Character Analysis of Cloyd in Bearstone

Jon Krakauer had the same experience as McCandless with his family and travel to Alaska, but Krakauer knew more about survival and had company in case of any danger. Krakauer compares, “as a young man, I was unlike Mccandless in many important regard… And I suspect we had a similar intensity, a similar heedlessness, a similar agitation of the soul” (55). Acknowledging McCandless’s background, Chris left society because, in Krakauer’s point of view, of the “agitation of the soul” and the “similar heedless” of society. McCandless didn’t agree with society’s standards that being successful meant having a well paid occupation, especially when McCandless’s parents enforced it onto him. McCandless truly did not want to uphold the wishes of his parents, for Chris to go to college and get high paying career, but it wasn’t what Chris really wanted, so he left all of his conflicts with his parents and his values or “agitation of the soul” to create a new identity as Alex Supertramp and live in the wild. In today’s modern world, humanity lives in an environment where people are controlled and dependent on others. Chris’s father is someone he despises because of his characteristic of being controlling. Walter becomes controlling over Chris, who pressured him into college. As a result, Chris has an “agitation of the soul” to become independent, and a “heedlessness” for society and had an “intensity” for

Many of the adults in the town have very racist ideals, such as the men who destroy An Lu's garden and call him a "red! Fucking! Rat!" Silvey is able to illustrate this encounter through the fearful and innocent eyes of Charlie, which presents the racism that is present in the town of Corrigan to the reader in a very bad light. Charlie's coming of age and being able to see this from his perspective throughout the novel helps the reader to understand the racism and ignorance of the adults in Corrigan, as Silvey says "What I try to address in Jasper Jones is that some folks learn to live as adults, but never quite grow up. They live without that critical filter, still inside that bubble, protecting its thin skin by still subscribing to the same myths that they've always abided by." Throughout the course of the novel, Charlie learns to live outside of that bubble and be accepting of new things, which

As soon as I picked this book up, I could not put it down. Every chance I got, I was reading. I was begging in class for you to let us have down time so I could submerge myself into this virtual reality that I wanted to experience. Unfortunately at the end of this memoir, Chris McCandless dies of what Krakauer believes to be starvation. The cool thing about how Krakauer revised this novel is how he relates it to all teenagers. At one point in time mostly all teenagers have a fight with their parents and they feel as if running away from it all is their only escape. He focuses on Chirs McCandless’ life so much to create the theme that no matter how much you fight and argue, your parents love you and they want the best for you no matter what.

People often hesitate to accept what they do not understand. In the absence of love and compassion, it is no question that fear, ignorance, and hatred, all contribute to a melting pot of negativity in the world. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is about the love and friendship cultivated by a young boy and a black slave on the Mississippi River. Despite the pair’s differences, they are able to endure the struggles and difficulties that the toilsome journey brings. Mark Twain, in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, emphasizes the shift in Huck’s view towards slavery by contrasting Huck’s initial tone of reflectiveness to his assertive tone, both collectively addressing the issue of racism in society.

Lord of the Flies is often claimed to be an allegory of modern society. While this is true, Golding’s intentions in writing this novel are much deeper. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies provides an enlightening insight into the true nature of human beings; along with why people refrain from acting upon the evil that resides within them. He presents these ideas through symbolism within the novel and it proves effective in many ways. Through symbolism, Golding can unfold the excellent plot of his novel, while subsequently sharing his ideas on the relationship of mankind and society. Golding uses the beast, the conch shell, and Piggy’s glasses to symbolize the human impulse towards ‘savagery’ and the social constructs put in place to prevent it.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is widely credited with initiating the phrase "that which does not kill me can only make me stronger". This sentiment is echoed within Will Hobbs' young adult novel Bearstone by the deceased wife of one of the major characters in the book, Walter. Walter's wife Martha's variation on Nietzsche's mantra is that "the hurt will make you stronger". Hobbs' book is fialry demonstrative of this fact, especially when Walter is joined by a young man, Cloyd Attcitty. Both of these characters are striving to get over severe personal losses, and are able to help one another do so by fostering a bond out of their common hurt that transcends their pain and effectively allows them to overcome it.

They’re always about something bad happening” (McCarthy 269). So by this statement, we know that the boy while empathetic, still feels negative emotions for himself. We feel as if the boy is what keeps the book going, the fire; he is the only one who can and will keep the story going because he is seen as something greater than all. After the father dies, we see that the boy finds a group of wanderers and joins them.

This perspective goes against him being defined as a tragic hero—it conflicts with Miller’s criteria in which the “protagonist’s primary struggle needs to be the search for their sense of dignity and identity [and] find their rightful place in society”(Miller). However, Krakauer refutes this belief through stating that his childhood lifestyle was controlled through the harshness of Christopher’s father. He says, “given Walt’s authority through high school and college to a surprising degree, but the boy raged inwardly all the while. He brooded at length over what he perceived to be his father’s moral shortcomings, the hypocrisy of his parents’ lifestyle, the tyranny of their conditional love”(Krakauer 64). McCandless’ years up to high school had been a blinded lifestyle in which he had to follow the routine of his authoritative father. It is not until university where he is able to truly seek out the freedom of being able to choose what he wants to pursue in his life. By the time he graduates, he already makes the choice to take a journey into the wild, meaning that he had no past experience of getting a job, making money, or having a set routine life as other college graduates. Krakauer uses this situation to strengthen his illustration of McCandless as a tragic hero, as it shows that he truly does not have a rightful

Krakauer’s interview with Walt McCandless reveals that Chris’ disappearance into the wilderness had a negative effect on his family. Walt expresses his grief when he asks the rhetorical question “How is it… that a kid with so much compassion could cause his parents so much pain?” (104). Chris was portrayed by Krakauer as a caring person, and his decision to leave society was in part spurred by how selfish and greedy people appeared to be. When he abandoned his friends and family without any hint as to where he was going or why, he caused his parents great anguish to fulfill his own quest for purpose. It’s ironic that he displayed the very characteristic that he was supposedly trying to escape from. This question Walt poses is used by Krakauer to criticize Chris’ deeply selfish actions by showing the reader his parents’ point of view of his odyssey.

Once said by a wise businessman, poet, and humanitarian Samuel Ullman,“Maturity is the ability to think, speak and act your feelings,”(Samuel Ullman). William Bell successfully shows this in his novel Crabbe. Firstly, Franklin Crabbe is a troublesome teenager who is incapable of understanding emotions. Through the novel, readers see his development of feelings towards people and himself. Secondly, Crabbe develops intellectually when he learns that although he is school smart he is not as smart in the wilderness. Lastly, Crabbe is introduced as an antisocial teenager without many friends, except his ‘pal’ Silent Sam (Vodka). Furthermore, Crabbe opens up to his family and makes friends through his journey. Although Crabbe at first is a selfish person, antisocial, and an imbecile, he develops emotionally, intellectually, and socially as a result of his journey in the bush and meeting mary.

Brinker reared back arrogantly. “And who do you think I am!” But Finny hadn’t heard that. His face had broken into a wide and dazzled smile at what I had said, lighting up his whole face. “Enlist!” I drove on, “I wouldn’t enlist with you if you were Elliott Roosevelt.”

As they grow, all of the life choices and parenting styles the parent commits to interfere with how the child will develop as a person. With that being said, the father of the child might abuse the mother in front of the child every night when he comes home drunk. Consequently, the child might grow up believing it was okay to hit women. On the other hand, the parents could be raising the child perfectly but what they experience at school could abolish every life lesson that the parents had put before them. As the African proverb states, “It takes a village to raise a child”. No matter who enters the child’s life for any given time, it will affect who the child will become. In the book The Other Wes Moore, both Moore boys grew up in a town filled with violence and drugs. Even though both boys’ mothers raised them properly and gave them every care in the world, the environment that they grew up in paid its toll on both boys. As the other Wes Moore’s mother found out about his dealing with drugs, the first thing she asked herself was, “Who is to blame for this” (74). All of the people that influenced Wes; Tony, the neighborhood, the school system, and Wes’s friends flooded through his mother’s mind at that very moment. “She put them all on trial in her mind,” Moore writes (75). It is not just the mother or the parents who are raising the child, it is the entire village.

In Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book, Into the Wild, we follow how humans love the wilderness, the strain of father son relationships, and for the majority of the book a young adult named Chris McCandless. We see mostly through Chris’ eyes just how much the wilderness can entice young adults as well as how important crushing news of one’s father can change your life. McCandless was an angry pseudo adult who couldn’t handle a sizeable change in his life. He was too stuck on it being his way that he rarely could bring himself to accept help and improve his ability to actually survive. However, there was some good about McCandless. His search for himself and the truth were great intentions despite the flawed approach.

Although Chris McCandless’ controlling and toxic family environment was a major motive for his escape, his deep-seated internal battle was simply an irresistible impulse for discovery and liberty. Chris’ journey shows a new level of freedom; what true independence holds. He set out into nature alone without support of family or friends, searching for a path unlike those of most, and running from a barred cage of conventional living. Unsatisfied and somewhat angry with himself and his life of abundance in money, opportunity, and security, his preceding experiences and determined character lead him to an inevitable flee into no-mans land. Throughout the novel, Krakauer wants the reader to understand that there is more to Chris than his habit of criticising authority and defying society’s pressures. He needed more from himself, and more from life. He wasn’t an ordinary man, therefore could not live with an ordinary life. Krakauer demonstrates this by creating a complex persona for Chris that draws you in from the beginning.

“We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can change the world”