Hunter Ansich
Literary Influences on Chris McCandless
"The heaviest item in McCandless’s half-full backpack was his library... titles by Thoreau and Tolstoy and Gogol..." (page 162). John Krakauer portrays Chris McCandless, a student turned explorer, as a dreamer more in tune with ideals of various authors than realism. Chris abandoned society behind to wander the United States, living with nature, and whatever characters he came by. As he explored, he seemed to be mimicking authors' mindsets and ignoring rules of society. Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau, and Jack London are three of the most influential authors of McCandless's journey into the wild.
Leo Tolstoy was a Russian author whose ideals were popular in the late 19th century and was the author of War and Peace which McCandless gifted to a person, a friend, he encountered on his travels. Tolstoy's beliefs were that people should …show more content…
This reflected Chris during his college years, but Thoreau continued to be a part of his life during his last years. Thoreau, born in the early 1800s, was an advocator of chastity, similar to Tolstoy. What he was most famous for, was his reclusive years spent meditating and keeping a journal at Walden pond where he built himself a cabin and lived. Walden Pond was an area on the property of Ralph Waldo Emerson, an author also mentioned in the book, and Waldo allowed Thoreau to build his home there. McCandless, too, spent time alone while he camped out in Alaska as well as Lake Mead. Thoreau's influence is evident also when McCandless refuses to carry an ID, pay a fine to the cops, and when he burns his money. One of McCandless's favorite essays which "he took as Gospel" was Civil Disobedience inspired by when Thoreau spent a night in jail after refusing to pay a small
Literary Influences on Chris McCandless
"The heaviest item in McCandless’s half-full backpack was his library... titles by Thoreau and Tolstoy and Gogol..." (page 162). John Krakauer portrays Chris McCandless, a student turned explorer, as a dreamer more in tune with ideals of various authors than realism. Chris abandoned society behind to wander the United States, living with nature, and whatever characters he came by. As he explored, he seemed to be mimicking authors' mindsets and ignoring rules of society. Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau, and Jack London are three of the most influential authors of McCandless's journey into the wild.
Leo Tolstoy was a Russian author whose ideals were popular in the late 19th century and was the author of War and Peace which McCandless gifted to a person, a friend, he encountered on his travels. Tolstoy's beliefs were that people should …show more content…
This reflected Chris during his college years, but Thoreau continued to be a part of his life during his last years. Thoreau, born in the early 1800s, was an advocator of chastity, similar to Tolstoy. What he was most famous for, was his reclusive years spent meditating and keeping a journal at Walden pond where he built himself a cabin and lived. Walden Pond was an area on the property of Ralph Waldo Emerson, an author also mentioned in the book, and Waldo allowed Thoreau to build his home there. McCandless, too, spent time alone while he camped out in Alaska as well as Lake Mead. Thoreau's influence is evident also when McCandless refuses to carry an ID, pay a fine to the cops, and when he burns his money. One of McCandless's favorite essays which "he took as Gospel" was Civil Disobedience inspired by when Thoreau spent a night in jail after refusing to pay a small