Comparing Thoreau and Chris McCandless Max Schaeffer

Henry David Thoreau’s views in ​Walden ​regarding self sufficiency, his

minimalistic ideas about objects, and his value of truth above other things are

reflected by Chris McCandless’s actions as portrayed in Jon Krakauer’s ​Into the

Wild​. ​Walden ​is Thoreau’s account of his time on Walden Pond where he went

and built himself a cabin and lived for a few years. The book details Thoreau’s

time there as well as guidelines for how he thinks many people should live. ​Into

the Wild​ is Jon Krakauer’s account of the life of Chris McCandless a man from a

well-to-do suburban family who went off to Alaska by himself to live off the land

and explore his soul. McCandless read Thoreau throughout his journey and

many of his actions were inspired by Thoreau’s views. McCandless eventually

dies of starvation.

Henry David Thoreau’s view on living alone and being self sufficient was

portrayed when Chris ventures into the Alaskan wilderness alone and tries to

survive using only his skills and materials. Thoreau thought that people would be

happier if they followed the same path that he did and went into a secluded

natural area and lived by making their own shelter and getting all their own food.

In Walden Thoreau writes, “Who knows but if men constructed their dwellings

with their own hands and provided food for themselves and families simply and

honestly enough the poetic faculty would be universally developed,..” (42). This

quote implies that if people provide their own shelter and food all the time that

they would be smarter and more self-aware and literate. Part of Thoreau’s idea of
being self-sufficient is creating one’s own tools, as opposed to going and buying

them without the knowledge of what went into the creation of the tool. Thoreau

writes, ​ ​“Which would have advanced the most at the end of a month- the boy

who made his own jackknife from the ore which he had dug and smelted, reading

as much as would be necessary for this- or the boy who had had attended the

lectures on metallurgy at the Institute in the meanwhile, and had received a

Rodgers penknife from his father?” (48). This quote exemplifies Thoreau’s idea of

making your own tools buy suggesting someone who makes their own knife will

understand it and it’s power better than one who simply reads about it in books

and receives a store bought knife. In ​Into the Wild ​Krakauer writes about

McCandless’s journey into the Alaskan wilderness where he attempts to survive

solely off of nature. McCandless’ hunts and gathers the majority of his food and

is able to use an abandoned bus to accommodate his needs of a shelter. ​ ​“He

also became much more successful at hunting game and for the next six weeks

feasted regularly on squirrel, spruce grouse, duck, goose, and porcupine.”,

Krakauer writes regarding Chris’ hunting skills in the wilderness (164). When he

hunts his own food Chris’s actions reflect Thoreau’s ideas of self-sufficiency.

Krakauer also writes about a list of “chores” that was recovered in the bus after

Chris died,​ ​“In the last week of May, after moving his few possessions into the

bus, McCandless wrote a list of housekeeping chores on a parchmentlike strip of

birch bark: collect and store ice from the river for refrigerating meat, cover the

vehicle’s missing windows with plastic, lay in a supply of firewood…” (165). All
 the things on Chris’s list are tasks that show self sufficiency as he is creating his

own forms of refrigeration and modifying his shelter with natural supplies.

Thoreau thinks that everyone should try to be self-sufficient and rely only on

nature and throughout Chris’s journey his actions represent Thoreau’s view.

Thoreau’s minimalistic view on objects is portrayed when Chris ventures into the

wilderness with only a few objects that he thinks are absolutely essential and values

practicality of objects over their cost or style. Thoreau writes that having many excess

objects or pieces of furniture to show wealth or style is unnecessary and shameful.

Thoreau writes about people having so much extra furniture they put it in storage units,

“Thank God, I can sit and I can stand without the aid of a furniture warehouse. What man

but a philosopher would not be ashamed to see his furniture packed in a cart and going

up country exposed to the light of heaven and the eyes of men, a beggarly account of

empty Boxes?” (61). Thoreau explains how in his house he constructs on Walden Pond

he has only furniture he needs and thinks everyone else should do the same. He also

thinks that people should focus on more important things than little tchotchkes or as he

calls them “gewgaws”. “I wonder that the floor does not give way under the visitor while

he is admiring the gewgaw upon the mantlepiece, and let him through into the cellar to

some solid and honest though earthy foundation.”, Thoreau writes (34). Chris’s actions

portray this view throughout his life. He always talks about how people should give their

money away to charity rather than waste it on trivial things. When he is setting off into the

Alaskan tundra he leaves his “unnecessary” belongings with his driver Krakauer

describes the conversation, ““Alex insisted on giving Gallien his watch, his comb, and
what he said was all his money:85 cents in loose change. “I don’t want your money”,

Gallien protested, “and I already have a Watch.” “If you don’t take it, I’m going to throw it

away,” Alex cheerfully retorted.””(6-7). Chris (calling himself Alex at the time) wants to

bring only the things he truly needs with him on his voyage. Chris values practicality over

cost or fashionability he writes in a letter to his sister his frustrations with their parents

desire to buy him a new car, “​I’ve told them a million times that I have the best car in the

world, a car that has spanned the continent from Miami to Alaska… -and yet they ignore

what I say and think I’d actually accept a new car from them! I’m going to have to be real

careful not to accept any gifts from them in the future because they will think they have

bought my respect.”​(21).​ ​Thoreau’s minimalistic views are portrayed by Chris’s actions

throughout his short life.

Henry David Thoreau’s view on valuing truth above other things such as love is

portrayed by Chris McCandless’s journey to kill the false being within and find truth.

Thoreau’s mission as an author is to deliver people the truth about life. Walden is all

about things he knows to be true, and he places very high value on truth in life above

other things. At the conclusion of Walden Thoreau writes, “Rather than love, than money,

than fame, give me truth.”(311). A quote that rings true for McCandless. Thoreau also

thinks that people should stay true to what they want in life and allow their life to follow its

true course. In response to a farmer telling him he would like to live like him Thoreau

writes,​ ​“The youth may build or plant or sail, only let him not be hindered from doing that

which he tells me he would like to do. It is by a mathematical point only that we are wise,

as the sailor or the fugitive slave keeps the polestar in his eye; but that is sufficient
guidance for all our life. We may not arrive at our port within a calculable period, but we

would preserve the true course.”(67). The motivation behind McCandless’s journey is

truth. Since the truth about his father’s life was kept from him for so many years he begins

to truly seek it in himself. McCandless etches this into the abandoned bus he was staying

in, ​ ​“​And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The

climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual

revolution”(​ 163). McCandless wanted to find who he truly was in his soul above

everything else. Krakauer theorizes that truth was his motive for his journey writing,

“McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large

but, rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul.” (183). Thoreau’s view of valuing

truth above all else in life is portrayed by McCandless’s journey to find his own truth.

Thoreau’s views in ​Walden ​are commonly portrayed by McCandless’s actions in

Into the Wild. ​Thoreau’s views on self-sufficiency, minimalism, and the value of truth are

all shown in McCandless’s actions. This is likely because McCandless studied the works

of Thoreau among other philosophers throughout his journey. McCandless and Thoreau

were two similar men who had specific views on how they and others should live their

lives.
Works Cited