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Comparing Walden 'And Into The Wild' By Henry David Thoreau

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Comparing Walden 'And Into The Wild' By Henry David Thoreau
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Into the Wild vs Thoreau 's Walden
Bally
Elizabeth Bally
Mr. Cunic
English 11 Honors
13 Jan. 2013
Into the Wild vs. Walden Into the Wild is a movie based on the adventure of Chris McCandless as he breaks away from his civilized life and travels across the country to live in Alaska. Chris bases his journey off the core beliefs of the novel Walden by Henry David Thoreau. The novel is a description of Thoreau’s life as he exiles himself from society and returns to nature, living in the woods surrounding Walden pond. Thoreau expresses his beliefs about the negative aspects of civilization, money and the importance of self reliance and simplicity. Having a troubled life, Chris is intrigued by Thoreau 's concepts and seeks to incorporate them into his own life. The movie displays the path Chris takes as he tries to follow in the footsteps of Thoreau, but there are many differences in the life Chris leads and the one captured in Walden. Henry David Thoreau was able to see the corruption of society and its extreme hunger for money and material goods. Thoreau sought to live a life away from a materialistic world, leading him to escape to the woods around Walden pond. Thoreau believed that society contorted one’s …show more content…
Chris is able to genuinely value his own life by living in nature with the simple, bare necessities. Along with truth, Chris is able to appreciate the human interaction that he experiences. Chris’s journey leads him to meet many people, enabling him to understand the beauty of companionship. He not only relies on the strangers he meets for transportation and food, but he relies on them for camaraderie. Chris begins to appreciate the time spent with others, as he learns from them and makes friends. He values the relationships he has with people and is able to turn them into committed
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