Getting to Know McCandless Through Direct and Indirect Characterization

Direct Characterization- the method of character development in which the author simply tells what the character is like. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/direct+characterization) 

Indirect Characterization- the writer reveals information about a character and his personality through that character's thoughts, words, and actions, along with how other characters respond to that character, including what they think and say about him. (http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/characterization.html) 

Direct Character Descriptions	Indirect Character Descriptions
Christopher McCandeless—eighteen, maybe nineteen years old, hard, stringy physique of an itinerant laborer, face had a strange elasticity.	Friendly, calm and collected, had an answer for everything that Galien questioned him about, excited, determined, gung-ho, amiable, extremely ethical, set high standards for himself, intelligent, did too much thinking, tried too hard to make sense of the world.
Jim Gallien—	Concerned, afraid of water (Nenana River),
Ken Thompson—owner of an Anchorage auto-body shop	Contumacious Alaskan with a certain fondness for driving motor vehicles where he shouldn’t.
Gordon Samel—Ken Thompson’s employee	Contumacious Alaskan with a certain fondness for driving motor vehicles where he shouldn’t, strong opinionated, steely enough to search the bus.
Ferdie Swanson—friend of Ken and Gordon, construction worker.	Contumacious Alaskan with a certain fondness for driving motor vehicles where he shouldn’t.
Butch Killien—coal miner, moonlights as an emergency medical technician for Healy Fire Department.	Insists on not carrying dead body away, job for the Alaska State Troopers.
Wayne Westerberg—thick shouldered, hyperkinetic, black goatee.	Owns two grain elevators, kind, willing to give hitchhikers work and a place to stay, drinks frequently.

  Based on these descriptions, I am getting the impression that Christopher McCandless was very focused on what he was doing, very intelligent, and not willing to do anything half-halfheartedly. He was not the type of person to go into something like a journey into the wild without getting his research, and cutting out halfway. No, McCandless was one to go into something like his trip full and not stop until he had accomplished what he wanted to.