Characterization Chart

At the end of the novel, I believe that Chris McCandless was very courageous. He traveled around the United  States alone. He had noble ideas and his heart was in the right place. Chris was not an idiot or a wacko. He died because of a very simple mistake that anyone could make. In the end, Chris would not have wanted the media attention. He went into the wild to solve his own problems and answer his own questions. I do not think Chris was stupid or reckless, I think he was following his dreams.

	Direct	Indirect	Quote
Chapter 1	-          About 5 feet 7 or 8 inches -          Not wearing proper gear	-       -     Was congenial and seemed educated -        -    Did not seem worried	-“…nobody knew of his plans, that in fact he hadn’t spoken to his family in nearly two years.” (Pg.6)
Chapter 2	-          The body did not have any massive injuries or broken bones -          Weighed 67 pounds	-          -Authorities did not know exactly why he was there -          -Starvation was the most probable cause of death.	-                      The S.O.S. note-“…I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here.” (Pg. 12)
Chapter 3	-          Smallish with the hard, stringy physique of an itinerant laborer. -          Mother named Billie, Father named Walt. He had seven other siblings- favorite was Carine.	-        -     Worked and lived with Wayne Westerberg. -        -     Never quit in the middle of something.	-      “He was the hardest worker I’ve ever seen” (pg. 18)
Chapter 4	-          Kept a journal-snapshot album with Wayne Westerberg. -          A couple found Chris and offered him a ride. They said that he was really hungry, but very nice and happy. Stayed in touch with them.	-        -    Had a yellow Datsun. He loved it, but had to leave it because the battery was dead and he could not pull it out. -         -   His parents were worried when the received a ticket from the police saying that Chris had been hitchhiking.	-                      “McCandless was stirred by the austerity of this landscape, by its saline beauty. The desert sharpened the sweet ache of his longing, amplified it, gave shape to it in sere geology and slant of light.” (pg. 32)
Chapter 5	-          Chris hated wearing socks. -          Enjoys reading book by Jack London, his favorite -          Reported as being moody but decent -          Had a way with animals -          Can play the organ and sing	-          - Never hung out with any employees after work -         -   Tracy fell in love with him	-                      “He was smart. He’d figured out how to paddle a canoe down to Mexico, how to hop freight trains, how to score a bed at inner-city missions. He figured all of that out on his own, and I felt sure he’d figure out Alaska, too.” (pg. 46)
Chapter 6	-          Franz said that he was polite, friendly, well-groomed, and seemed intelligent -          Created his own leather belt. Chris inscribed some of his own personal things, like his initials, C.J.M, and ALEX -          He was put in prison for riding a train illegally.	-     -       McCandless and Franz spent a few weeks together -      -      Chris turned 24 on February 12, 7 days before Franz -       -     Franz asked to adopt Chris	-                      “you don’t need to worry about me. I have a college education. I’m not destitute. I’m living like this by choice. “ (pg. 51) -                      “Sometimes we’d drive for hours without saying a work,” he recalls. “Even when he was sleeping, I was happy just knowing he was there.” (pg. 55)
Chapter 7	-          McCandless was not “mechanically minded” -          Wayne thought Chris did not have common sense. -          Big eater and good cook -          He wanted to get married and have a family. -          Did not have many girlfriends. Took relationships very seriously.	-        -    Gail Borah, Wayne’s girlfriend, became friends with Chris -         -   Wayne did not ask or bother Chris about his family, but Gail did- -Chris told Gail “things he couldn’t tell others” -          - Had dinner with Wayne’s mother.	-                      “Alex wasn’t a total space cadet or anything….But there was gaps in his thinking.” (pg. 63) -                      “Once Alex made up his mind about something, there was no changing it.” (pg. 67)
Chapter 8	-          Chris McCandless was very similar to John Waterman, Gene Rosellini, and Carl McCunn	-         -   Many letters to Outside magazine said that Chris was a kook and completely unprepared.       - Many did not feel sympathy for him.	-                      A writer to Outside magazine said, “…I feel for his parents, I have no sympathy for him. Such willful ignorance…” (pg. 72)
Chapter 9	-          Everett Reuss is similar to Chris McCandless -          They both died in the wilderness, loved being outside and on the move -          Chris and Everett are similar to the monks that came earlier	-          -They both did not like people, but could not be loners for too long	-                      “Kind of different. But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.” (pg. 96)
Chapter 10	-          Found dead wearing a blue sweatshirt with a Santa Barbara logo -          Chris always had short hair and was clean shaven until he went to Alaska	-       -     His half- brother, Sam, was contacted when Chris was found dead. -        -    Wayne had Chris’s social security number and information -         -   Jim Gallien knew that the dead person was Alex	-                      “I was pretty sure it was Chris. The fact that he’d gone to Alaska, that he’d gone off by himself-it all added up.” (pg. 101)
Chapter 11	-          Was a very smart child (3rd grade went to program for gifted students-hated it) -          Like to be by himself, not antisocial, but be alone -          Fearless, high achiever -          Played French horn, guitar, and piano -          Protective of Carine -          Billie’s eyes -          Strong and well-coordinated -          Had little patience for finer points -          Resisted instruction -          Loved running -          Great salesman (hired by a building contractor)	-        -    Chris’s intensity came from father -        -    Chris an Loren (Billie’s father) were very similar and great friends -         -   Loved the dog, Buckley -          -Obsessed with racial oppression in South Africa -          -Bought meals for homeless people and prostitutes -          -Felt college was a waste of time and money -          -Thought wealth was awful	-                      “McCandless’s personality was puzzling in its complexity. He was intensely private but could be convivial and gregarious in the extreme. And despite his overdeveloped social conscience, he was no tight-lipped, perpetually grim do-gooder who frowned on fun.” (pg. 115)
Chapter 12	-          Made the dean’s list in college -          Wrote for the school newspaper -          Had a job delivering pizza -          Was generous and caring but had a cold dark side that consisted of self-absorption and impatience -          Had strong political views	-       -     Learned more about his family, especially his father’s background-grew to hate him -        -    His entire childhood seemed like fiction	-                      “More even that most teens, he tended to see things in black and white. He measured himself and those around him by an impossibly rigorous moral code.” (pg. 122)
Chapter 13	-          Chris and Carine looked like twins -          Was very close to her -          Both had problems with parents -          Chris was cremated and they put the wrong middle initial on the box	-         -   Carine cried over Chris’s death everyday -          - His mother did not eat and cried for months	-                      Chris said, “Anyway, I like to talk to you about this because you are the only person in the world who could possibly understand what I’m saying.” (pg. 129)
Chapter 14	-          Chris was 22 when he went to Alaska -          Chris and Krakauer both had problems with their fathers	-         -   Krakauer was self-absorbed, reckless, and moody-like Chris -          - Krakauer liked to read like Chris -          -Left everything like Chris	-                      “…how easy the act of leaving was, and how good it felt. The world was suddenly rich with possibility.” (pg. 136)
Chapter 15	-          Krakauer was not as smart or had ideals like Chris -          Had similar intensity, heedlessness, and agitation of the soul	-        -    Krakauer’s father and McCandless’s father were very similar -         -    Both thought climbing was a way to escape	-                      “…like Chris McCandless, I was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic.” (pg. 155)
Chapter 16	-          He was clean-shaven, had short hair, used good language -          Not a typical hitchhiker -          Got the book about edible plants from the university-kept a journal in the back of it -          Bought a gun -          For food, he had rice, two sandwiches, and a bag of corn chips -          Had about ten books -          After being in Alaska for a while, he looked healthy but gaunt, cheeks sunken and tendons standing out in his neck	-         -   Bonded with a man named Stuckley -          - Met Jim Gallien -          - Killed a moose and was proud at first, but then resented the fact that he killed it and was extremely upset	-                      “He was a dandy kid. Real courteous, and he didn’t cuss or use a lot of that there slang. You could tell he came from a nice family.” (pg. 159)
Chapter 17	-          Chris got rid of his map -          Lost so much weight that he had to make a belt out of blanket -          Lived entirely off the land -          The few mistakes he made cost him his life.	-       -     People believe Chris lacked a rifle, map, compass, and ax -        -    Developed an emotional bond with the land -	-                      “…McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but, rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul.” (pg. 183) -                      “…McCandless distrusted the value of things that came easily. He demanded much of himself-more, in the end, than he could deliver.” (pg. 184)
Chapter18	-          Ate moldy potato seeds that eventually caused his starvation -          Compared to Sir John Richardson-an explorer who led people to their death -          Chris never sent out any kind of S.O.S signals. -          Chris spent 112 days in the wild.	-         -   Huge controversy over what really killed Chris (the potato plant, the another poisonous pea plant, or the seeds) -          - Chris was actually close to cabins and the road-could have saved his life.	-                      “He is smiling in the picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God.” (pg. 199)
Epilogue	-          Chris had silverware from the house in Annandale. -          His clothes still smelled like him.	-          - Billie and Walt went to the bus Chris died in -          - It took them 15 minutes to cover the land it took Chris 4 days to walk.	-                      “He must have been very brave and very strong, at the end, not to do himself in.” (pg. 202)