learned behaviors and thought processes. Deviating from the norm is often contemptible, but natural, according to author Jon Krakauer. Realizing that he did not want to become a carbon copy of his parents and environment, Christopher McCandless wandered the American West for two years, as a nomad, to reject society as he knows it―his family, friends, and possessions. He burns his money, abandons his car, and cuts all ties with his family on an identity crisis that would lead to his death in the inhospitable Alaskan tundra.

Lastly, the real reason for this quest and that being a strong will of survival. Pi has to find land to save not only his life, but to find out if his family or any of the animals survived as well. The sad reality was he never did find his family, but he was gifted with the wisdom and the strength of his family or even possibly his religion to save himself from a certain

Some would say “Life on the road is suited for everyone”, others such as for myself, would disagree. Life on the road is not suited for everyone, because not everyone can throw away their normal life and go on the road or the wilderness and survive like Chris McCandless. Some would think, Chris McCandless, was on a suicide mission but he was only following his dreams and he actually did, unlike many people. Chris McCandless inspired so many people to move out, leave their old lives, and have a fresh start at their life. Chris McCandless was a independent person and he was trying to get away from civilization because he felt like he never fit into it.

Thoreau’s purpose is to live a simple life. He doesn't want to live the fast life, he wants to see every detail there is and obtain everything life offers. Thoreau wanted to die knowing he lived what life was meant to be. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” This is an antithesis because Thoreau supports his decision on going into to the woods by saying if he didn't, he would regret it.

Going into the wild and abandoning all that you know and love is such a hard task to do. Chris McCandless is a brave soul for going on that journey to find himself and discover who he truly is. Living in complete solitude with nature was his solution to his personal issues at home and inside his head. He longed for complete happiness and believed he could discover it on his journey to Alaska. Anthony Storr, a noted psychiatrist explains, "creative attitude and the ability to have peak experiences depends upon being free of other people...", and I agree with this idea.

Chris Mccandless was a smart, able and talented guy, he wanted to break away from society, live off the land and survive on his own, and find himself. He did, but at the cost of his life, and with one simple mistake he died in the Alaskan wilderness. Mccandless hoped to gain one thing from his life in the brush, and that was autonomy, a sense that he, Christopher Mccandless, could survive, all by himself in the wilds of America. One of his goals, in his search for the self, was to “Become Lost in The Wild” (163) and live off whatever kind of lands he found himself in. Chris accomplished this in his 2 years among strangers, tramps, and eventually new friends.

(Shteyngart). This quote describes how at the end of the story the son ended up sticking to his native culture even though he had the opportunity abandon it, he came to that decision because he realized his culture is what made him who he was and that his family is the only thing he has. Shteyngart’s and Yezierska’s short story demonstrates there is not just one version of the American dream, the American

He wasn’t afraid of not coming back alive. So when he went into the wild in Alaska, Chris felt like he was for sure going to come back and publish the book that he has written throughout his journey to show others that taking risks like this is totally okay. Unfortunately for Chris it wasn’t okay. I believe that he did not intend to “kill himself” for going into the wild with basically nothing.

At the end of Chapter 3, Krakauer says, “Driving out west of Atlanta, [Chris McCandless] intended to invent an utterly new life for himself... He was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny” (Krakauer 23). These assertions are believable as McCandless cut off his past by creating a new identity for himself and ceasing communication with his family. McCandless introduced himself as Alex to all of the people he met on his odyssey and he rarely spoke about his past before hitchhiking. McCandless introduced himself as “Just Alex” (Krakauer 4) to Gallien and as Alex when he worked for Wayne Westerberg in Carthage, South Dakota.

Michael rushed out of the car to try to help the man which once he guided him out turned out to be only 14. Michael let him borrow one of his oxygen tanks from when he was scuba diving in San Francisco and told him to breath in it to help him. He then asked him if he was out of his mind why he was in the middle of the fire. He then said “To save this little guy.” And then pulled out a little rabbit he had in his jacket.

It contributing the mood in the book. Santiago was finally at the pyramids, and was digging the hole that he had chosen, but he found nothings. Later, some figures stole his gold and start to beat him because they thought Santiago had more than that. Santiago was finally in the Pyramids, but he found nothings. He already sacrificed staying with Fatima and he gave all his money away, he had nothing but felt near death.

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better”-Albert Einstein. Chris McCandless had to find out who he truly was as an individual by leaping out into the wild and isolating himself. The inspirations of Jack London, Henry David Thoreau and Leo Tolstoy guided Chris into the wild of the unknown to search for true bliss and meaning to his life. He believed that that in order to be one with oneself you must remove yourself out of society and push yourself physically and mentally to take in and comprehend the fullest understanding of life. Chris grew up never worrying about money, easily relating to Tolstoy in the sense of their family being well supported.

The American dream is something that we all strive for in one way or another. Whether it’s being equal to the people around you, or having freedom to be successful in whatever you want in life. But for the characters in Of Mice and Men it is the dream of owning land and being independent from everyone else. But the American Dream is not something that is given to you, it includes work ethic, knowing that the dream may be impossible and the sacrifice that may have to be made. These are all things that George and Lennie and other characters in the book have to do to eventually reach the American dream.