Direct Characterization: when the writer explicitly tells the reader what the character looks like
Indirect Characterization: the writer shows the reader what the character does, thinks, says, and feels, and how other react to the character, and the reader draws his/her own conclusion
Direct Characterization
- He was an “elite athlete.”
- Wiry, hard, stringy build
- “He was an extremely intense young man."
- Five feet, eight inches tall
- 24 years old
- Nice
- Determined
- Smallish
- "Dark, emotive eyes"
- Sensitive good looks
- Slack and emotionless face
- Gaping, oversized grin with horsy teeth
- Nearsighted and used steel-rimmed glasses
- Hard-working
Indirect Characterization
- Christopher McCandless was smart, with a "3.72 grade point average" (page 20). He "seemed well-educated" and asked "thoughtful questions" (page 5).
- Chris McCandless had a set of ideals that he clung to with "a streak of stubborn idealism" (Author's Note second page). He was also "extremely ethical" (page 18).
- He knew what he was facing, but he still wasn't very smart about the wilderness, with his "seemingling insignificant blunders" that cost him his life (Author's Note second page).
- He cares about other people, but not his family. He has sent postcards and letters to people he met along the way, but the last anyone in his family heard from him was a short note attached to his transcript (page 22). He also told the post office to return the letters he received from his parents, but not until the beginning of August so they would not know what was going on (page 22).
- Chris McCandless doesn't really like modern society; he liked Carthage, with its "plebian virtues and unassuming mien" (page 18).
- He ignores what he wants to, like the danger of bears, and the lack of trees to climb if he gets in trouble (page 6). He also loves Jack London, but he ignores the fact that Jack London spent less than a year in the Alaskan wilderness, and he ended up taking his own life.
- He like the wilderness, but he was scared of dying in it by himself, so he wrote an S.O.S. note (page 12).
- He didn't like material goods, so he donated all his money and "would not longer accept or receive gifts" (page 20).
- He did "too much thinking" (page 18). He wanted to be "master of his own destiny" (page 23).
Conclusion of Christopher Johnson McCandless
Christopher Johnson McCandless was unusual young man who did not like modern society. He was also an idealist who was not very practical; he wanted to go into the wilderness, but he based his expectations on works of fiction, and he did not bring enough gear to survive. However, he realized this too late. Additionally, although it was good that he was trying to find his destiny, he was mean to those who loved him. He may have had some problems with his family, but it was very selfish of him to simply leave, to try and hide himself from them. Overall, Christopher Johnson McCandless had some problems that he needed to make peace with, and he almost did, but died in the midst.
Sometime during our lives, most of us ask why we are here on this Earth. Christopher McCandless may have asked a similar question when he was a young man: What am I doing with my life? Whether he actually asked this question or not, it is unsure. However, it is a fact that McCandless began a new life, which started when he donated all his money to charity, burned the cash in his wallet, abondoned his car and most of his possessions, and set out on a journey that ended in Alaska. McCandless was a son of a well-to-do family, but that was in his old life; in his new life, he had no car, and had to hitchhike to Alaska. When he arrived, he had surely entered into the wild. He had to survive on roots and berries, and any game he could shoot for 112 days. This diet was evidently not enough, for Christopher McCandless was found, dead, with starvation as the cause. But although Christopher McCandless is no longer around, his story still lives, especially because of Jon Krakauer, who wrote Into the Wild, the story of Christopher McCandless. You who are reading this blog are probably a student who always knows where your next meal is. Come join me as I read Into the Wild, and post blogs on this site. Come enter into the wild; that is, the wild that was created with words by Jon Krakauer, and the wild that Christopher McCandless actually experienced.
