Transcendentalism is a nineteenth-century religious, philosophical, literary, and social movement. Essentially, this movement was based on the ideals of the “sixth sense”, nature and non-conformity, as well as individualism, intuition, idealism, imagination and inspiration. Some of the works and writings featured in the Transcendental Unit include Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, The Beatification of Chris McCandless: From Thieving Poacher into Saint by Craig Medred, and Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The main goal of this essay is to provide an opinion on a surprisingly questionable topic; Whether or not Christopher McCandless, the hero of Krakauer's Into the Wild, was a true transcendentalist. Despite Chris McCandless's bold actions in his daring Alaskan odyssey, he revealed himself to be far from a true transcendentalist, failing to meet the definition of transcendentalism, being interested solely in himself, and acting out of revenge rather than seeking discovery of himself - nothing more than a suicidal infantile rebel. For one thing, McCandless didn't show the slightest interest in religion. There is a problem with the claim that McCandless is a true transcendentalist due to the fact that religion was an important part of the transcendental movement. Transcendentalists believed that there was a unity between nature and God; May we discover God by immersing ourselves in nature. They also believed that God was present in every individual; That man as a whole forms God because in every human being there is a fragment of Him. Christopher McCandless did not share these beliefs. In reality McCandless was arrogant and presumptuous. He felt inferior to nothing and superior to everything. He did not believe Go... middle of paper... that Christopher McCandless was, in fact, a true transcendentalist because he failed to meet many of the requirements of transcendentalism. In the end, Christopher McCandless proved to be far from a true transcendentalist; nothing more than a suicidal childish rebel. Works Cited Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Nature. Np: np, 1836. Print."Into the Wild Quotes." IMDb. IMDb.com and Web. April 22, 2014..Krakauer, Jon. In the wild nature. New York: Random House, 1996. Print.Matthews, Dave. “Marching ants”. Under the Table and Dreaming. RCA Records, 1994. CD.Medred, Craig. “The Beatification of Chris McCandless: From Poacher Thief to Saint.” Alaska Dispatch. Np, September 20, 2013. Web. April 22, 2014. Neely, Tara. “American Transcendentalism.” Microsoft Powerpoint files. PDF file "Ralph Waldo Emerson says..."..