Character Analysis: Lost In The Yukon Trail

The film, Traces of The Trade: A Story From The Deep North, by Katrina Browne, is a truly subjective documentary that captures traces the routes and past of the D’Wolf family from Bristol, Rhode Island. Browne and nine other family members went out to explore her ancestor’s lives that at the time were protuberant New England slave traders. During her journey, she embarked in Triangle Trade, which included the illegal trading of human beings in order for profit. This was not only illegal, but was also cruel.

Waking up to discover the immense, pristine wilderness of Alaska, listening to the birds chirping their sounds while feeling the tremble of your heart beating through your veins. Trees as far as one can see with rolling hills and distant peaks covered with unblemished snow. The sounds of streams growing larger until they rush over a fall, and into an untainted lake. Pondering the true meaning of life while observing Mother Nature’s true grace. Very few people can relate to this scene of the wild. One of them being Christopher Johnson McCandless, a young pioneer and traveler, who was determined to seek the truth no matter what the cost.

Many Alaskan survivalist and “natives” agree McCandless had the same reckless idealism of men who had perished in Alaska previously. Jon Krakauer relates Chris to three such men who died in Alaska: Rossellini, Waterman, and McCunn. Rossellini conducted a primitive human survival experiment and he concluded: “For over 30 years I programmed and conditioned myself to this end. In the last 10 of it I would say I realistically experienced the physical, mental, and emotional reality of the Stone Age. I learned it is not possible for human beings, as we know them, to live off the land” (75). Despite Rossellini being a trained survivalist he met the same fate as McCandless who was not nearly as experienced. Another factor that enticed McCandless to venture to Alaska was the allure of nature promised by transcendentalist thinkers. Many of these authors romanticized nature, and were not an Alaskan survivalist. Transcendentalist author John London spent one season of a year in Alaska in a cabin, and Thoreau’s definition of isolation in the wilderness included going into town to do laundry and for hot meals. These authors glossed over the difficulties, challenges, and human deaths in the wild. McCandless’ choice to follow authors with little survival experience verifies a reckless

The man in this story has had a long and difficult journey, filled with emotional and physical pain. The only company he had was a native dog who followed him everywhere he went. The cold air of the Yukon trail presented a major problem for the man as he fought off frost bite. Throughout the story he struggled against nature a lot. With ups and downs along the way, the weather was always against him as he thought of ways to survive. In the end, nature won.

Kneeling on the frozen snow nor feeling nor knowing what is beneath me?…. my cells are no longer responding… My body is shivering, begging me to stop…….My hands are pale as if my blood has frozen, barely moving, barely thinking, barely conscious. My glim of hope vanishing as I realise I won’t survive in this vast of white snow… Lost the sense of direction. How many days have I travelled? Believing in a glim that goes nowhere. Am I going insane? Not knowing the date nor the time nor someone to talk to but only myself. Only if my friend was here… What am I talking about his already dead. How did he die ? I can’t remember well? We were walking nearby a river hoping if we follow the current it may lead us to people,I heard a splash I turned my back and he was into the cold water, I helped him to get up but his foot got stuck into a puddle pulling his head under the water, he was struggling I tried to pull him towards me but I was too exhausted, as he was drowning I saw his face expression it gave me a

Each time the dog fell through, his instincts told him to stop and bite the ice from in between his paws. If he didn't they would be sore. Eventually the man walked in front and fell into a pool of water, which delayed him. He would have to stop and build a fire and wait for his feet and socks to dry off. This was still dangerous because that meant removing those articles, which would leave them exposed. His instinct told him to keep going and not stop to dry off. He decided to run the further distance hoping to increase circulation but failed. It had only wore him out and now his hands were beginning to freeze. Now it would be hard to light a fire because of the numbness in his hands. After he learned it was too late to build one he turned his thoughts towards the dog. If he killed it, he could place his hands into the core, which would defrost his hands. But the dog’s instinct told him not to go near the man, as he could be a target. Without feeling in his hands now he could not kill the dog either. He was beginning to accept his

Trapped in the depths of an arctic winter, there’s more to fear than just the cold.

In many ways, we know Brian has changed thought the novel. Brian has changed because, first, he learned how to take care of himself, next he learned how to be aware of his surroundings, then lastly, and he became stronger and full of tough hope. So he changed in all these ways to finally turn into this young man who believes he can survive in the Canadian wilderness.

The man was certain for an ancient claim on the left fork of Yukon. The man is a new towards this territory. Still his attitude is a little too Confident. He treats his journey as a kind of competition with nature. In the early phases of the trip he grins at his little errors or faults and does not notice the warnings of the cold. The man imitates on what the old-timer had directed him but thinks that he can quickly overcome the man's advice rather than taking it to heart. As his errors or faults get more numerous like wet feet or no fire, the man becomes more and more anxious. Lastly his only friend left, the dog, turns out not to like him that much after all and really doesn't want to be turned into a dead sleeping bag either. The man freezes

Since the man could not get a fire started, he began to run. The dog was close beside him every step. When he fell he became upset with the dog, “The warmth and security of the animal angered him, and he cursed it till it flattened down its ears appeasingly (page 1067).” The cold started to overcome the man and he lost the battle with the cold. He told himself that he should have listened to the old man at Sulphur Creek right before he died; but he should have also paid attention to the

The setting of the story is in the icy lands of the Yukon where the temperature drops to minus seventy-five degrees; and spittle crackles in the air. This sets the stage for a fatal

The man had no imagination and only understood facts. He knew it was very cold and his body was numb, but he failed to realize the danger. A newcomer with no experience, he thought he was invincible. Neither the "absence of sun from the

The protagonist meets his demise because of his lack in intuition and imagination. (Short Story Criticism) The miner heads out to the miners camp after being warned to not travel at such cold temperatures. The miner displays his lack of intuition many times throughout the story. The miner proves he lacks in instinct when he says “fifty below zero is just uncomfortable and cold.” (London 1) “The protagonist travels against the advice of experienced prospects, thinking that he will make it successfully.” (Short Story Criticism) He shows his inexperience further when he thinks it is “fifty below when it’s actually seventy-five below zero.”(London 2)The recurring motif of man versus nature supports the lack of intuition theory. The secondary main character displays the instinct traits the man does not have. It shows how the wolf-dog senses the severity of the climate while the miner just views it as uncomfortable and cold. The miner further proves his lack of

In the book “Looking for Alaska” there are several attractive characters, but only three of them were the main Miles, Colonel, and Alaska. These characters were the best friends; each one of them had his/her own personality in the book. Miles was the new student in the school who was quite and lonely until he met his new friends and starts smoking and does other stuff that he did not use to do before. The colonel was a poor guy who tried to find his way to succeed by getting his mother proud of him and get her a house. Last character is Alaska; she is the one with a lot of pass mistakes and regrets. In the book we got a bit of background information about these characters. For example Miles was the guy with no friend in his old high school and that his worst day was when someone peed on his P.E pants that his teacher made him wear.