Christopher McCandless: a Modern Day Transcendentalist
Albert Einstein, a world known theoretical physicist once said, “The human spirit must prevail over technology.” Due to the demand of the ever increasing electronic world, individuals sometimes want to get away from the over-stimulated technology infused lifestyle we live in. Going back to the transcendentalist era of the early 1800s, Transcendentalism is a very formal word that describes a very simple idea. People have equal knowledge about themselves (ushistory.org). Following these Transcendentalist ideas is a young adventurer named Christopher McCandless-the main character in Jon Krakauer 's book, Into the Wild. Based on a true story of Christopher McCandless, a high achieving University …show more content…
McCandless felt awful by the society, and even by his own family. Krakauer describes McCandless’s new life upon being free in Alaska as “unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, the world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence” (Krakauer 22). After discovering his father’s unexpected relationship with his first wife, McCandless leaves his upper-class family after his devastation and as lack of trust builds up. He disagrees with his parents’ authority, as well as their love for luxury. He escaped his family, leaving no trace of himself behind. A former friend, Eric Hathaway, claims, “Chris just didn’t like being told what to do. I think he would have been unhappy with any parents; he had trouble with the whole idea of parents” (Krakauer 115). Within isolation, McCandless felt comfort. He was free from a society full of rules and was drawn to a greater existence. He followed his own dreams and choices, despite others putting him down and telling him not …show more content…
This “American Dream” of working hard to earn money because money is the key to happiness, or that the man that owns much as lived a fulfilling life. Dave Korn, a man that was heavily influenced by Chris decided that after college that he too would venture the Stampede Trail and see the Fairbanks Bus where Chris resided. Dave says that those that truly understand Chris’s ambition and are inspired are people that this stir inside of them that tells them that they need to be “grasping life, embracing our spirit of adventure, freedom, living in the most full, deep way we are humanly capable of-the things which we consider McCandless to embody” (Korn pt4). From his essay, I can see how he has taken Chris’s message to heart, and lives the words rather than just preach it. There are many that condemn him to his death, stating how stupid he was. This includes Gordon Samel and Ken Thompson who discovered Chris’s body. Samel says that Chris would “have to be pretty stupid” (Krakauer 177) to not know some basic things such as the difference between caribou and a moose. That’s how they knew that “he wasn’t no Alaskan”, and “it was obvious that the animal was caribou” (Krakauer 177). However it turns out the joke 's on them, upon a close examination of the animal, it was really a moose. Many also say that he was just one of many that were seeking adventure without
Albert Einstein, a world known theoretical physicist once said, “The human spirit must prevail over technology.” Due to the demand of the ever increasing electronic world, individuals sometimes want to get away from the over-stimulated technology infused lifestyle we live in. Going back to the transcendentalist era of the early 1800s, Transcendentalism is a very formal word that describes a very simple idea. People have equal knowledge about themselves (ushistory.org). Following these Transcendentalist ideas is a young adventurer named Christopher McCandless-the main character in Jon Krakauer 's book, Into the Wild. Based on a true story of Christopher McCandless, a high achieving University …show more content…
McCandless felt awful by the society, and even by his own family. Krakauer describes McCandless’s new life upon being free in Alaska as “unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, the world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence” (Krakauer 22). After discovering his father’s unexpected relationship with his first wife, McCandless leaves his upper-class family after his devastation and as lack of trust builds up. He disagrees with his parents’ authority, as well as their love for luxury. He escaped his family, leaving no trace of himself behind. A former friend, Eric Hathaway, claims, “Chris just didn’t like being told what to do. I think he would have been unhappy with any parents; he had trouble with the whole idea of parents” (Krakauer 115). Within isolation, McCandless felt comfort. He was free from a society full of rules and was drawn to a greater existence. He followed his own dreams and choices, despite others putting him down and telling him not …show more content…
This “American Dream” of working hard to earn money because money is the key to happiness, or that the man that owns much as lived a fulfilling life. Dave Korn, a man that was heavily influenced by Chris decided that after college that he too would venture the Stampede Trail and see the Fairbanks Bus where Chris resided. Dave says that those that truly understand Chris’s ambition and are inspired are people that this stir inside of them that tells them that they need to be “grasping life, embracing our spirit of adventure, freedom, living in the most full, deep way we are humanly capable of-the things which we consider McCandless to embody” (Korn pt4). From his essay, I can see how he has taken Chris’s message to heart, and lives the words rather than just preach it. There are many that condemn him to his death, stating how stupid he was. This includes Gordon Samel and Ken Thompson who discovered Chris’s body. Samel says that Chris would “have to be pretty stupid” (Krakauer 177) to not know some basic things such as the difference between caribou and a moose. That’s how they knew that “he wasn’t no Alaskan”, and “it was obvious that the animal was caribou” (Krakauer 177). However it turns out the joke 's on them, upon a close examination of the animal, it was really a moose. Many also say that he was just one of many that were seeking adventure without