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Chris Mccandless Character Analysis

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The Qualities of Christopher McCandless In the spring of 1992 Christopher Johnson McCandless was in search for truth. Intending to find it, he ventured across the country to the Alaskan brush and encountered people that would be charmed by the young adult's work ethic and knowledge. Christopher McCandless is a nonconformist whose lack of preparedness and need for reflective thought were the leading cause of his death. McCandless had always thought that wealth, society, and the government were unnecessary evils in the world, so he intended to disappear and live how men in the primordial ages did. "McCandless tramped around the west for the next two months, spell bound by the scale and the power of landscape, thrilled by minor brushes with the law, savoring the intermittent company of other vagabonds he met along the way." (29). McCandless was in such awe of nature and was so glad to be out experiencing nature. The author uses pathos tin this quote to show that at that moment in time Chris …show more content…
"'He wasn't carrying anywhere near as much food and gear as you'd expect a guy to be carrying for that kind of trip'" (4). Krakauer uses the literary device, characterization to show that although Chris had been planning this trip, wasn't exactly prepared for any complications to arise. This quote also expresses ethos of Gallien since he was an experienced hunter and woodsman, and noticed Chris's level of unpreparedness. "Alex admitted that the only food in his pack was a ten pound bag of rice." (5). Krakauer uses this quote to emphasize his level of unpreparedness because he would need to ration ten pounds of rice for him to survive off of for several months. In this quote, pathos was used to convey a feeling of concern since that would be his primary source of food when he could not hunt or

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