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consider to a hindrance on societal growth . Botanists study plants of the wild , some many generations of students to come . Even Jesus , in the Bible , spent 40 days in the biologists study animals in the wild , and there are even environmental lawyers; all McCandless , into its bosom , eventually claiming both of their lives . protect the coastal region’s grizzly bears . He was an environmentalist , an eco-warrior , and Character Analysis of Nature’s Victims Jordan Lyons 3/29/2011
Citation preview
Jordan Lyons
English 106
3/29/2011
Character Analysis of Nature’s Victims
For some people, there has always been a fascination with nature. Thoreau spent
two years in the wilderness, writing his musings and experiences down, to the displeasure of
many generations of students to come. Even Jesus, in the Bible, spent 40 days in the
wilderness just to be alone and face himself and his temptations (Bible, Matt. 4.1-11, Mark
1.13, Luke 4.1-13). Environmentalists try to protect nature to the point some might
consider to a hindrance on societal growth. Botanists study plants of the wild, some
biologists study animals in the wild, and there are even environmental lawyers; all
individuals who share a fascination with nature. One of the greatest examples of nature is
the wilderness of Alaska, which lured two men, Timothy Treadwell and Christopher
McCandless, into its bosom, eventually claiming both of their lives.
Timothy lived in the wild of Katmai National Park for thirteen summers trying to
protect the coastal region’s grizzly bears. He was an environmentalist, an eco-warrior, and
an outdoorsman. Werner Herzog created a documentary named Grizzly Man, covering
Treadwell’s work with the bears of Alaska, using Treadwell’s own homemade footage for
much of it. The film covered his work with the bears, including much of his interactions
with them. He fawns over them, names them, and at one point he even professes his love
for the bears, but still he remains distant and firm enough to ensure his safety. In the end,
Timothy and his girlfriend, Amie, are mauled and eaten by one of the bears he had fought so
hard to protect, though this was a bear Timothy had previously identified as unfriendly
(Grizzly Man).
Sean Penn directed a film about Chris McCandless called Into the Wild, in which he
gave merely an interpretation of what happened, given that there is no way to know what
exactly happened, because Chris did not leave any video or memoir documenting his
journey. Because it is only an interpretation, Into the Wild is considered a work of fiction.
Chris was a bright, sophisticated college graduate with disdain for materialism and society
in general. In an attempt to escape into the wild, he leaves almost all of his possessions
behind and travels across the country, making his way to the Colorado River, Mexico, and
eventually all the way to Alaska, where he discovered and commandeered an old, broken-
down bus. He stays in this bus until his death (Krakauer, Death of an Innocent). Unlike
Treadwell, Chris was unaccustomed to living in the wild and had trouble finding food at
times, or found food, but couldn’t preserve it to last. Through his inexperience and
carelessness brought on by ravenous hunger, he makes a fatal mistake in his choice of
eatables. He mistook an inedible plant for an edible one, and suffered in his dying, unable
to seek the medical attention he needed because he had found his much sought-after
seclusion.
When comparing two similar people from two different stories, each will have his or
her own strengths and weaknesses, and these characters are no exception. The personas
exhibited by the protagonists, Timothy Treadwell and Christopher McCandless, in the
movies Grizzly Man and Into the Wild, respectively, are quite similar in their rhetorical
effectiveness, though there are variances in the several key contributing factors, such as
their interactions with other humans, their mental maturity, motives behind their seclusion,
and their approaches to death, all contributing differently, positively, or negatively to the
characters’ effectiveness.
In the Alaskan wilderness, Timothy Treadwell escaped what he considered the
burden of human interaction and fell in love with the grizzly bears. In his quest to live out
his love, he deems it prudent to slander those humans with whom he interacts the most: the
local hunters and the park service. He uses a pathetic appeal to the audience, pointing out
the helplessness of the animals to protect themselves, and often ranting angrily about how
the park service would remove their only protection – himself (Grizzly Man). In Grizzly
Man, Treadwell took some footage of his interactions with other humans, showing how he
reacts to them and how they react to him. He remarks about the intruders’ seemingly evil
intent, and he despairs at their mistreatment of a bear they see. He uses an ethical appeal as
he recounts his few interactions with the intruders, pulling from his own experiences to
make an appeal to the audience about the inhumanity and the vindictiveness of humans who
come to visit the coast he protects. He often remarks about himself or shows his expertise
in dealing with the wild animals, building his credibility in the eyes of his audience and
making his ethical appeals stronger when slandering the organizations and the other
humans. His overall interactions with other humans are mostly limited to hostile threats,
paranoia, and practical jokes, which contributes to Timothy’s perceived character flaw or
weakness regarding his human interactions.
Chris McCandless, in Into the Wild, on the other hand, has no such qualms in his
dealings with strangers. His issues are with the materialism inherently acquired by those of
modern American society. In his encounters with others, he starts out politely and reserves
judgment on them until he’s conversed with them. For example, when he enters the shop to
register to kayak down the river, he is polite until the clerk shows nothing but disdain for
Chris. By being homeless, broke, and seemingly pure-spirited, he appeals pathetically to
the audience, gaining their empathy and therefore their support in his endeavors. Also, by
being a sophisticated and learned individual, he hereby strengthens the credibility of his
character, and his support from other empathic characters in the movie, as well as the
audience. Chris is much more willing to maintain his ability to interact civilly with other
humans than Timothy, a trait which many, including myself, consider a strength, even in
those who seek seclusion.
Timothy spends much of his time on his films playing with the animals. He acts
much like a child, thinking at such a regressed level as to be comparable to a child’s thought
process. He shows his maturity, not by being more serious in his demeanor or acting like
the image of a mature adult associated with the human society from which he so desperately
flees, but in his commitment to his cause, his ability and intention to maintain a level of
safety in his interactions with the bears, and his survival skills in the wild. Timothy uses an
ethical appeal, pulling from his experience and survival skills to increase his credibility.
While not appealing to the modern male mindset of men taking their jobs, income, house
size, and family seriously and without wavering, Timothy instead appeals to a less schooled
mindset. This frame of mind includes those who are not masculine by conquering
themselves and their responsibilities, but by attempting to conquer nature. This version of
masculinity strengthens his arguments against the governmental and local interference with
the beauty of nature, but accents his social awkwardness, and therefore is both a strong and
a weak point in his character.
Chris McCandless would be a stronger character in this aspect if his story was about
a man who was successful in society and was a successful lawyer. However, his
inexperience is accentuated on a few occasions, such as his inability to properly cure the
moose meat, and his fatal mistake with the berries. The moose meat spoiled before he
could cure it; he cut the meat into thick portions as advised by South Dakota hunters, instead
of drying it in strips of jerky, as is normally done in the Alaskan bush where he was located
(Krakauer, Into the Wild 166). He is very intelligent, and graduated college toward the top
of his class with a perceived intention to continue to law school. He was very smart, but
was inexperienced regarding survival in the wild which he so desperately longed for. The
recipient of his few postcards and letters, Wayne Westerberg, commented that the source of
his quest might have been his intellect, and that thinking too much is what got him into the
mess he was in (Krakauer, “Death of an Innocent”). Being raised in an upper-middleclass
home, he also had very little experience at surviving in the wild. Due to his lack of
experience, the strength of his character’s ethical appeal is diminished, therefore reducing
his credibility. So in regard to his endeavors, his intellect and inexperience are weaknesses
in his character.
In Grizzly Man, Timothy’s purpose is to protect the bears from humans. It is
unclear what, exactly, he is protecting them from, and how he is protecting them, though he
does make several references to poachers, tourists, and, of course, the government as a
threat to nature and the bears. At one point, he takes some footage of some intruders
(Timothy does not consider himself an intruder), and how they mistreat a bear. Timothy
does talk about all the intrusions upon the wilderness, such as government planes flying
overhead, poachers, and tourists. His cause is what gives him the motivation to make it
through every summer, and what inspires him to go back the next summer. He reaches out
to the audience with a pathetic appeal, trying to evoke an emotional response. Timothy’s
cause gives his character strength of his quality with this pathetic appeal. If one has a cause
to believe in, and finds a battle to fight to help the cause, it gives one a conviction through
which crowds can be won over to the cause.
Christopher’s purpose, on the other hand, lacks coherence. According to
Westerberg, Chris didn’t understand why humans could be so cruel and mean to each other,
and therefore wanted to escape (Krakauer, “Death of an Innocent”). What is unclear is
what Christopher expected to change in his seclusion, or whether he truly planned on ever
leaving his solitude. A lack of purpose takes away from the strength of his character and
his ethical appeal to the audience. Some argue that his purpose was to conquer himself and
his internal conflict, but I disagree. I do not believe he had any goal other than running
away from his problems rather than facing them. Not having a cause to fight for or a battle
fight is a character-weakening trait.
While a cause to fight for can drive a person, their view of their own death in the
pursuit of their cause can add or subtract a lot from the character’s strength. The concept of
death did not scare Treadwell. He embraced the fact that he could die any day. He seemed
to have a view of death close to the Buddhist view. He commented in Grizzly Man that he
would like to come back in his next life as a bear. This follows a Karmic line of belief.
Timothy Treadwell’s acceptance of death gives his character’s ethical appeal more
effectiveness, because he is devoted to his cause strongly enough to come to terms with the
prospect of death in pursuit of a higher cause.
Whereas Timothy accepts that he might die and embraces it, Chris seems frightened
of the prospect. This seems confusing, because throughout the film, he seems to agree with
Heidegger’s principles of death: death is not a goal but merely stoppage, death is inevitable
and uncertain, death is the end of us and our experiences, and that these three concepts
make us wonder if our lives have any meaning (Mae). We know that Christopher held no
stock in the pursuit of awards, as he viewed such, and most, accomplishments meaningless
in the face of death (Krakauer, “Death of an Innocent”). It seems that his view of death
changes throughout the film. His last note to the world read, “S.O.S. I need your help. I
am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone, this is no joke. In
the name of God, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall
return this evening. Thank you, Chris McCandless” (Krakauer, Death of an Innocent). This
unwillingness to accept his death, as well as his last plea for help gives Chris a stronger
pathetic appeal by tugging at the hearts of the audience.
Overall, Timothy Treadwell was a more rhetorically effective character than
Christopher McCandless, in all but the aspect of human interaction. He has a stronger
ethical appeal than Chris, because of his death in spite of his experience and caution. His
death reached the audience on a deeper emotional level than Chris’s did. Timothy also has a
stronger logical appeal because what he does seems to be a more experienced,
knowledgeable, and sensible solution than what Chris does. However, Chris is the more
pathetically appealing character, mostly due to his inexperience and eventually slow and
misfortunate death. His death pulled from the audience a reaction comparable to that
toward the death of a young puppy, because of his inexperience and youth. While being
rhetorically effective in their own ways, the fact that human life was lost unnecessarily is
always a tragedy.
Works Cited
Brink, Ellen. “Uncovering the Chile in Timothy Treadwell’s Feral Tale”. The Lion and the
Unicorn. Volume 32, Number 3 2008: 304-323. Print.
Grizzly Man. Dir. Werner Herzog. Perf. Timothy Treadwell. Lions Gate Films, 2005.
DVD.
Into the Wild. Dir. Sean Penn. Perf. Emile Hirsch. Paramount Vantage, 2007. DVD.
Krakauer, Jon. “Death of an Innocent: How Christopher McCandless lost his way in the
wilds” Outside Magazine. Outside Magazine, January 1993. 7 March 2011.
Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor, 1997. Novel.
May, Todd. Death. Stocksfield: Acumen Publishing Limited, 2009. Print.
The Bible. Laodicea: Synod of Laodicea, 364 AD. Print.