The Good and the Wild in Nature:  H. D. Thoreau’s Walden (1854) and J. Krakauer’s Into The Wild (1997)

Tahir, Assala Yousra; Senouci Merebebche, Faiza

دراسات معاصرة
Volume 8, Numéro 1, Pages 485-496
2024-06-02

The Good And The Wild In Nature: H. D. Thoreau’s Walden (1854) And J. Krakauer’s Into The Wild (1997)

Authors : Tahir Assala Yousra . Senouci Merebebche Faiza .

Abstract

American Transcendentalism was a philosophical and religious movement in the 19th century that advocated for simple living and interconnection with nature. As a response to the sudden shift to a fast-paced lifestyle, Americans began to view nature as a refuge where they could achieve a greater sense of freedom. Hence, this paper examines Henry David Thoreau’s Walden and Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild and how both of them utilized nature, more specifically the wilderness, as a means to achieve “ultimate freedom”. The two protagonists in these works share a similar conceptualization of nature and how it evokes spiritual awakening and a rejection to social norms yet experience it differently. Therefore, this article follows a comparative perspective of the human experiences and interpretations of wilderness and nature in two case studies while shedding light on two main aspects: the Good and the Wild from the lens of Thoreau’s solitary experience at Walden Pond and the ideals of human-nature relationship found in Krakauer’s nonfiction biography in recounting the captivating story of Chris McCandless. The findings reveal how McCandless’ idealistic romanticization views on nature resulted in a tragic denouement, his own death. Thus, the most practical approach with remote wildness is to accept both the Good and the Wild without any biases or idealization.