HURRY ITS TIMED We do talk about Christopher McCandless in Alaska. We talk about him a lot. We can’t help ourselves. Mostly the discussion is in response to the book, and mostly it is not favorable because of the way McCandless stars as a romantic hero. Krakauer described McCandless as searching for something beyond his privileged but disappointing middle-class existence. “It would be easy to stereotype Christopher McCandless as another boy who felt too much, a loopy young man who read too many books and lacked even a modicum of common sense,” Krakauer wrote. “But the stereotype isn’t a good fit. McCandless wasn’t some feckless slacker, adrift and confused, racked by existential despair. To the contrary: His life hummed with meaning and purpose. But the meaning he wrested from existence lay beyond the comfortable path: McCandless distrusted the value of things that came easily. He demanded much of himself—more, in the end, than he could deliver.”

Which of the following best defines the word “feckless” as it is used in the paragraph above?
A.
angry
B.
somber
C.
wealthy
D.
educated
E.
irresponsible