You need look no further than the way that works by key
            transcendental thinkers such as Thoreau and Emerson are used in the book itself. For
            example, you will have noticed the way that each chapter begins with one or two quotes
            from varioius books. The quotation at the beginning of Chapter Six comes directly from
            Thoreau's Walden:
readability="7">
The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as
            intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little
            star-dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have
            clutched.
This quote of
            course captures the importance of the return to nature philosophy that McCandless tried
            to embody in his life. During the book, various others who tried to similarly return to
            nature are mentioned, especially in Chapter Eight, where the fascination of Alaska's
            untrammelled wilderness is explored at length. Throughout the novel, transcendentalism
            is refered to in the author's attempt to explore what drove Chris McCandless to act as
            he did.
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