Thoreau v.s. McCandless

When reading both stories I noticed the similarities and the differences between Chris McCandless and Thoreau. The similarity the was the strongest was that they both wanted to live free in the wilderness away from society. Both McCandless and Thoreau pay attention to the finer details in life, which most people would never notice and they both take pride on living off the land by themselves. Another similarity that they both have is they make relationships and interact with people that would have never met. The difference I noticed was that McCandless didn't want anything to do with society it seemed as if he just wanted his name erased. So he burned is money and social security card. On the other hand Thoreau took what society had to offer instead of totally resenting it. He was careful with his money and budgeted it properly. Even though later on McCandless changes his ways when he was preparing for his Alaskan adventure. He gets a job and starts to save and budget money like Thoreau, but earlier on in McCandless adventure he differed from Thoreau greatly.