Chris Mccandless Transcendental Beliefs Essay

Through Chris McCandless’s life and the teachings and writings of Thoreau, readers come to understand the philosophy of Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is formed on the belief that human beings have self wisdom. It also deals with the betterment of self. Nature also plays a big part of this as well. The Transcendental beliefs that Chris McCandless follows under the teachings of Thoreau are self- wisdom, freewill, and individualism. One of the first transcendental beliefs that Chris McCandless follows is self-wisdom, Chris shows this by going out into the wild, proving to himself that he can actually survive there. For example, Chris says, “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a …show more content…
Eric Hathaway, one of Chris’ friends at Emory University, tells a story about Chris’s personality change his sophomore year. By saying … “I saw Chris at a party … when I said ‘Hey, good to see you Chris’ his reply was cynical: ‘yeah, sure, that’s what everybody says.”(Krakauer 120) This quote applies to individualism in that it gives us insight that Chris no longer had time for the things his friends did. Chris knows what wants to do and he stands out from the crowd, from society. Likewise a second example that pertains to individualism is when Billie goes back to tell about Chris’s teacher saying, “His teacher pulled us aside and told us that Chris marches to a different drummer.” This shows his individuality from others, his distinctiveness from others as well. Thoreau vocalizes individualism by saying, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.” (Walden) This delivers the theme of individualism. Going against what others presume to be the way of living life, also being