Chris Mccandless Into The Wild: Transcendentalism

"Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail" (Emerson). Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that occured in the early nineteenth century. In the movie "Into The Wild", Chris McCandless followed the ideas of many trascendentalist. Transcendentalist beliefs were centered around nature, god, disconnecting from society, and living the life style as a mimimalist. Were they trying to make connections between the main character and transcendentalist? Maybe not, but throughout watching the movie many will notice the references that seem to be pointed towards transcendentalism. Without understanding the true beliefs transcendentalism, you most likely will not be able to point out the references …show more content…
Emerson had the idea of the oversoul in which God, Nature, and Man are all connected in someway possible . Chris McCandless relies on nature to keep him alive and healthy through his journey. He has to hunt for his food, find his own water sources, start his own fires, and also have a place to rest. Without the presence of nature, he would not of been able to survive for that long of a time. In one scence, he starts crying while watching the animals run free. This scene showed the connection he had between nature and himself. The movie often showed the beauty of nature in clips, and at those times you begin to realize why he loves the nature so much. Chris respects nature and its connection with God. There is plenty of times throughout the movie where it shows him mentioning God, or talking to God. He had mentioned that God is the one who has placed all these posibilites around us. McCandless shows an astonishing reference to his love for God on one of the last days he was alive. He wrote a good-bye to the world which stated " I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!"(McCandless). This showed that even after the journey he encountered, and ended up losing his life doing, he still praised God for allowing him to experience the journey. It shows how grateful he is to have let God into his life. God and Nature were one of the biggest factors of …show more content…
His family wanted him to act like they did, and live up to societies standards. On the other hand, Mcandless wanted to completely disconnect from society. As he started his journey he began to meet many people that were on their own journeys. As you begin to notice, he avoids having any connections or relationships with most of the people. For example, he ended up getting up and leaving in the middle of the night from the first couple that he met. Another example is towards the end of the movie Chris avoided Franz question when Franz asked if he could adopt him. Avoiding compassion with others began to occur whenever he would meet someone that you would think meant something to him by how they showed it. This started to show he was relating to the transcendentalist idea of minimizing human contact. Chris rejected society as a