Christopher McCandless Characterization Part II

Chapter and Page Number	Description/ Quote from Novel	What impression did you get of Chris from this?
Chapter 15, Pg. 156	“…stealing up to the edge of doom and peering over…In my case - and, I believe, the case of Chris McCandless – that was a very different thing from wanting to die.”	If true, this means Chris focused on one goal and didn’t necessarily think everything else through and how those glimpses affect the people around him. It was slightly selfish and irresponsible.
Chapter 16, Pg. 159	“He wanted to prove to himself he could make it on his own, without anybody else’s help.”	Chris is independent and wanted to prove it to himself and others. Maybe he wanted to prove it too much and maybe he died in Alaska feeling he had succeeded.
Chapter 17, Pg. 174	“…McCandless yearned to wander uncharted country, to find a blank spot on the map. In 1992, however, there were no more blank spots on the map- not in Alaska, not anywhere.”	Chris had the spirit of an adventurer, willing and yearning to explore and have a grand journey. Unfortunately, this was directed towards something no longer extant in the world of today. The drive he felt was out of place and time, and I believe that because he could not funnel his passion elsewhere, he would have ended up dead in the wild regardless of anything said or done to him. Never would he have lived to tell his tale.
Chapter 18, Pg. 189	“HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED.”	Chris realized happiness comes from relationships. He did not realize that having healthy human relationships are the way to a better type of happiness than relationships with the untamed wilderness.
Epilogue, Pg. 203	“Many people have told me they admire Chris for what he was trying to do. If he’d lived, I’d agree with them. But he didn’t, and there’s no way to bring him back. You can’t fix it. Most things you can fix, but not that. I don’t know that you ever get over this kind of loss. The fact that Chris is gone is a sharp hurt I feel every day for the rest of my life.”	Chris…had a great and noble dream. He is unique and praised for the rare action following that dream. But he could not have possibly thought about the consequences of his journey. If he had, then going anyway was selfish, uncaring, and not justified in any way. The ends don’t always the means. If he had not, then he was guilty of pride, ignorance, and being a hypocrite.