83 pages 2 hours read

Gary Paulsen

The Transall Saga

Fiction | Novel | Published in 1999

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Character Analysis

Mark Harrison/Kakon

Thirteen-year-old Mark, who is renamed Kakon when he is transported to Transall (a future Earth), is the protagonist of The Transall Saga. He yearns for a life of outdoor adventure. However, his wish is fulfilled in a way he could have never imagined when a tube of blue light transports him to the world of Transall while on a multi-day hiking trip.

Stuck on Transall, Mark embarks on a four-year quest to find the light and return to his old life. He is a dynamic character who is forced to learn and adapt to challenging circumstances. Mark is shown to be an unusually resourceful and intelligent teenager in the challenges he faces during his first days on Transall. He develops his survivalist skills and intuition even further to survive hunger, animal attacks, enslavement, and war. Mark is a person of strong morals and principles; he consistently helps those in need, such as Leeta and Yonk.

When Mark has given up on ever returning to his own time, he is suddenly transported by the same blue light. Maintaining his status as the story’s hero, he devotes his life to finding cures for the Ebola virus, which he knows will later mutate into a strain that will kill most of the world’s population.

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