Characterization Notes on Chris McCandless

Characterization Notes on Christopher McCandless

(a.k.a. Alex Supertramp)

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Assignment Directions:  As you read Into the Wild, take notes on direct and indirect characterization traits about Christopher McCandless.  For each chapter, pick out 2-3 descriptions about Chris that really stand out to you.  This could be direct descriptions about what Christopher looks like to indirect descriptions about how Chris acts, what he says, how others view him, how he treats others, and anything about Chris that helps you form an opinion about him by the end of the novel.  Keep in mind that by the end of the book, you will write an essay that gives your opinion on either side of the following argument presented in the “Author’s Note”:

            “Some readers admired the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals; others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity – and was undeserving of the considerable media attention he received.”

Fill out the chart as you read and post on your blog when the chart is completed. Mrs. Z. will check your chart on your laptop periodically to see that you are adding notes and keeping up with the character chart as we read.

Direct and Indirect Characterization Notes on Christopher McCandless

(Alex Supertramp)

Chapter and page #	Description/quote from novel	What impression you get about Chris with this character trait or description?
Chapter 1
Chapter 1, page 4	“Five feet seven or eight with a wiry build, he claimed to be 24 years old and said he was from South Dakota.  He explained that he wanted a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he intended to walk deep into the bush and ‘live off the land for a few month.’”	Chris is not physically fit for walking into such a dangerous environment.  He seems a little crazy.
Chapter 1, page 4	““He wasn’t carrying anywhere near as much food and gear as you’d expect a guy to be carrying for that kind of trip,” Gallien recalls.”	Chris would not be in the woods long or he had been there already a long time and was running out of supplies, but was stubborn enough to proceed with the journey.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2, page 12	“S.O.S. I NEED YOUR HELP. I AM INJURED, NEAR DEATH, AND TOO WEAK TO HIKE OUT OF HERE I AM ALL ALONE, THIS IS NO JOKE. IN THE NAME OF GOD, PLEASE REMAIN TO SAVE ME. I AM OUT COLLECTING BERRIES CLOSE BY AND SHALL RETURN THIS EVENING. THANK YOU, CHRIS MCCANDLESS. AUGUST?”	He decides he can’t handle himself on his own. He also must have been there so long because he did not even know what month it was.
Chapter 2, page 12- 13	““I stood on a stump,” Samel continues, “reached through a back window, and gave the bag a shake. There was definitely something in it, but whatever it was didn’t weigh much.”	He was definitely very sick because he barely weighed anything. How could he only survive on berries?
Chapter 3
Chapter 3, page 16	“McCandless was smallish with the hard, stringy physique of an itinerant Laborer.”	Even then he didn’t eat that much even though he was actually in a town. Why is this? He must have looked strong from surviving all that time in the woods and desert.
Chapter 3, page 17	““…Said he’d kind of run out of money.” Overhearing this, the friend’s wife insisted on cooking Alex a big dinner, which he wolfed down, and then he fell asleep at the table.”	That was probably when he burnt all his money. He must not have eaten in days since he ate it so fast.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4, page 26	“When the rangers pulled off the tarp, they found an old yellow Datsun without license plates.”	I guess Chris left his old car. I seem kind of strange that he left his car. Why would he leave his car? Didn’t he love that car?
Chapter 4, page 27	“Ignoring posted warnings that off-road driving is strictly forbidden, McCandless steered the Datsun off the pavement where it crossed a broad, sandy wash. He drove two miles down the riverbed to the south shore of the lake. The temperature was 120 degrees Fahrenheit.”	Why would he do something like that? He could get arrested. Why was he driving around in 120 degree weather?
Chapter 5
Chapter 5, page 40	“ “One thing I do remember is that he had a thing about socks,” says the assistant manager”	I think he wanting to have freedom because this was his big adventure.
Chapter 5, page 38	“When his camera was ruined and McCandless stopped taking photographs, he also stopped keeping a journal, a practice he didn’t resume until he went to Alaska the next year.”	What did he bring a camera anyway? to document his travels? Even if his camera got ruined, why did he stop keeping a journal?
Chapter 6
Chapter 6, page 50	“They drove for a few minutes down the Borrego-Salton Seaway, and then McCandless told him to turn left into the desert, where a rough 4-x-4 track twisted down a narrow wash. After a mile or so they arrived at a bizarre encampment, where some two hundred people had gathered to spend the winter living out of their vehicles.	This must have been where he lived with the others. I am glad he spent some time with others.
Chapter 6, page 50	The boy had said his name was Alex—he’d declined to give a surname—and that he came from West Virginia. He was polite, friendly, well-groomed.	Where did he shower? in a public bathroom? I think he did not want to say a last name because he might have been afraid Ron would look for him.
Chapter 7
Chapter 7, page 62	“During those four weeks in Carthage, McCandless worked hard, doing dirty, tedious jobs that nobody else wanted to tackle: mucking out are houses, exterminating vermin, painting, scything weeds.”	He must have been desperate to make money.
Chapter 7, page 63	““Alex wasn’t a total space cadet or anything,” says Westerberg”	He must not have driven a car a lot since it took him a while to learn how to use the tractor.
Chapter 10
Chapter 10, page 99	“Gallien still held a picture in his mind of the odd, congenial youth striding down the trail in boots two sizes too big for him (Chris)”	He might have bought them so he would not have to buy a new pair as he gets older.
Chapter 10, page 101	“But on the second form dated, March 30, 1992, two weeks before he left Alaska, he’d signed his given name: “Chris J. McCandless.” And in the blank for Social Security number he’d put down, “228-31-6704.””	If he filled out all his information for the form on the second time, why didn’t he just fill it out write on the first time?
Chapter 11
Chapter 11, page 109	“When Chris was eight, Walt took him on his first overnight backpacking trip, a three-day hike in the Shenandoah to climb Old Rag. They made the summit, and Chris carried his own pack the whole way.”	He liked the outdoors from a very young age. He even had a lot of perseverance to carry that backpack all the way to the top.
Chapter 11, page 109	“When Chris was a little older, Walt took Billie and his children from both marriages to climb Longs Peak in Colorado- at 14,256 feet, the highest summit in Rocky Mountain National Park… There, at a prominent notch called the Keyhole, Walt decided to turn around…The route above looked slabby, exposed, dangerous. “I told him (Chris) no way” ”	Chris was stubborn and always wanted high adventure.
Chapter 12
Chapter 12, page 120	“He would have made a great CIA agent- I’m serious; I know guys that work for the CIA.”	He only told people what they needed to know, but without detail. He also would not give answers to questions because he always wanted things done his way.
Chapter 12, page 120	“He kept track of everything and showed me (Carine) how to do it, how to make a business work.”	It seems like he really wants to travel at this point. However, he shuts everyone out except Carine. Why is that? He wouldn’t even talk about his friends.
Chapter 13
Chapter 13, page 128	“She’s right: In both photos Chris stares at the lens with the same pensive, recalcitrant squint, as if he’d been interrupted in the middle of an important thought and was annoyed to be wasting his time in front of the camera.”	He was always in deep thought, even at a young age. Did he ever not question society?
Chapter 13, page 129	“Carine made peace with her parents shortly after Chris disappeared, and now, at the age of twenty-two, she calls their relationship “extremely good”.”	Chris must have persuaded Carine that their parents were bad. I am surprised that Carine followed Chris’s example.
Chapter 16
Chapter 16, page 170	“In his journal he now wrote, “disaster… Rained in. River look impossible. Lonely, scared.””	I think he was finally tired of being alone and he had enough. He just wanted to go home to his family.
Chapter 16, page 170	“But it would still have been a very risky proposition (crossing the river), and at that point McCandless had no reason to take such a risk. He’d been fending for himself quite nicely in the country.”	He was tired of taking risks.
Chapter 17
Chapter 17, page 173	“Unlike McCandless, however, I have in my backpack a… topographic map.”	This would have helped Chris a lot on his journey. He might have survived. I am surprised that he did not bring one.
Chapter 17, page 174	“Andy Horowitz, one of McCandless’s friends on the Woodson High cross-country team, had mused that Chris was “born into the wrong century”.”	He truly was because he did not like society at all. He never liked the idea of money.
Chapter 18
Chapter 18, page 189	“… he noted, “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED”.”	He finally realized that happiness can’t come from being alone; you have to share it.
Chapter 18, page	“The plant that poisoned him wasn’t toxic, per se; McCandless simply had the misfortune to eat moldy seeds.”	I can’t believe that he survived through the wild for so long and he died from eating moldy seeds. How could he not notice the mold?