Henry David Thoreau And Mccandless Comparison

Though they lived centuries apart from one another, Christopher McCandless and Henry David Thoreau both uncovered the importance of living simplistically by retreating to the woods. When Thoreau first arrived at the house that he was to be staying at by Walden Pond, the first thing he noted was that the house was quite dilapidated. The walls were stained by the weather and had quite a few holes in them, causing the nights to be cold. The house also had no plastering nor a chimney, and the entire structure was only defensive against the rain. Despite these relatively unfavorable living conditions, however, Thoreau saw the experience as one to prove that people too lavish of lives to be genuinely happy. Thoreau writes in “Walden,” “An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in …show more content…
When McCandless first set out on his journey, he abandoned his car, burned his remaining money, and took only paraphernalia that he deemed “necessary” with him. The only food he carried was a ten-pound bag of rice and even his equipment was not sufficient enough for the weather he was experiencing. Nevertheless, McCandless traveled around both by foot and by the use of hitchhiking. One man, Jim Gallien, who happened to pick McCandless up one day, reminisces, “‘He [McCandless] wasn’t carrying anywhere near as much food and gear as you’d expect a guy to be carrying for that kind of trip,’ Gallien recalls” (Krakauer 1). Here, it is obvious to the reader that Gallien is quite shocked at the lack of equipment, which is clearly a minuscule amount, that McCandless has loaded. One would think that McCandless would have many items with him, granted that he was planning on spending a couple of months in the wilderness of Alaska, but he was taking only what he believed was essential. By doing this, the embodiment of simplicity is