Evolution Of Characters In Into The Wild

How can authors show the evolution of characters? Employing various settings for a character throughout literary pieces can change their attributes. Diverging environments can affect characters’ tones along with their ethics, motives, and worldview. By devising multiple situations in which characters reside, authors deliberately insinuate change. Setting, therefore, directly correlates with the advancement of characters and their personas. Exemplifying this relationship, Jon Krakauer frequently depicts an evolution of the main character, Chris McCandless, in his book Into the Wild, as he treks across country in search of a greater purpose in life. Throughout the novel, Chris ventures to various locations, each of which ultimately bring him
After his departure from Detrital Wash, Chris soon after found himself in Carthage, South Dakota, where he became considerably attached to a man by the name of Wayne Westerberg. Picking up a hitchhiker on the side of the road, Wayne was clueless as to the fact this stranger would soon become much more than simply an acquaintance. Some time after Wayne had given Chris a ride in Montana, Chris sought out Wayne in Carthage with the prospect of work at Wayne’s grain elevator. After his shift in motive at Detrital Wash towards his ultimate goal of Alaska, the pressing concern to be prepared for that journey followed. This ultimately led to a more concentrated objective in Carthage, finding work to gain money for supplies. Although Chris’s intent may have been only to stay as long it took to acquire an adequate amount of money for his needs, he became attached to Westerberg, forming a bond which would evoke a change in Chris’s personality. Wayne got arrested a short time after Chris began working for him. However, exemplifying Chris’s shift in ideals towards commitment and friendship, Chris left for a short period of time but eventually returned after Wayne’s sentence was over to help out. Chris came back not since he needed any more money for his Alaskan journey, which he did not, but since he had formed a bond with Wayne, developing aspects of his character and personality. This progression of his persona allowed him to become more social, regaining a connection to society which he had long ago attempted to sever. As Borah, a man whom worked closely with Chris at the grain elevator, recalled, “[Chris] talked a lot when we were together. Serious stuff, like he was bearing his soul, kind of. He said he could tell me things he couldn’t tell the others,” (Krakauer, 63). His environment in Carthage permitted Chris