Alaska is nearly twice the size of Texas, but only inhabited by less than 750,000 people, making it very hard for stranded and injured people to get help.Chris McCandless, a huge proponent of Henry David Thoreau, studied and believed he was living the transcendentalist life that Henry David Thoreau preached. McCandless drifted around the country subsiding by the transcendentalist ideals, making several stops along the way where he would generally make a profound impact with those life paths he crossed. Eventually he made his way to Alaska where he would live off of the land, and ultimately, perish. McCandless and Thoreau both left society to reject materialism. Both men lived by the idea of being simple. Thoreau said “Our life is frittered
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When Chris was young he was a part of the middle class and had everything he needed and then some. Despite, his material abundance he still found reasons to fight with his parents. Chris likely associated his unhappiness with material things. Later in life, he believed he needed to reject material wealth to be happy. Another thing that caused great emotional turmoil to Chris was finding out his father had double life. Walt McCandless had married Chris’s mother, Billie, while he was still married to his first wife Marcia. To make matters worse, Walt fathered a child with Marcia two years after Chris was born. Although Chris never mentioned that he knew this troubling matter to his parents, he still harbored the anger towards his father. Many of the people that met Chris picked up on his hostility towards his family because of his avoidance and reaction to the topic. To deal with his issues, Chris cut off communication with his parents and he rejected the material things that his parents gave to him freely. The more material things they offered him the more unhappy he became. Chris discovered that the transcendental movement fit in well with his rejection of materials thing that he associated with his unhappy family life. In order to remove himself from his unhappy family relations, he embraced the transcendental “back to nature lifestyle”. To achieve that objective, he traveled far away toAlaska where he could escape his family and it was consistent with the transcendental lifestyle. Unfortunately, by cutting off communication with others no one knew his dire predicament and he succumbed to his own
When Chris was young he was a part of the middle class and had everything he needed and then some. Despite, his material abundance he still found reasons to fight with his parents. Chris likely associated his unhappiness with material things. Later in life, he believed he needed to reject material wealth to be happy. Another thing that caused great emotional turmoil to Chris was finding out his father had double life. Walt McCandless had married Chris’s mother, Billie, while he was still married to his first wife Marcia. To make matters worse, Walt fathered a child with Marcia two years after Chris was born. Although Chris never mentioned that he knew this troubling matter to his parents, he still harbored the anger towards his father. Many of the people that met Chris picked up on his hostility towards his family because of his avoidance and reaction to the topic. To deal with his issues, Chris cut off communication with his parents and he rejected the material things that his parents gave to him freely. The more material things they offered him the more unhappy he became. Chris discovered that the transcendental movement fit in well with his rejection of materials thing that he associated with his unhappy family life. In order to remove himself from his unhappy family relations, he embraced the transcendental “back to nature lifestyle”. To achieve that objective, he traveled far away toAlaska where he could escape his family and it was consistent with the transcendental lifestyle. Unfortunately, by cutting off communication with others no one knew his dire predicament and he succumbed to his own