Into the Wild blog 4

My reaction to Chris’s job at McDonald’s was very surprised.  He always did odd jobs and offered to take on the nastiest and hardest ones.   I was taken aback when it said he was working there, because it just didn’t seem like the kind of job he would take.  I think he might have applied there because he thought he would be in that area for a good amount of time and needed a steady, paying job.      

    Colleagues from McDonald’s described Chris as very dependable, but he worked at his own pace.  In the book, a girl named Lori Zara says, “He was reliable, though, a body that showed up every day, so they didn’t dare fire him.  When he talked, he was always going on about trees and nature and weird stuff like that. We all thought he was missing a few screws.”  

     It did not really seem that Chris cared for them, but at the same time he didn’t mind working with them.  He mostly kept to himself and did not hang out with them outside of work.  If I worked with him, I would probably think he was a little crazy too.  The way he always talked about nature, and the way he interacted with people, would make me feel uncomfortable.

     Chris’s relationship with Jan and Bob Burres is strong.  They meet Chris as he arrives tired and hungry by the side of the road.  The Burres try to take care of Chris, attempting to understand his desire to live free of society, but they also warn him of the dangers in his actions.  The Burres are no longer close to their own son.  They try to convince him of the dangerous things that could lie ahead and tell him to go back to his mother, though they fail.   They like Chris and are both interested and frustrated by him.  They decide that he will eventually grow out of his weird ways.

     I think Ronald Franz was most affected by Chris because he wasn’t used to having company around. All of his family was dead, and when they started to get close he didn’t want to let him go.  Chris was like a son to Franz, and the thought of Chris leaving really upset him.  It upset Franz so much he wanted to adopt him, but never got the chance.  He also admired that Chris did not much care what other people thought.  Chris always said do what you want to do and take chances.  I think he really inspired Franz, because Franz began to take Chris’ advice and change his lifestyle.