Into The Wild Transcendentalism Essay

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Jon Krakauer’s book Into The Wild was about a young man named Chris/Alex McCandless leaving home to set out on a journey. He valued life and nature especially. Chris didn’t care about money, education, or materialistic things. He gave away $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Just after four short but long months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter in a “magic bus.”

Although many people didn’t go out and did what Chris did, there are a handful of people that had the same idea as Chris and did somewhat the same thing he did. One of the rebels, outcasts, or adventurers, is Henry David Thoreau. Henry D. Thoreau was an American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher. He was the author of the book Walden and a New England transcendentalist. …show more content…
Both of these men have a strong hatred for materialism. Like the yellow Datsun in the story, McCandless leaves it also with the money. They both went to college and graduated. One huge comparison is that they disliked the idea of money and how it changes people. Another, they both loved and appreciated nature. They thought they could respect nature and be a part of it. Also, society was such solitude. Although there were many comparisons, there are also many differences.

In Into The Wild McCandless eventually died of starvation on the “magic bus.” With that being said, Thoreau died on a trip from tuberculosis. McCandless wasn’t very bright but kept what his mom told him along his thoughts. He only brought what could fit in his bag on his back. Unlike Thoreau who brought all the necessities he needed for his journey. Thoreau also had people knew where he was. He wasn’t very secretive on his journeys like McCandless was. McCandless even had a detective stumped on where he
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