Education: Into the Wild Exam

Exam:

1. Chris McCandless’s mother’s real name was

A) Wilhelmina

B) Lori

C) Tracy

D) Billie

2. On Chris McCandless’s journey he was a father figure who offered to adopt him:

A) Gail Borah

B) Bob Burres

C) Ronald Franz

D) Jim Gallien

3. Ronald Franz was ____ years old when he met Chris McCandless in January 1992.

A) 74

B) 92

C) 80

D) 88

4. Who gives Chris McCandless a mobile home to live in while he was in Bullhead City?

A) Charlie

B) Carl

C) George

5. The Niland Slabs was a…

A) huge flea market

B) mall

C)

6. Chris McCandless was planning to embark on his journey to Alaska in the…

A) Summer

B) Spring

C) Winter

D)Fall

7. Chris McCandless catalogued in his diary the following bounty of wild meat except:

A) porcupine

B) squirrel

C) grey bird

D) rabbit

8. When Chris McCandless’s food supply from McCunn started to dwindle down to almost nothing he…

A) was happy

B) began to worry

C) began to head home

D) was calm

9. A few days before Chris McCandless died he recorded in his diary this phrase:

A) Dear God in Heaven, please forgive me my weakness and sins.

B) You are the only person in the world who could possibly understand what I’m saying.

C) If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t everhear from me again I want you to know you’re a great man.

10. Chris McCandless was found dead just outside of:

A) Yellowstone National Park

B) Crater Lake National Park

C) Olympic National Park

D) Denali National Park

Short Answer Essay:

11.  What does the simile represent in the following passage: “He is smiling in his picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God” (199).

Education

Vocab:

1. Hyperkinetic (adj): frenetic; hyperactive; wildly fast-paced or excited.

“Westerberg, a hyperkinetic man with thick shoulder and a black goatee, owns a grain elevator in Carthage and another a few miles out of town but spends every summer running a custom combine crew…” (16).

2. Plebeian (noun): one of the common people.

“He liked the community’s stasis, its plebian virtues and unassuming mien” (18).

3. Vagabond (adj): characteristic of a wanderer; moving from place to place.

McCandless tramped around the West for the next two months, spellbound by the scale and power of the landscape, thrilled by minor brushes with the law, savoring the intermittent company of other vagabonds he met along the way” (29).

4. Hegira (noun): a journey especially when undertaken to escape from a dangerous or undesirable situation.

“McCandless made an indelible impression on a number of people during his hegira, most of whom spent only a few days in his company, a week or two at most” (48).

5. Terminal (adj): of or relating to an end, extremity, boundary, or terminus

“And like McCandless, upon embarking on his terminal odyssey, Ruess adopted a new name or, rather, a series of new names” (93).

6. Monomania (noun): excessive concentration on a single object, thought, or idea.

“He could be generous and caring to a fault, but he had a darker side as well, characterized by monomania, impatience, and unwavering self-absorption, qualities that seemed to intensify through his college years” (120).

7. Synthetic (adj): of, or relating to, or produced by chemical or biochemical synthesis.

“…had been erected to collect data from satellites equipped with synthetic aperture radar of Walt McCandless’s design” (161).

8. Boggy (adj) wet spongy ground; poorly drained area.

“Moreover, as the ground thawed, his route turned into a gauntlet of boggy muskeg and impenetrable alder, and McCandless belatedly came to appreciate one of the fundamental (if counterintuitive) axioms of the North…” (165).

9. Tableau (noun): graphic description or representation; a depiction is a scene.

“Sitting down on a steel cot across from the stove to mull over this eerie tableau, I encounter evidence of McCandless’s presence wherever my vision rests” (179).

10. Taiga (noun): a moist subarctic forest dominated by conifers that begin where the tundra ends.

 “As the altimeter needle brushes five thousand feet, we crest a mud-colored ridge, the earth drops away, and a breathtaking sweep of taiga fills the Plexiglas windscreen” (200).

US & World News: Social Issues

           Jon Krakauer covers many social issues in his New York Times Bestseller Into The Wild.  A prominent social issue discussed in the book is materialism and community. Christopher McCandless wanted to live in the wild where materialism did not exist but realized lack of community could be just as detrimental as materialism.

             Today in America technology is constantly changing and new objects are being produced or invented. Materialism is quickly growing and consuming our nation. People have become more and more greedy, always wanting to outdo one another with what they obtain. Materialism can consume a person’s life and mind (“Materialism in America”). One thing that Chris McCandless despised about our society was that we take for granted and forget how fortunate we are. There are millions of people who starve each day and we do nothing to help. Chris felt that materialism was corrupting society and he wanted to leave that behind.

            Leaving a world of corruption, Chris met many others who were also searching for solitude and happiness in the wild. He created bonds with these people and left a deep impression on them. Throughout his journey with every person he met he spoke of how the wild allowed him to see the world in a new way. It became even clearer to him that worldly materialistic distractions were not important at all. Towards the end of Chris’s journey he was isolated and essentially alone. Had he not been alone he might not have died because of help from others when he was suffering through starvation and later poison. Creating bonds with people is very important and isolation can cause illness, diseases, and early death (Szalavitz, Maia). Before Chris died he realized that happiness wasn’t real unless it could be shared with others. He realized the importance of loved ones and community.

            Chris found that through his relationships with people who held the same values as him, he was able to find happiness in the wild. Without people in the wild he was isolated and that may have been a contributing factor to his death. Chris understood in the last days of his life that materialism had the power to corrupt and isolation or lack of community was just as detrimental to a person’s health and well being. 

Headline News

Purpose:

Jon Krakauer believed that what Christopher McCandless stood for and found out in the wild was important. The message of youth, idealogy, identity, and finding happiness and freedom is important and should be shared.  No one could have expected McCandless to completely walk away from everyone he loved. Krakauer uses elusiveness in the tone of his writing because he did not fully know all the reasons behind McCandless’s motives. He was filled with love, compassion, and kindness yet he still searched for more. The search for identity, happiness, and freedom were all values Krakauer could identify to McCandless journey and believed there were important elements to his journey that should be shared.

Research:

Jon Krakauer spent three years putting together his first article on Chris McCandless. He later wrote the book “Into the Wild” about McCandless’s journey. Krakauer spoke to every person who had any interaction with McCandless. He read McCandless’s journals, followed his trails, and even read his papers as a student in high school. Krakauer believed that he understood McCandless and after writing the book admitted there were some questions he still did not have answers behind McCandless’s motives. Krakauer had a long list of citations from many books used in the novel. The most repeated book used in the story was “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London that McCandless had a deep love for. In his acknowledgments he thanks the McCandless family who gave him full access to Chris’s letters, papers, and photographs.

Language:

Krakauer uses pathos throughout “Into the Wild” to draw readers in and realize how important McCandless believed his quest and journey was. Krakauer uses a remorseful tone in his writing that is displayed. An example is, “‘I was sure I’d heard Chris calling me,’ she insists, tears rolling down her cheeks, ‘…He was begging, ‘Mom! Help Me!’ But I couldn’t help him because I didn’t know where he was.” This sad quote creates pity and causes the reader to empathize and feel remorseful for the loved ones McCandless left behind. Krakeaur’s remorseful tone can also be seen when he compares himself with McCandless. Krakauer said he felt, “a similar intensity and heedlessness” when he was that age and he had the same hopes to find himself and discover happiness. Krakauer empathizes with McCandless and probably felt a little attached to him and remorseful that he died.

Important Quotes:

- “He had spend the previous for years, as he saw it, preparing to fulfill an absurd and onerous duty: to graduate from college. At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence.” McCandless wanted to escape from the materialism of society; he was tired of the conformity.  He was ready to just live without the weight of the things society put on people. He wanted to live fully.

- “Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often.”  McCandless sought truth he wanted to know the world and why some people were good and some were bad. He wanted to understand humanity.

- “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experience, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” McCandless wanted a life full of meaning he wanted to learn about the beauty and joy that life could offer. The core of his journey was his passion for adventure and finding freedom and happiness.

- “HAPPINESS [is] ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED.” McCandless finally realizes that he can’t be truly happy without others. He needed others to survive and thrive.

- “He is smiling in the picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God.” Before McCanfless died he realized that happiness was only real when shared but that he had so much happiness with his loved ones. He had found himself and discovered the beauty of the wild. He was able to peacefully die with this new knowledge.

Universal Ideas:

Identity-

McCandless was trying to find himself when he went into the wild. No one will ever know exactly what his motives were. No one knew he could leave his parents behind leaving them heartbroken. His loved ones never truly knew him and it goes to show that you can never completely and fully understand all the facets of a person.

Principles-

McCandless was true to his principles and values till he died. When he speaks about not wanting to grow to be materialistic like his parents he means what he says with conviction. He gives away his savings for college to charity and survives with little to no money. Many people he meets on his journey respect him because he is so true to his principles and values

Freedom-

McCandless yearns to be free from society’s rules and oppression. By finding freedom through nature he believes he can find true happiness. He believed if he were alone he wouldn’t have to follow rules or standards. He wanted to live for himself.

Forgiving-

McCandless holds anger towards his parents because of their shortcomings. He believes it is injustice and even though he is very kind and intelligent he cannot seem to forgive them. At the very ending of the story I believe McCandless is able to accept that his parents never meant to hurt him and he forgives them.

Intimacy-

McCandless often hurts the people who love him because he is unwilling to let them be close. Throughout the book the readers can see how his decisions hurt others. He doesn’t let people close to him so that he can easily say goodbye and continue on his journey.