Personal Traits

Positive
>Independent
>Committed
>Passionate

Negative
>Stubborn
>Impatient
>Proud

All of the positive things about Chris made him a succesful person who achieved almost anything he put his mind to. When he put his mind to something, he did it no matter the cost or how hard it would be. Also, being independent helped when he was on his own for long periods of time.
However, the negative side effects are just a strong as the positive aspects of his personality. He was horrible at listening to people or changing his mind when they knew and he knew that he needed to. He refused to change himself in any way. All he changed was his name and where he slept each night. This was probably a contributing factor in his death and in his journey.
His pride is most likely the trait that people see today and the one that overshadows all the others. It shows him in both a positive and negative light. To some, his pride was something to be admired. He knew who he was and what he was doing and no one could change his mind. This is also called being stubborn, but thats just semantics. Others believe that his pride was the cause of his death. He was too correct in his own mind to change it when things went wrong. He was so prideful that he did not try to find or get help until he was close to death, and then standing on death's own doorstep.

Similarities
-willful, self absorbed, intermittently reckless, moody  pg. 134
-Could a person keep a lid on his terror long enough to reach the top and get back down? (same questions)  pg. 135
-propelled by an imperative that was beyond my ability to control or comprehend  pg. 136
-arrived in Alaska  pg. 137
-I had a knack for living up to my old man's worst expectations  pg. 147

Differences
-exposed my self-deceit and left me hollow and aching  pg. 137
-anticipating this hazard  pg. 138
-six cardboard cartons of supplies dropped from an airplane  pg. 140
-chain-smoked for as long as my supply of cigarettes held  pg. 146
-the idea of my own death- was still largely outside my conceptual grasp  pg. 151

A Wild McDonald's?

Chris working at McDonald's was one of the most surprising things that he did. Chris was a young man who believed in living off the land and that big corporationsm were responsible for the decline of the country and the world; who went to work at one of the biggest corporations in the entire world. One of the only reasons that I can think of that he would do this is that he really wanted to see what corporate America was like and if he was doing the right thing. From his actions, it was quite obvious that he did not think this was so. His co-workers thought he was an old little fellow, but a nice enough guy. They thought he was a little stange because of his problems with socks. For whatever reason, he did not like enjoy or even be ok with wearing socks. This was probably one of the ways that he fought 'The Man". He would rip the socks off as soon as his shift was over as some sort of symbol. The only reason he wore any was because it was McDonald's policy. Obviously he needed the job and did not want to get fired.

The Burres' were the kind of people that would love a guy like Chris. Jan was an estranged mother and they were both drifters. Like Chris, they appreciated the earth and wanted to live an unencumbered life. They wanted to be free to travel and sell their wares. Chris was like these people in morals; not in reasons. They treated him like a son, but not so closely that he would be uncomfortable. It was actually mentioned later on in the book about his dislike of famliy and family like things. Fortunately, he did not become too uncomfortable with them until near the end of his relationship with them, just long enough for them to buy him things and take care of him. He cared about them' just not as much as they cared about him. At least he didn't show it.

Poor old Mr. Franz was one of the last people to meet Chris. Franz had lost his wife; Chris was alone with no one. Franz identified with him because of this loneliness. Franz wanted so badly to be a father to this boy or a friend at least. He actually wanted to adopt Chris as his grandson and asked him if he could before he left for Alaska. Sadly, this conflicted with Chris's no family foot loose life style. He told him he would give him an answer after his Alaskan Odyssey. Chris's death must have been a horrible blow to poor old Mr. Franz. A blow almost as terrible as the death of his own blood family. This might be why Franz used a pseudonym and not his real name. He did not want people's sympathy. Not again.

 

Even Farther Into the Wild 3

1 -solitary
- social
-intelligent
-adventurous
-giving
-selfish
-hard working
-athletic
-contradictory
-vain
-philosopher
-out doorsy
-cruel
-ready to explode
-impatient
-preoccupied
-obsessed
-tired
-easily swayed
-oxymoron

2 I noticed that in his note he said, (Chris's closest friend at Emory) in his letter. Later on, he writes his story and journal in third person. I was thinking that this meant that he already changed into Alex and was just letting them know what was happening. He also told his family that he was going to disappear for awhile. This means that he planned on coming back at some point. He just wanted to get his intense desire to travel a go places out before he would come back an settle down.

3 One circumstance might be that he was tired if the old hum drum of D.C. and wanted to start a new life, a better life. He also seemed slightly delusional about the whole thing when he was basing it on The Call of the Wild and those experiences even though the author himself never did any of those things. This is also not an isolated incident. People run off an change their names all the time to start new lives for one reason or another. Abuse, debt, old flames, and past sins are all reasons for this change. For Chris, it was the writings of Tolstoy and Thoreau that influenced him to do these things.