Transcendentalism In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

A struggle against control has been fought over since the beginning of civilization, resulting in a coinciding fight against the government. One belief system that shows this fight against government is Transcendentalism, where its followers strive to be individuals by defying the laws and traditions set by the generations before them. They express their desire to be completely different, which then causes a question to arise: At what point do once-established laws become overthrown by individuality? These dangers may not be seen by the authors and citizens who follow these beliefs, but they can be seen through the dismay caused by their beliefs. The inherent dangers of this belief system become more evident to the common person in Transcendentalism literature, the Dead Poets Society by Peter Weir, and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. The ideas behind Transcendentalism have been shown to have had many negative effects on the mental health of the individual, the physical health of the individual, and the idea of government overthrow.
To begin, a

In Into the Wild, Krakauer states, “the fact that I survived my Alaska adventure and McCandless did not survive his was largely a matter of chance” (Krakauer 155). This only furthers the fact that Transcendentalist beliefs push individuals to commit actions that, without the intervention of luck, will result in death. In the last moments of his life, McCandless writes, “help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone, this is no joke. In the name of God, please remain to save me” (Krakauer 12). In the moments before his death, McCandless wished for life, but the possibility of survival was out of reach. McCandless shows that when someone puts themselves in a position to be completely isolated from society, they truly have no one to call out for help. In summary, Transcendentalism is a philosophy that harms the