Romanticism In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

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Romanticism was a movement in literature and art during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that celebrated nature rather than civilization. There are many different characteristics of Romanticism that allow the reader to see the characters in a novel as a whole different kind of character. One novel that uses Romanticism is Into The Wild by John Krakauer; the novel uses Romanticism with the character Chris McCandless. The usage of Romanticism in this novel helps the reader learn who McCandless was and how he went through his life. John Krakauer's "Into The Wild" combines Chris McCandless's life with Romantic thinking and how McCandless uses Romantic thinking throughout the book.
Famous author John C. Maxwell once said, "A man must be big
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Chris' new life meant more to him than anything or anyone ever did because he was himself. Showing romantic thinking because it is something that shows independence and self-perseverance. The idealism and self-reliance that Chris McCandless shows are seen as qualities that are mysterious, frightening and courageous at the same time. Chris McCandless is known to be a romantic thinker because of the way he thinks about what he wanted to be and who he became. Another characteristic that shows that Chris McCandless is a romantic thinker is how he uses rebellion in his life. His spiritual and emotional desire, for lack of a better life, has led him to basically quit society. He donates his college fund to Oxfam, abandons his car, burns his money and ID cards, and turns into a completely independent man. Abruptly, McCandless leaves everything and everyone behind showing rebellion in his …show more content…
The reader learns how McCandless turned his life around and became someone that he wanted to be, an example of this is when Chris talks about how people are too afraid to change their lives. “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. 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 new and different sun (McCandless 55-56)". From "Into the Wild", Chris McCandless shows how he thought of individualism, which is important because it shows that he is a romantic thinker. Also, the reader can see that Chris McCandless thought highly of individualism and how it makes a person who they are. Chris McCandless explains how people being their own self is important because if you don’t have the courage to be who you are then you don’t have the chance to live the life you want to

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