Is a person who leaves everything behind to find individualism in the wilderness a genius or just another crazy person? Christopher McCandless is the main character of the novel Into The Wild. He is an idealist, extremist and a brilliant person when it comes to academics. He read books by Henry David Thoreau, Tolstoy, Jack London and even Ralph Waldo Emerson. This is significant because every author has stories about transcendentalism or even how society wants people to conform. Thoreau, founder of transcendentalism, wrote the book entitled “Walden” which talks about Henry David Thoreau who built a cabin far from nature and lived there, far from society, in solitude. Emerson wrote “Self Reliance” which is about non-conforming to society of those who have hypocritical ideas over ideas of self-sufficiency. McCandless used the idea of ​​escaping society from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" and tried to blend it together with the ideas of loneliness and isolation to form his own beliefs. McCandless misinterpreted what Thoreau was saying. Thoreau states: "I had not lived there a week... It is true, I fear, that others might have fallen in, and so helped to keep it open." (Thoreau 3). Thoreau specifically states in this quote that he does not want others to follow him or even go and do what he did. He also built the cabin a few miles away from a town because he knew he would return one day. Thoreau was a sane person to do so because madmen distance themselves too much from society despite the consequences. He believed he had more to do with his life and wouldn't spend a minute more on that lifestyle. McCandless still went into the desert, away from society, against Thoreau's words. Chris was crazy to avoid s... halves of paper... never to return to it again and again during the last half of his journey to go work for people. Chris was not excused for shunning social norms in favor of individualism because he kept returning to society to interact with people so he could earn money for food. Chris misinterpreted Emerson's words and took actions that contradicted himself later in his journey. Christopher Johnson McCandless was not excused for shunning society and social norms in favor of individualism. McCandless misinterpreted “Walden,” was crazy to shun society, misunderstood “Self Reliance,” and committed actions that contradicted himself. McCandless was misguided, crazy and had no idea what he was trying to achieve because he mixed two simple things like loneliness and isolation. Works Cited Krakauer, Jon. In the wild nature. New York: Anchor, 1997. Print.