Jon Krakauer

American Romanticism (Transcendentalism)

Contemporary tie-in:

"In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the

wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter..."
from Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer

Read Krakauer's original article for Outside magazine, "Death of an Innocent: How Christopher McCandless Lost His Way in the Wilds" here.

How does McCandless demonstrate the ideas of the Transcendentalists at the end of the 20th century? What specifics from Emerson or Thoreau do you also see in Krakauer's work?