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Stephen Katz
Mary Ellen is an annoying hiker from Florida who tags along with Bryson and Katz for a few days in the first week of their hike. She exaggerates her hiking skills, talks constantly about useless topics, blows her nose incessantly, and irritates Katz immensely. Bryson wryly notes that despite the romantic promise of solitude in the woods, it’s still possible to get stuck in the company of utterly stupid and banal people.
Mary Ellen Quotes in A Walk in the Woods
The A Walk in the Woods quotes below are all either spoken by Mary Ellen or refer to Mary Ellen . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4 Quotes
“You're too fat. You should have lost weight before you came out here. Shoulda done some training, ‘cause you could have like a serious, you know, heart thing out here.”
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Explanation and Analysis:
Shortly after Bryson ruminates on how kind and considerate hikers seem to be on the Trail, he and Katz bump into an insufferable woman named Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen displays an astounding lack of tact in the she way she talks to Katz. Here, for example, she berates Katz for his weight despite being a hefty woman herself. Mary Ellen ends up latching onto Bryson and Katz for a few days, though her persistent bragging and self-serving quirks prompt them to ditch her (although they later feel guilty about this). Mary Ellen embodies the exact opposite behavior of most hikers Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum
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Mary Ellen Character Timeline in A Walk in the Woods
The timeline below shows where the character Mary Ellen appears in A Walk in the Woods. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
On their fourth night, Bryson and Katz befriend a woman named Mary Ellen from Florida who talks incessantly. She monologues about how they overpaid for their gear and...
(full context)
Bryson, Katz, and Mary Ellen hike laboriously over Blood Mountain (which is 4,461 feet high) and head toward Neels Gap,...
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...keep going. He’s also starting to feel fitter. Even Katz looks happy. They learn than Mary Ellen already left them behind, and they feel like the day is just getting better and...
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Chapter 5
Two days later, Mary Ellen is still tagging along with Bryson and Katz, asking annoying, irrelevant questions about their star...
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Unexpectedly, Katz feels bad for ditching Mary Ellen . Bryson doesn’t, reasoning that Mary Ellen went into the woods of her own accord...
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...it’s always tough going. They bump into a fit-looking, middle-aged man and immediately ask about Mary Ellen . It turns out that she camped with the man last night and spent most...
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...pie for him ever again, and Katz sheepishly nods. Two days later, they learn that Mary Ellen dropped out and left the Trail after overzealously trying to hike 35 miles in two...
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