Chris McCandless

Direct Characterization- Writer explicitly tells the reader what a character looks and acts like.

Indirect Characterization- Writer shows the reader what the character does, says, thinks, and/or feels, and then lets the the reader draw his/her own conclusions about the character.

Direct:
1. "He was an extremely intense young man and possessed a streak of stubborn idealism that did not mesh readily with modern existence" (author's notes)
2.  "he didn't appear to be very old: eighteen maybe nineteen at the most" (pg 3 chapter 1).
3. "The rifle protruded from the young man's backpack, but he looked friendly enough" (pg 3-4 Chapter 1)
4. "five feet seven or eight with a wiry build" (pg 4 chapter 1)
5. "he pulled over for a hitchhiker, an amiable kid." (pg 16 chapter 3)
6. "McCandless was smallish with the hard, stringy physique of an itinerant laborer." (pg 16 chapter 3)
7. "There was something arresting about the youngsters eyes. Dark and emotive, they suggested a trace of exotic blood in his heritage." (pg 16 chapter 3)
8. "He had the kind of sensitive good looks that women would fuss over" (pg 16 chapter 3)
9. "His face had a strange elasticity: it would be slack and expressionless one minute, only to twist suddenly into a gaping over-sized grin." (pg 17 chapter 3)
10. "It was a different story with Alex. He was the hardest worker I've ever seen." (pg 18 chapter 3)

Indirect:
1. "Long captivated by the writing of Leo Tolstoy, McCandless particularly admired how the great novelist had forsaken a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute" (author's notes).
2. "He had an answer for everything that I threw at him" (pg 6 chapter 1)
3. "Gallien asked weather or not he had a hunting license 'Hell no,' Alex scoffed. 'How I feed myself is none of the government's business. Fuck there stupid rules.'" (pg 6 chapter 1)
4. "there was just no talking the guy out of it." (pg 6 chapter 1)
5. "Alex insisted on giving Gallien his watch, his comb, and what he said was all of his money" (pg 7 chapter 1)
6. "he could talk for hours" (pg 16 chapter 3)
7. "A lot of folks here in town got pretty attached to old Alex" (pg 16 chapter 3)
8. " He never quit in the middle of something. If he started a job he'd finish it, it was almost like a moral thing for him." (pg 18 chapter 3)
9. "He set pretty high standers for himself" (pg 18 chapter 3)
10. "He read a lot. Used a lot of really big words. I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking." (pg 18 chapter 3).

I think that Chris McCandless was a hard worker and a very smart person from what I have read so far. He seems like he does not want all of the things that people seem to want; for example a new car. He sounds as if he wanted to live off of only the things that he needed. He set up high goals for himself that may have gotten him into dangerous situations that it would not get any 'normal' person in. Although he did "too much thinking" it sounds as if he had a good heart and was kind to anyone he met along the way during his travels.