Finish the article on Everett Ruess and then answer the following question:
In what way are Everett Ruess and Chris McCandless both aesthetes?
Aesthete = a person who affects great love of art, nature, music, literature etc. and an indifference to practical matters. Post your answer by the end of the day of Tuesday and don't forget to respond to a classmates' response. Enjoy your weekend.
Everett and Chris were both aesthetes mostly because of their love of nature. Chris and Everett both loved being outside in the wild where they were completely surrounded by nature with no signs of human occupation for miles around. They both also had an immense intrest in literature. Everett loved Jules Vernes "Twenty Thousand Leuges Under the Sea" while Chris loved writing By London, Tolstoy, and Thoreau. Everett even named himself after one of Vernes characters, Nemo, which in latin means "no man," which seems to go hand in hand with Everett's love of the wild. Everett was a good painter while Chris was good at playing the piano and singing, they also were not very pratical in their ambitons of going into the wild.
ReplyDeleteChris and Everett were both aesthetes because they shared great affection for literature and nature. Chris was very found of Thoreau and Jack London. He read there books and took their ides to heart. He quotes and refers to their ideas while talking to individuals and has a drive to walk into the wild. He believes that people should abandon their since of security and go out and admire the wonders of the world (as stated in his letter to Ronald Franz 56-58). Ruess is very similar. He likes to read, particularly "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea" by Jules Verne. He eventually adopts the name NEMO from a character in this book which emphasizes his love for literature. Everett is also deeply in love with nature and the outdoors. He goes to live in the desert and Davis Gulch. He likes to hike and go on adventures in the outside world. He is reckless as is Chris for they have no concern of their safety, only the beauty of nature, and this eventually leads to their deaths.
ReplyDeletePhilip, I agree with your ideas on how Everett chose "no man" as his new name, and how that that may relate to his love of nature, good thinking!
Everett Ruess and Chris McCandless are both aesthetes. For one, they both love literature and let it influence the people they become. In Everett's case he pulls his new name "Nemo" from Captain Nemo in Jules Vern's 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Chris lets people such as Thoreau influence him into his whole nature thing. They both are writers themselves, documenting their time in the wild diligently and having many correspondences. They are also aesthetes because quite simply, they both love nature. They have both packed up and abandoned their former lives in favor of aimlessly wondering through nature. Unfortunately they were both a little impractical. They expected to be able to wander without money in this poetic state, and both met their ends because of it. Chris didn't equip himself properly. Everett, having already made so many friends, decided to simply wander into the desert, and was killed by hostile Indians.
ReplyDeletePhil, I agree that they both had talent in the arts, Chris in music and Everett in painting.
Christopher McCandless and Everett Ruess were very similar in a variety of circumstances. Both aesthetes, sharing their love of nature and the great adventures of the outdoors. Chris and Everett connected with literature and believed that surviving off the land and yourself is a pure and smart way to live one's life. Leaving everything and everyone behind, Chris and Everett set out into an unknown world, believing it had more to offer than what they had already been given. They were not convinced that material things and success in school, or work was what they should shrive to achieve. While on and off the road both men seemed to be captivated by literature. Admired authors such as Tolstoy, Vernes and London. Influenced by these novels, Ruess and McCandless both kept journals of their travels and experiences. It was their love of nature and freedom that led these men to death in the wild. They chose to risk their lives in order to make their dreams come true and I believe both died with a sense of pride.
ReplyDeletePhil, I agree with your statement "they also were not very practical in their ambitions of going into the wild". I think that this was intentional, in order to get the entire experience of the natural world without preparing for the dangers of what was to come.
Everett Ruess and Chris McCandless were both examples of aesthetes because of their shared love of nature. Both Ruess and McCandless would rather be out in the woods somewhere enjoying what nature offers than obsessing over material goods.They frequently surrounded themselves with nothing but nature and it is what made them the happiest.They ended up losing their lives while persuing this passion. Chris starved and Everett was murdered. Both of these incidents happened on one of their trips in the wild. This shows that they loved nature so much they were willing to risk their lives. They also showed a lot of interest in literature, especially the classics. McCandless used authors like Jack London, Tolstoy and Thoreau and Ruess chose his nickname out of Jules Verne's 10000 Leagues Under the Sea.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Charly and Phil that by being talented in the arts further supports that Ruess and McCandless were aesthetes.
Everett Russe and Chris McCandless are both good examples aesthetes in many ways. The most important way is their love for nature and going out into the unknown. They both were interested in exploring and going on adventures at young ages. Both took a major risk an adult by making a journey to a place were there was practically no one else and brought very little with them, and it seems like neither of them expected to die. They also enjoyed reading books. For McCandless, he enjoyed Thoreau, Tolstoy, and London. Russe was interested in Verne and came up with a name for himself based on one of Verne’s books. McCandless came up with a new name for himself too, although it was not based on a character. Both of them tried to adapt the author of the story’s ideas and make the character’s life their own. They were fascinated so much by what the characters did that they followed the character’s actions, which eventually lead to both of their deaths. Eileen I agree with you that they both loved adventures so much that they would risk anything.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Chris and Everett are both aesthetes is the main comparison between the two. Most importantly, Chris and Everett both have a fascination with the wild and nature in general. They both stay out in the wilderness for long periods of time, and go on long expeditions without telling anyone where they're going. They just seem to really love being away from it all. Everett even says in one of his letters to his brother Waldo, "and when the time comes to die, I'll find the wildest, loneliest, most desolate spot there is. He loves being alone and in the wild so much that he's willing to die there. This really shows how much of an aesthete Everett is, and maybe Chris too, if his death was even somewhat on purpose. Both Everett and Chris were very attached to literature, especially the kind that involved natural beauty, a since of independence, and the idea that it's better to live freely and naturally. Ruess' favorite author/novel was 20,000 leagues under the sea, by Jules Vernes. This book was so influential to him that he even made his pseudonym "nemo" after the main character in the book. Nemo, meaning 'no one' in latin, is also probably showing Ruess' love of being alone and soaking up the natural beauty of the wild, as well as gaining a sense of independence. They both constantly quoted their favorite authors, and wrote very romantic journals about what they saw and how they felt about how they were doing. Their romantic style of writing, as well as their love of painting/drawing and other arts, truly shows that these two men are both aesthetes that really love the wilderness and being in nature.
ReplyDeleteSumner, I agree that both McCandless and Ruess don't believe that excelling in school is important, or that material objects are good, but I would just like to add that these ideas were definitely influenced by the books they read and the authors they loved.
Everett Ruess and Chris McCandless both good examples of aesthetes. They mostly loved nature. They liked being outside in the wilderness with nobody else around. They would rather be surrounded by nature than by material goods. Another thing that made them aesthetes was their love in literature. McCandless loved reading London, Tolstoy, and Thoreau’s stories while Ruess liked Jules Vern’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”. Ruess even adopted the name Nemo. The name Nemo was not only from the his favorite book, it also is Latin for “no man”, which Ruess wanted to be while he was in the wild. He even had the pleasure of being nobody for some time because nobody knew where he had gone. McCandless was also a good musician, while Ruess was a good artist. Both of them adored the wild and nature so much that they spent their last days there.
ReplyDeleteSumner, I agree that they both were very unmaterialistic and did not think that school was necessary.
Everett Ruess and Chris McCandless were both aesthetes. They both abandoned conventional ways of living, and instead decided to live in the wilderness. They were passionate about nature and wanted to experience its beauty. Chris decided to have a grand Alaskan odyssey, and Everett wandered around the west, going to remote places. Both Ruess and McCandless were influenced by literature. When Chris went to Alaska, one of the few things he brought was books. Chris was particularly captivated by books written by Tolstoy, London and Thoreau. Everett took his pseudonym, Nemo, from the book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne. Both Everett and Chris were talented in art and music. Everett had a painting kit which he took with him on his journeys, and Chris was good at playing the piano. They both had a lack of common sense when it came to living in the wild. They lived in their own world, a place where nothing could go wrong. Eileen, I agree with you, they were happiest when they were surrounded by nature.
ReplyDeleteEverett and Alex were both aesthetes in the sense that they were romantics, believing in the beauty of life and ideals. Ruess inscribed "Nemo" where he had passed, symbolizing his love of solitude, and his wish to leave a mark for the future. McCandless believed in the nobility of his quest, and his language shows it. He wrote "I now walk into the wild" several times, and scrawled a description of himself as the "wanderer whose home is the road" in the Magic Bus (he actually described himself as an aesthete in this message). This is clearly his romanticized ideal of himself, emphasizing the beauty of his quest. Ruess, for his part,talked about how "I shall always be a lone wanderer of the wilderness",and he said that he would find the loneliest place to die. He was entranced by the beauty of his ideals and his adventure, just as Alex was. This marks them both quite clearly as aesthetes.
ReplyDeleteMax, I agree with what you said about their love of nature leading to their deaths. These men were too blinded with romantic ideals to see where they were headed in life.
-James
Why Everett Ruess and Chris McCandless is not just because they are aesthetes, it's because they are that way to a fault. They both caused their own demise as they walked into the wild. Chris didn't have enough knowledge of the geography of Alaska, or the plant life, or the overall climate. Everett didn't know it was a certain tribes land, knowledge that could easily be obtained by reading or the internet. They simply ignored common fact, or knowledge of others.
ReplyDeleteJames,
I totally agree with what your saying. How they have a romantic theme to their interests and value fictional/magical things.
~~Alexandra
Aesthetes have a certain stubborn attitude about life. As Krakauer clearly expresses, Chris McCandless has this attitude (leaving his family for nothing), and so does Everett Ruess. These men also both have ideas that they think will change their lives. They love nature and they don't really fully process the idea of going by themselves into the wild with nothing to help them and nobody supporting them. They both came from very rich families, and seemed to have no reason to go into the wild and leave everything behind. If these men weren't aesthetes, they would've realized that they had everything to lose by going to the wild, and had everything to gain by staying and going to school. These people both had a good relationships with their siblings, and their lives were both looking up for them. So, for a normal, non-aesthetic person, the choice would be clear — to stay. Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess both took the path less traveled, and they were killed by the little things and obvious decisions.
ReplyDeleteJames, I agree with the fact that they were both romantics. They had completely unsupported ideas, and they had to have been something like romantics to even come close to overlooking the fact that they had their whole lives ahead of them.
Chris and Everett were both aesthetes who share a common love most importantly, of nature. Both Chris and Everett were content to live by themselves in the wild and immerse themselves in the nomadic existence that the early humans did. They lived in obscure and far out locations in the USA, such as in Alaska and the "Wild" West. While both of these men were doing this they ignored practical matter, which is a trait of aesthetes. Chris ignored the fact of how exactly he was going to live in Alaska, and because of this lack of common sense he perished. They same can be said of Everett who did not think things through in the West, like possible dangers, which eventually got him killed by the Utes. Both Chris and Everett professed a love of literature. Chris was very influenced by books from Tolstoy and London, while Everett was a big reader who chose his new name to be Nemo in honor of 20000 Leagues Under the Sea. These men, who ultimately died because of their love of the wild, are both aesthetes.
ReplyDeleteJames, I agree with you that these men also romanticized life and its ideals. This can be seen in their actions and by how they are so in love with life that they want to experience it to the fullest. It is unfortunate that they perished in the end.
Miles
Everett and Chris are both aesthetes because of there love of nature. they both seem to like to be around people some times but they like the out doors more. They both think that they will change their lives some how. they both just want to live like earlyer people did.
ReplyDeleteI agree with miles that they both just want to live like earlyer people did and that they think it will change their life.
McCandless and Ruess both aesthetes because of their shared unconditional love (or some might call it an obsession) with nature. They also share other common personality traits, like their fascination with literature. McCandless and Ruess deeply abided by the words of their favorite authors such as London and Tolstoy for McCandless, and Verne for Ruess. In a sense these two people want to be like the main characters, or "live through them" in a sense. It's like the whole notion of going out into the wild is like living the dreams and fantasies of the books they read. Both are well educated and enjoy music and the arts, but most of all have a passion for nature and literature. McCandless and Ruess were so caught up in the ideal and seemingly innocent idea of living in the wild, that both of them fail to realize obvious consequences of their actions, and had little to no knowledge about their surroundings and were poorly equipped. This fact alone defines them as true aesthetes. Their bad choices eventually led to each of their tragic endings.
ReplyDeleteEthan: I agree that they were both incredibly stubborn and had a fantasy of a life changing experience that ultimately ended up killing them.
Both Chris McCandless and Everette Ruess are examples of aesthetes because of a couple of things. First, they both loved literature and enjoyed reading classic books and both were influenced by books they read. Chris McCandless was effected by Thoreau who wrote about getting away from society and materialism, which Chris tries attempts to accomplish. Everette was effected by a book he read call 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and he named himself Nemo after a character from the book. Like Chris, Everette also loved the nature and outdoors and he also fled from society. They were both similar in that they failed at attempting to survive in the most horrible situations. Also, the had a big similarity in that they were both writers them selves. They both wrote in letters back to home and people they knew and McCandless also kept a journal.
ReplyDeleteSumner I agree that both Everette and McCandless did not believe in excelling in school was important. Eileen I also I agree with you that both like adventures so much that they were going to risk their lives.
One way in which both McCandless and Ruess are aesthetes, is in their love for literature. They both read extensively, McCandless being particularly interested in Jack London, David Thoreau, and Leo Tolstoy, and Ruess having his obsession with Julia Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Their indulgence in literature and the various philosophies of the authors probably helped shape their own ideas. In addition, they both wrote poetically themselves. We see McCandless' work in his letters and inscriptions near the bus on Stampede Trail, and Ruess' work in his letters and journal. Another reason they are both aesthetes is most simply because of their journeys into the wild. Both of them went into the wild with an ultimate goal of surrounding themselves completely in nature so that they could fully appreciate its beauty. They left their families and civilization behind (although Ruess did communicate somewhat with his family) in order to make nature their closest friend. This is the true work of an aesthete. Finally, they were both indifferent to the risks, or unable to notice the risks, of their actions. Ruess dangerously climbed rock cliffs in order to pursue his love of beauty, and McCandless often ignored his natural needs for hunger and safety in order to make his journey as true as possible.
ReplyDeleteSumner- I really like your idea that part of their indifference to practicality was how they looked down upon things that most people consider necessary like going to school, getting a job etc. I also agree that although sad, they both died with pride.
Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess are both examples of aesthetes. They were both in love with literature and it affected the way they lived their live. Chris read about Thoreau and he was inspired by his work. Ruess read 10,000 leagues under the sea. As Dan said earlier. They were also in love with the out doors and wilderness which is obvious from the decisions they made. Both McCandless and Ruess caused their own deaths though. If they had taken the time to know a bit more about the land they were wondering through. Chris did not know about the terrain or wild of Alaska which turned out to be his downfall. Ruess had the same problem.
ReplyDeleteDan- I agree with all that you said.
Chris McCandless and Ruess have many things in common like there strong love of nature. In the book and the article, we see many ideas on how Chris and Ruess are in common. Chris and Ruess both have a strong passion for literature. They read many books about people that have gone out into the wild. Mcandless's favorite authors are London and Tolstoy. Ruess's favorite authors are Verne. This shows were they get there fantasy and dreams from. Another common interest they have in common is how Chris and Ruess are both well educated and they really studied the arts and music. Although they have so much in common what makes them truly an aesthetes is the fact that they left into the wild knowing that they are leaving their parents there friends there civilization all behind to spend there life in the wild and make nature there best friend.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Camille on how they have left all there belongings and left them to start a new adventure.
The biggest similarity between Everette Ruess and Chris McCandless is that they both love nature. They both love to go deep into the wild and have nobody near them and no signs of modern technology. However, the both seemed to lack some common sense which is a trait of aesthetes. They immersed themselves in solitude and nature. They also both liked literature. Chris liked Jack London and David Thoreau and Ruess liked Julia Verne. I think that these authors influenced many of their ideas about the wild. They were also writers themselves. They wrote journals and letters home to their families. All these things make Ruess and Chris aesthetes.
ReplyDeleteMax, I agree with you that their love of nature lead to their deaths. Being alone in the woods there is a good chance something bad could happen.
Both McCandless and Ruess have many things in common, especially their love for literature, and the inspirations they received from many great works. They both had the same concept of fulfillment from being in the wild. Like many aesthetes some minor source of ignorance for logic, eventually lead them to their deaths. Unlike Watermann and McCunne, I believe McCandless and Ruess sensed the dangers of their adventures, and faced them with courage. They were both very intellectual, and saw the world in a different way; and yet they missed some critical points of human nature. Regarding to McCandless, he saw the highest spiritual concepts of going into the wild, but misunderstood what it really means to live in a cold wilderness. Ruess was better prepared for the wild, because he had 4 years experience, I believe that Utes killing him was an unfortunate coincidence.
ReplyDeleteCamille, I agree on all of your conceptions. Good work.
I completely agree with Sumner and Camille, both of these two men pushed away the many things people consider essential in this world such as they mentioned, education, food, family and society. They were aesthetes primarily because of where they saw beauty. They saw it when completely surrounded by nature and it's comfort. They ventured into the wild to find that beauty and art which they lacked to see anywhere else. Both Chris and Ruess enjoyed good literature which glorified the same places where they saw art. They expressed their feelings and thoughts through art forms such as poetry and letters. They saw the importance of words and wild and embraced those. However, both lacked to see ways to find that in their own societies without creating such life changes which affected many, likely the reason for the large discussion about whether Chris was right to leave his life in the way he did.
ReplyDeleteEverett Ruess and Chris McCandless are both aesthetes because of their passion for nature and literature. They both prefer to be out in the wild than anywhere else. They agree that they would rather live simple lives than being obsessed with the man made materials. Chris especially loves Thoreau by Jack London. Ruess changed his name to "Nemo" from Captain Nemo in Jules Vern's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. McCandless changed his name to Alexander Supertramp because of his love for the wilderness. They both also love to write a variety of correspondences. Ruess and McCandless both liked that they were by themselves and didn’t want anyone to know where they are; with Chris he put all of his parent’s letters in a bundle and let the post office send it back to them so e could get a head start. With Everett his changed name meant “no man” in latin.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sumner that Chris and Everett really connected with the books they read, and that they didn’t care about the material goods weren’t important.
Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess are very similar because of their love for nature and being in the wild. They both like to be alone and have time to theirselves. They like to be out in the wild more then anything. They also wanted to start new lives by changing their names which is a big risk to take. Both of these men aren't normal in the sense that they don't like normal things that most people do. They were in love with the outdoors. Another reason that they are both aesthetes is their love for literature. They both enhanced literature like Iv'e ever seen before.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Matt how they both love to go deep into the wild and don't care about anything else.
Everett Ruess and Chris McCandless are in the most part similar because of the fact that they are both aesthetes. They are two very special but peculiar people. They didn't think and act the way most people do today. Rather than living up to everyone else's expectations, they would be out enjoying themselves in the wild and doing what they wanted. They are similar also because of where they get their inspiration from; what they read. The authors ideas and beliefs shaped the way that they viewed the world and led to their journeys into the wild. Also, they both loved music and the arts. They felt that they could express themselves easily when the arts were invloved. However, some would say that they were careless with their actions. Because they were so into the idea of nature and living outdoors, they didn't see the consequences that lay ahead. They were both stubborn and especially for Chris, there was no telling him to change his mind because he was set for seeing and experiencing things that most people never got the chance to see. Of course, they were both similar because they were aesthetes, but also, one similarity is that their journeys proved fatal.
ReplyDeleteSumner- I also agree with your point that even though they were very excelled in school, education wasn't important to them at all.
Both Chris and Ruess loved nature and the beauty it caries. They had an understanding and appreciation for what most people pass by and miss. They also had a love for art, not just the beauty they saw everywhere but the beauty that could be created by man. They each had their way of creating beauty, Chris with his music and Ruess with his paintings, engravings and woodburnings. They could find a way to see beauty and create it, sometimes recreating the beauty they saw.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Charly, what they read directly influenced how they led their own lives. Sumner I also agree with you about the way they died, it was for the experience and dieing was a part of it which they took without too much worry, knowing they had lived their lives the best way they thought they could.
The parallels between McCandless and Ruess are uncanny, and cruelly ironic at times. They both seem to be extremists, in that Chris is so disgusted in materialism that instead of cutting down and educating others of their greed, he rejects it wholly, and beats himself up when he utilises what we think to ourselves as basic necessities. Everett's radicalism comes from he inability to see beauty in anything but nature, and dangerous nature at that; dry, desolate desert wastelands, unfriendly territory, treacherous mountains and peaks. Both men also seem to bit a bit masochistic as well, enjoying and bragging to others of dangerous or painful experiences, not because they expect sympathy or respect, but because they are so happy themselves in experiencing it, and can't help but to shout it out to the world. That doesn't go to say that the two were humble or had low self esteem. They both had been exposed to camping and hiking as the like as young boys, and displayed a proficiency in these outdoorsy pursuits. This lead to a false sense of invincibility and/or overconfidence. Just because the two had not tasted a strong sense of personal failure (at least in respect to taking care of themselves) does not mean that tragedy will never touch their lives, but Chris and Everett were woefully ignorant to this inevitable truth. In fact, it was the two boys' false faiths (one in himself, one in others) that lead them to their untimely demises. All this equals a potentially fatal attraction and obsession with all that they define as beauty, both the bait and the bane for these two adventuring artists.
ReplyDeleteI recognize Chris and Everett's love of literature as Valentina has in her comment. I also believe that these novels unfortunately added a harmful dash of intrigue and romance to these dangerous adventures that eventually killed both men, but at the same time, if Everett hadn't found Verne and Alex his London and Tolstoy, they would have spent the majority of their lives denying the wants and needs of their very souls, as this would have lead to many, many more problems and regrets later in life.
Chris and Everett are extremely similar seeing that they both lived their lives relatively the same way, away from civilization. They both had love for nature and being alone in the wild. Most people couldn't imagine people living their lives like this but both Chris and Everett chose to live out their lives like this, until the died. Some might say it is a extreme or a little crazy for that matter but theses two think that a normal life is crazy and that you need to live life to the fullest.
ReplyDeleteI feel that Ruess are very much alike. They both found that they were not happy with modern day life and felt that they needed to escape and get away to themselves. They, in my mind, were both aesthetes because they both had an extreme appreciation for what nature was. Neither person needed anything more than what they could carry on their backs to be happy. They had all they needed. I agree with Hayden, and like how they point out that they are slightly ignorant and dont know exactly what they are doing or getting into.
ReplyDelete~Austin
I believe that both McCandless and Ruess are aesthetes due to their appreciation for multiple art forms. Much like McCandless' demonstration of fine motor skills through piano playing, Ruess was a very graceful painter. Ruess took on the name "Nemo" as a trail name that contains significance; Chris, of course, took "Alexander Supertramp" as his. In terms of literature, McCandless heavily appreciated Jack London's works while Ruess was a fan of Jules Verne. Both were very independent and non-societal, and wished to spend time with themselves rather than other people. Neither McCandless nor Ruess are anomalies in this world.
ReplyDeleteAustin, I agree. They were very minimalistic in their mindsets.
McCandless and ruess are both aesthetes. They both have a love for literature and nature. Two beautiful things which influence their lives and eventually lead to their deaths. Although they may have been appreciative of nature, they certainly underestimated it at times. They went into the wild to find themselves and paid the price for it.
ReplyDeleteBergren, i agree that chris and ruess both created art, but it wasnt really their main passion
Chris McCandless is an aesthete because he is in love with nature. He went into the wilds with the goal of living before he died. And he did die, however he was, at that point, the most connected with the wilds than he ever was, or at least in my opinion. Ruess went to the deserts near Arizona. He is an aesthete because he was living alongside the deserts, getting food where he could, and not relying on technology to save him.
ReplyDelete