Characterization Chart!

Our class just finished reading Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild.  This chart is the culmination of a deep and comprehensive analysis of Chris McCandless and his character.  

Into the Wild Characterization Chart

Travis Nelson

Honors English 9

Chapter	Direct	Indirect
1	Chris appeared young, only about eighteen or nineteen (3). He was afraid of the water (5).	Chris was stubborn and wanted to follow his own rules.  He didn’t want other people regulating his life, actions, and choices. “’Hell, no,’ Alex scoffed.  ‘How I feed myself is none of the government’s business.  F*** their stupid rules’” (6).
2		Chris didn’t want to be identified.  He seldom gave away personal information of his adventure, and wanted to begin a new life, in a sense. “But because he had been carrying no identification, the authorities didn’t know who he was, where he was from, or why he was there” (14).
3	“hard, stingy physique of an itinerant laborer” (16) Dark, emotive (16) Sensitive good looks (16)	Chris was definitely not a fan of material things, which included exchanging them with others. “She was surprised and extremely touched: It was the first present she had received from her son in more than two years, since he had announced to his parents that, on principle, he would no longer give or receive gifts” (20). Chris was very much interested in taking his life where he wanted to take it.  He didn’t want others telling him what to do; he wanted to be in charge of his life.  He even went as far as to create another name for himself. “To symbolize the complete severance from his previous life, he even adopted a new name.  No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny” (23).
4	Chris was nice, happy (30).	Chris was determined to continue on his adventure and wasn’t afraid to leave the material possessions that were holding him back. “But there was a way to avoid such aggravation: He could simply abandon the Datsun and resume his odyssey on foot.  And that’s what he decided to do” (29).
5	Chris was a good worker; he was dependable (40).	Chris was not the most careful person when it came to interacting with other people.  A man caught him shaving in a bathroom, and he told Chris he could come stay in his trailer, which actually wasn’t even his own. “One morning I was shaving in a restroom when an old man came in, and observing me, asked me if I was “sleeping out.”  I told him yes, and it turned out that he had this old trailer I could stay in for free.  The only problem is that he doesn’t really own it” (41).
6	Chris was polite, friendly, and well-groomed (50).	Chris believed that his way of living was great; he wasn’t afraid to try to convince others to live the same way.  After meeting Ronald Franz, Chris began to tell him about his new way of life and that he should do the same. “He also turned the tables and started lecturing the grandfatherly figure about the shortcomings of his sedentary existence, urging the eighty-year-old to sell most of his belongings, move out of the apartment, and live on the road” (51).
7	Chris was a big eater and a good cook (63). Chris was sometimes outgoing and very personable (65). Chris was chaste and morally pure (65).	Chris was always willing to help others; however, he held his own priorities very high.  He promised to help Westerberg, but only until it was time for him to continue his adventure into Alaska. “McCandless promised to come back to South Dakota in time to help with the autumn harvest, but he wanted to be in Fairbanks by the end of April in order to squeeze in as much time as possible up North before his return” (62). Chris could be a very sociable and outgoing person.  He was able to keep a great conversation going with person whom he had just met.  Mary Westerberg, Wayne Westerberg’s mother, came to like Chris very much. “They hit it off immediately.  The two of ‘em talked nonstop for five hours” (67).
10	Jim Gallien describes Chris and odd and congenial (98). Chris had short hair and was clean-shaven (102).	This comes back to a few aforementioned points.  Chris did not care for official documentation of who he was, probably because, again, he did want other monitoring him, telling him how to live, and what to do.  Chris did not take the first W-4 form Westerberg had given him seriously. “Across the top of the first one, dating from McCandless’s initial visit to Carthage, in 1990, he had scrawled ‘EXEMPT, EXEMPT, EXEMPT, EXEMPT’ and given his name as Iris Fucyu.  Address: ‘None of your damn business.’  Social Security number: ‘I forget’” (101).
11	Chris played the piano, French horn, and guitar.  He was talented at music, and he sang decently (110). Had a great relationship with Carine.  He was very nice to and extremely protective of her (110). Inherited his mother’s “angelic” features, specifically her eyes (110). For his size, Chris was strong and well-coordinated (110).	Chris took his education very seriously.  He had great, almost perfect grades, and was always bringing home A’s; however, Chris once got a grade lower than a B.  In high school physics, Chris received an F; he did not agree with his teacher that the format of the lab report was equally important as the content of which it consisted. “Academically he brought home A’s with little effort.  Only once did he receive a grade lower than a B: an F, in high school physics (109).
12	Chris could be generous and caring at times, but he also had a darker side, which was characterized by “monomania, impatience, and unwavering self-absorption, qualities that seemed to intensify through his college years” (120). Chris was passionate and intense in his writing, specifically for the Emory University newspaper (123).	Chris, although he developed a negative view of his parents, showed that he was grateful for what his parents had done for their family.  Also, he admired them for acquiring all that they had from nothing. “Chris said how much he respected Dad for starting from nothing, working his way through college, busting his ass to support eight kids.  It was a moving speech.  Everybody there was all chocked up.  And then he left on his trip” (118).
13	Chris was around ‘5”8 tall (128). Chris was energetic and self-assured.  He was a high achiever and was always quick to state his opinion (129).	Chris cared very much for Buckley, the family dog.  His family though that maybe things would’ve been different if they would’ve let Chris take Buckley along with him.  They though that because he cared for that dog so much, he wouldn’t have risked his life in the ways that he did, which would ultimately have prevented his unfortunate death. “’Chris didn’t think twice about risking his own life, but he never would have put Buckley in any kind of danger.  There’s no way he would’ve taken the same kind of chances if Buck had been with him’” (128).
16	Chris’s use of sophisticated and intelligent language showed that he was a sharp individual (159).	Chris was an intelligent person, and he enjoyed reading.  He carried along with him many books, including novels by Thoreau, Tolstoy, and Gogol.  These books were the heaviest items in his backpack. “The heaviest item in McCandless’s half-full backpack was his library: nine or ten paperback books, most of which had been given to him by Jan Burres in Niland . . . He simply carried what he might enjoy reading . . .” (162).
17		Chris was always looking for more freedom and openness than is offered in our society.  This is a recurring theme of Chris and the novel itself, as Chris was always looking to free himself from material possessions and negative people.  He was also looking for more adventure, which would explain his many travels. “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 was looking for more adventure and freedom than today’s society gives people’” (174). Generally, whenever Chris wanted to do something (specifically embark on an adventure), he wanted to get up and go.  He did not want to have other people try to tell him what he needed, what to do, what not to do, and etcetera.  He was stubborn in this way.  Some people say that his arrogance and stubbornness was responsible for his death. “By design McCandless came into the country with insufficient provisions, and he lacked certain pieces of equipment deemed essential by many Alaskans: a large caliber rifle, map and compass, an ax.  This has been regarded as evidence not just of stupidity but of the even greater sin of arrogance” (180).
18	Towards the end of his life, Chris appeared very emaciated and dangerously thin.  He is described as “skeletal (199).	Chris, though he became very weak over the last few weeks of his life, was very calm and content with himself and what he done at the time of his death. “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” (199).