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Individualism In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

689 Words3 Pages

Jake Melini
Walter
English 11 Advanced (4)
5 May 2023
How individualism and nature influenced Chris McCandless Into The Wild is a nonfiction book written by Jon Krakauer. This story follows a man named Chris Mccandless. Chris is obsessed with the outdoors and exploring but could never quench his thirst for it. Chris always lived by trying new lifestyles and not letting his fear control what he does. McCandless is fearless, but also dumb for some of the decisions he made. 150 years earlier a man named Henry David Thoreau lived exactly how Chris is living. Thoreau spoke about individuality, and nature which inspired Chris. Chris McCandless is most affected by the Transcendental ideas of Individualism and Nature; these ideas gave him an artificial …show more content…

Thoreau lived by his ideas, but the two that correlate to Chris the most are Individualism and Nature. Chris shows a lot of involvement in individualism during his life. Chris explained, “We like companionship, but we can't stand people for very long” (PG 96). Chris explained how he is a very individualistic person and enjoys living by himself, especially in nature. Chris describes himself all throughout the book, but nothing shows more than his individuality traits. Thoreau's book explains the individualistic lifestyle of people: “ if man does not keep peace with his companions, perhaps it's because he hears a different drum”. This deeply relates to Chris and his lifestyle. This quote explains Chris's actions and attitude in school and his family. A song quote that relates to him is “it's a song about my individuality” (0.45 Individualism). Chris shows these transcendental ideas throughout the book. It shows how attached he is to them and how his lifestyle changed because of …show more content…

Jack London is the reason why Chris is the way he is, ever since Chris read the book about Alaska he knew that is the journey he had to take. Chris is a very influenced based person who listens to the people he looks up to. That's the reason he became so obsessed with nature and the outdoors. Before Chris took his journey he said to himself, “ I now walk into the wild '' (PG 3). He is influenced by all these people he looks up to and he thrives to live a lifestyle based upon theirs. Thoreau stated, “ I went to the woods to live deliberately” ( .N.P. Thoreau). Chris is also very influenced by him because he wanted to live like him. A song choice that is relevant to Chris is “What a wonderful world” (1.13 Armstrong). This song quote explains Chris in a way because it's stating how they are alone and walking through the woods. Chris shows to be heavily influenced by writers. But, he chose the wrong path to go down, these influencers led him down a wrong path which killed

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