Jan Burres and Bob were one of the first characters introduced into the story when they found Alex 60 miles south of Oregon . Quite a cheerful and lively couple in the beginning, later to realize Jan was struggling with the disconnection of her son, Alex filled a void in Jan’s life and showed her the amazing things life had to offer. He tended to bring light to people's lives. Unfortunately, their encounter was brief because of Alex’s need of continuing the voyage. The change he made on her life also resembles that with Franz. …show more content…
The small time they spent together had such an powerful impact on Franz that he actually asked Alex to carry on his family name. Like Jan, he was dealing with the loss of a son, which explains the same emotional tie."He seemed extremely intelligent (51)," said Franz. Yet, he wanted to take care of Alex and keep him safe, though Alex pushed away every opportunity of this happening, there was a need to keep pushing. Discovering Alex’s death had such an impact on his life that he gave up his beliefs and morals.
Maybe there was a need to grip onto Alex before he suddenly left for his voyage, the humbleness in every action he made, or maybe even his vulnerability. Each character shows a different reason for showing interest, but every story seems to resemble each other. Undeniably Alex was the kid no one could ever