After Thoughts...

Think about the following questions:  Do you feel, as one letter writing did, that there is "nothing positive at all about Chris McCandless' lifestyle or wilderness doctrine...surviving a near death experience does not make you a better human it makes you @#$% lucky" (116); or do you see something admirable or noble in his struggles and adventures?  Was he justified in the pain he brought to family and friends in choosing his own solitary course in life?

Wise Men in Their Bad Hours

Chris was like a wise man, looking down at the foolish people who have it easy in life. Chris felt like nearly everyone he knew was like that, especially his parents. He thought you need to work for things in life and not indulge in unnecessary things. Though he did not agree with how they did these things, he sometimes would envy them and how they could have fun and not have to worry about anything.

Chapter 18 and Epilogue

1. How does the Doctor Zhivago quote that opens the chapter foreshadow McCandless' actions and writings later in the chapter?  Cite two specific examples using quotes from the text.

Chris started to have faith in something and sacrificed himself for that faith. "... he intended to abandon the life of solitary vagabond, stop running so hard from intamacy..."(189).

2. Do you believe McCandless is to blame for his own death?  Explain your answer using two specific details from the chapter.  Use quote to support your response.

Yes and no. If Chris had searched for a possible way to get across when he realized what was happening, he would have come across the basket chained to his side of the river and would have been able to get across and get help. Instead, he just stayed in the bus and withered away. Though it was not really his fault that he mistook a poisonous plant for wild potato plant. " Extremely weak, fault of pot. seed. Much trouble just to stand up. Starving. Great jeopardy"(189).

Chapter 17

1. Krakaur observes that it is not "unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders."  Identify two details from this chapter where McCandless exemplifies this observation.  Explain whether or not McCandless would agree with Krakauer.  Finally, compare McCandless' view with that of one of the following men mentioned in this chapter: Andy Horowitz, Gordon Samel, Roman Dial, Sir John Franklin.

Chris would mostly agree with this quote. In an earlier chapter, Chris mentions that he wanted to this while he was still young. He realized that older people do not have the same passion for things like tramping. Just because he knew they did not have as strong of a passion as him, did not mean they could not do it. In an earlier chapter, Chris told an 80 year old man to sell his apartment and all of his belongings and go live your life. The old man took this to heart, sold everything, and went and lived in a trailer on the outskirts of town. Both Andy Horowitz and Chris yearned for more adventure.

2. Krakauer goes on to claim that McCandless' "life hummed with meaning and purpose.  But the meaning he wrested from existence lay beyond the comfortablepath."  Do you agree with Krakauer?  Support your response with two specific quotes from this chapter.

I agree with Krakauer. Chris needeed to get off the comfortable path and create his own path, hoping some will follow. This path he created was one that survived off of the land  and not let anyone tell him what to do and how to do it. Chris thought he did not need money or his own car  to survive across North America.

*ADDITIONAL TOPICS FOR WRITING: Adventure and freedom versus safety.

You have to leave safety behind to be adventurous. To be adventerous is to leave behind things that are familiar to you and try something new or to be brave and do something risky. Adventerous people go rockclimbing or do anything risky knowing that their is a chance something could happen to you. Also, there is no safety in freedom. Men and women in America leave the safety of their homes and families to risk their lives and fight for our countries freedom.

Chapters 12 and 16

1. Contrast McCandless' feelings about his family with his family's feelings about him. How does the Thoreau quote that opens the chapter match Chris' feelings about his family?  Support your points with two quotes from the reading.

Chris did not like how his parents tried to buy his respect. They tried to get him a new car, which made him very unhappy. He loved the old car that he had and was very offended that his parents thought they could buy his respect. " Chris's smoldering anger, it turns out, was a fueled by a discovery he'd made two summers earlier, during his cross-country wanderings"(121). "...Walt and Billie made his 'entire life seem life a fiction'"(123). The Thoreau quote shows how Chris felt about his family because he did not like how they tried to make everything better with their money and did not tell him the truth.

2. Read the italicized passage on page 168 that McCandless wrote and the italicized passage he highlighted from Tolstoy on page 169.  Based on these writings and events in this chapter, what convinced McCandless that it was time to return to civilization?  What did he learn from his time "in the wild"?  Support your answer with specific details.

The second passage made Chris go back because it says you can only be happy when you live for others and to love your neighbor. Chris marked this passage so it obviously moved him.

*ADDITIONAL TOPICS FOR WRITING: What did McCandless expect this "greatest adventure" to accomplish?

Chris wanted to prove that no one owned him and he could do what he wanted to. He wanted to prove that he did not need money or a car to survive. He wanted to get closer to nature and use it to survive. Chris did not want to depend on anyone to get something done. He thought that people who did not do the same thing as him were not living life to the fullest and was amazed at how content some people are with that.

Chapters 10 and 11

1. Identify two qualities that Walt McCandless and his son have in common.  Support each quality with a quote from the text.

Hard Workers- "...driven, he won  am academic scholorship at Colorado State University in nearby Fort Collins"(105).

Adventurous-" Walt, Chris, and Walt's youngest son from his first marriage reached the 13,000-foot elevation"(109).

2. Identify two specific details or examples (using quotes) from Chris McCandless' childhood/high school years that seem to predict his later behavior.  What is it about these events that help to explain his actions as an adult?

" Likewise, said Walt, when I tried to teach him to play golf, he refused to accept that form is everything"(111). This shows how Chris was very determined and would not let anyone change is mind.

 "...He would lead us on long, killer runs through places like farmers' fields and constuction sites, places we wern't supposed to be, and intentionally try to get us lost. We'd run as far and as fast as we could, down strange roads, through the woods whatever. The whole idea was to  lose our bearings, to push ourselves into unknown territory"(112). This shows how Chris liked to go into the unknown and still push himself.

*ADDITIONAL TOPICS FOR WRITING: "How is it that a kid with so much compassion could cause his parents so much pain?" (104).

Chris did have compassion, but none for his parents. Chris loved socializing. Meeting new people was fun to him. He loved learning things about them and getting to know them. Chrsi already knew his parents very well, so he just tossed them aside. Also, Chris loved his parents as parents, but he didn't respect them as people. He looked at his parents like strangers, and disagreed on their opinions and how they viewed life. 

Chapters 6 and 7

1.  Ronald Franz and McCandless establish a father-son type of relationship.  Identify one benefit or drawback (using a quote)that each gets out of the relationship.

" He also turned the tables and started lecturing the grandfatherly figure abou the shortcomings of his sedentary existence, urging the old eighty-year-old to sell most of his belongings, move out of his apartment, and live on the road. Franz took thses harangues in stirde and in fact delighted in the boy's company."

2. Before McCandless leaves for Alaska, Wayne Westerberg offers to buy him a plane ticket.  McCandless refuses, however, claiming, "flying would be cheating.  It would wreck the whole trip" (67).  Find and explain two quotse from this chapter that demonstrate whether or not McCandless actually lives by his own words.

" Said he could live for a month on nothing but twenty-five pounds of rice"(63). This shows how all McCandless mostly ate rice, and that that was all he needed.

"Borah drove him to the Kmart in Mitchell to shopfor some last pieces of gear"(67). I know Alex needed gear to survive, but he went out and bought a bunch of stuff he probably could have gotten from his friends.

*ADDITIONAL TOPICS FOR WRITING: "So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.  The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure" (57).

This quote is saying how even when some people need to take risks, they are afraid to so they don't. They are afraid of leaving that sense of security and the possibility they may not get it back. It is also saying how important the passion for adventure is.

Chapters 4 and 5

1.  Chapter 4 ends with the following quote from McCandless' journal: "It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found" (37).  Identify an experience from this chapter and explain what "meaning" you think Alex has found.  Use a quote to support your explanation.

"McCandless was exhilarated:  He saw the flash flood as an opportunity to shed unnecessary baggage....He buried his Winchester deer-hunting rifle and a few other possesions that he might want to recover....he arranged all his paper currency in a pile on the sand- and put a match to it"(29).

Alex loved hitchhiking and living off of the land. He didn't need money or a car to survive. After burying his belongings and burning his money, he felt triumphant.

2.  What does "Plastic People" in chapter 5 mean?  What are two things McCandless considered plastic?  Do you agree with his assessment?  Support your answer with a quote.

By "plastic people", Alex means they spend every day getting up, going to work, and going home. No adventure. 2 things he considered plastic were punching a clock and doing whatever they were told to do. I do agree that some people are plastic. Do whatever is told of them and don't stand up for themselves."McCandless explained to Burres that he'd grown tired of Bullhead, tired of punching a clock, tired of the "plastic people" he worked with, and decided to get the hell out of town"(43).

*ADDITIONAL TOPICS FOR WRITING: McCandless' definition of living life to its fullest.

Living life to the fullest for McCandless was living off of the land. He spent as little money as possible and accepted few items offered to him by friends. He could go wherever he wanted to and as long as he wanted. He didn't have the weight of his parents consent on him. To McCandless, everyone who didn't do what he did wasn't living their lives to the fullest.

Chapters 1-3

1. After reading chapter 1, use two adjectives to describe your impressions of Chris McCandless (Alex).  Explain and support each adjective with a specific quote from the chapter.

a.Adventurous- Alex frequently shows how adventurous he is. " A little later Alex pulled out his crude map and pointed to a dashed red line that intersected the road near the coal-mining town of Healy. It represented a route called the Stampede Trail. Seldom traveled, it isn't even marked on most road maps of Alaska. (Krakauer 5)

b.Determined- Gallien tried to talk Alex out of going into the Alaska Bush, but he wouldn't change his mind. "He was determined. Rea gung ho. The word that comes to mind is excited. He couldn't wait to head out there and get started"(6).

2. After graduating college, McCandless begins, "an epic journey that would change everything" (22).  He saw his time in college as "an absurd and onerous duty" (22).  In heading west he felt freed "from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess" (22).  Using examples from the reading explain what he meant by this.  Do you agree with his motivation for leaving?

a. As soon as Alex graduates form college, he leaves. Now that he has finished all of his schooling and everything his parents expected of him, he can do what he wants. He was tired of being told what to do and how to do it his whole life. I kind of agree with him leaving. After college, I want to travel a little bit. I don't want to cut off communication with my parents though.

 *ADDITIONAL TOPICS FOR WRITING: McCanless' family relationships and upbringing

Chris was raised in Annandale, Virginia. His father, Walt, was an aerospace engineer who designed advanced radar systems for space shuttles for NASA. Chris was very close to his younger, Carine, and had 6 half-brothers and sisters. Chris loved his parents, but didn't like how they tried to buy his respect. He was very offended when his parents tried to but him a new car, when the one he had was fine. After that, he never accepted gifts from his parents again.