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Into The Wild Character Analysis

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Into the Wild (1996), a novel by Jon Krakauer, explores the life of Christopher McCandless and the events leading up to his death. In an effort to prove his independence, Chris makes a tragic journey to Alaska that killed him at 24 years old. Along the way, he encounters many people who have been impacted by his mature, unique personality. Wayne Westerberg, Jan Burress, and Ronald Franz are a few people who were affected by his wise character. Christopher McCandless, or Alexander Supertramp, was an intelligent young man who came from a wealthy family. His father, Walt McCandless, was an aerospace engineer at NASA, while his mother, Billie McCandless, worked as a secretary at Hughes Aircraft. McCandless only had one sibling- Carine …show more content…

He recalls Alex as being the “hardest worker that I’d ever seen (page. 18).” No matter how hard or dirty the work was McCandless always got the job done. This quality made him stand out to Westerberg and his coworkers. Alex’s tax forms also made an imprint on Westerberg. After reading the form, Wayne Westerberg discovered that Alex’s name was actually Chris. This made Westerberg curious about who “Alex” actually was and the problems that he had with his family. McCandless became someone who irreplaceable to Westerberg. Jan Burress is a drifter who travels around with her boyfriend in their van selling “knick-knacks at flea markets and swap meets (page. 30).” While lost on the highway, they pulled over and found McCandless digging through the bushes for berries. In that moment, Jan called him over and offered him a ride and food. After their initial meeting, Chris returned to the couple and spent time with them in the Slabs. There, he helped Buress with her book sales and exhibited an extremely sociable, playful nature. According to an interview from Krakauer, “Jan Buress felt like, ‘he was storing up company for the times when he knew nobody would be around’ (page. 45).” Chris flirted and joked around with Buress and showed off his surprising musical talents. As a mother with a son of her own, she quickly began treating McCandless as her child and developed a connection with him. At a point, he

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