Similarities Between Into The Wild And Chris Mccandless

Transcendentalists support a lifestyle of freedom and complete self-reliance while also glorifying nature and almost putting it in place of religion. By advocating simpler living in the wilderness transcendentalists believe that man could come to terms with his own existence and find a higher purpose. The autobiography titled Into the Wild written by John Krakauer tells the story of Chris Mccandless who walked into the Alaskan wilderness while also exploring the obsession which leads some people to explore the outer limits of self, leave civilization behind and seek enlightenment through solitude and contact with nature. Mccandless was heavily inspired by Henry David Thoreau and Leo Tolstoy, so much so that he adopted their personal philosophies and followed their examples as much as he was capable of.

Both Thoreau and Mccandless took steps to live apart from others to simply free themselves from the limitations of society. As a matter of fact, the most notable similarity these two men shared was their strong disagreement with the attitude of the governments they lived with. Currency and government rule was nothing but an obstacle in their pursuit for more independent lives. Unlike Thoreau, “Mccandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature…but, rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul”(Krakauer 183). He did not know what Thoreau already knew, as a result, Mccandless learned later that “an extended stay in the wilderness inevitably directs one’s attention outward as much as inward, and it is impossible to live off the land without developing both a subtle understanding of, and a strong emotional bond with, that land and all it holds”(Krakauer 183). Ultimately both Mccandless and Thoreau shared alike principals but, sought separate