Final Blog

What does it mean, in your opinion, to write the environment? What authors, artists, poets do you think successfully wrote the environment this semester?

Into the Wild. Due Tuesday, May 5 by 9:00 AM

Please respond to one of the following questions:

1. What significance, if any, do you attach to the note Chris left in the margins of Dr. Zhivago: “Happiness only real when shared” (189) as he neared the end of his life?


2. On Thursday we watched a large portion of the documentary The Call of the Wild about Ron Lamothe's journey to retrace Chris's own two-year plus odyssey. In what ways did the documentary aid in your understanding, connection, or feelings toward Chris? Or, did you find the documentary distracting? Share your thoughts on the documentary and Ron's journey.

3. Is Into the Wild a man's book? Are there gender issues in the narrative? Look, perhaps, at how women and men are portrayed in the book. What does the book say about men and particularly young men?

Extra Post: Art Presentations. Due by Thursday, April 30, 9 AM

For those of you that may be a bit short in your requisite blog posts, here is an extra post:

We have now gone through our six art presentations, learning about photographers, conceptual artists, and glass blowers. Of the six, which artist did you find most compelling? Whose work grabbed you the most? What did you find inspiring or challenging or engaging about the artist and his or her work? On the opposite side, which artist could you not relate to? Why, in your opinion, was this artist not as engaging?

Into the Wild, through page 171. Due Thursday, April 30 by 9AM

Please respond to one of the following questions:

1. Chapter 14 and 15 are devoted to Krakauer's own experience on the Stikine Ice Cap. What is the purpose of this extended story in Into the Wild? Do you think Krakauer's decision to insert himself into the narrative added to our detracted from Chris's story? Did it help you to understand how Krakauer came to interpret Chris's motives?

2. Let's think about gender roles: how are females portrayed in the book? Is it different than how men are portrayed? What does the book say about men, particularly young men?

3. We have noted that this story is about a real person, who lived, breathed, and died and this sense of knowing that Chris existed changes how we read, understand, and analyze the story. In what ways do you relate to Chris or to the idea of undertaking an adventure or odyssey?

Into the Wild, through page 126. Due by Tuesday at 9:00AM

Please respond to one of the following questions:

1. In Chapter 11 "Chesapeake Bay" we finally meet Chris' parents and his sister and we learn about Chris as a child. What do we learn about Chris and his parents in the chapter?

2. Krakauer introduces Chapter 12, which includes Chris McCandless’s discovery of his father’s infidelity, with a quotation from GK Chesterton: “For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy.” Who is guilty in this story (e.g. the book), if anyone? Do they deserve justice or mercy?

3. Why do you think Krakauer spends a chapter in the book on Everettt Russ (chapter 9)? What role does this chapter play in the overall narrative of Into the Wild? What can we learn about Chris McCandless from the story/experience of Russ?

4. Why do you think that the bus has become such a tourist or pilgrimage site? What is the appeal? What are people looking for when they go there?

Into the Wild, through page 85. Due Thursday, April 23 by 9:00AM

Please respond to one of the following questions:

1. Chapter 7 opens with an epigraph excerpted from Solitude: A Return to the Self by Anthony Storr. What does this quote suggest about Chris? Why is this quote placed at the beginning of this chapter? How does it frame our reading of Chapter 7?

2. Chapter 8 focuses on other "Alaska Types" (71) such as Rosselli the Mayor of Hippie Cove and Waterman. What does it mean to be an "Alaska Type?" In what ways did Chris fit this mold? In what ways was Chris different than the other adventurers discussed in the chapter?

3. Chapter 6 is devoted to the friendship between Ronald Franz and Chris McCandless. Why do you think the connected like they did? Why do you think was able to develop such strong relationships with other tramps or other "outsiders" such as Jan Burres and Wayne Westerberg? What do you these friendships or bonds tell you about Chris? What does Chris’ relationship with Ronald Franz let us know about Chris? What was Chris (Alexander) seeking/needing from Ron and from Wayne?

Into the Wild, through page 46. Due Tuesday, April 21 by 9:00AM

Please respond to one of the following questions:

1. Why does Chris change his name to Alexander Supertramp? What does the name change signify?

2. How is your reading of the story affected knowing that Krakauer is writing about a real person who died? And who was close to your age? Krakauer also makes it a point to share his own biases throughout the book and not hide is authorial presence. He writes in the Author’s Note: “I won’t claim to be an impartial biographer. McCandless’s strange tale struck a personal note that made a dispassionate rendering of the tragedy impossible” (ii). In the opening pages how is Krakauer’s bias emerging? How does his obvious presence change your reading or does it?

3. The opening chapter, “The Stampede Trail” is only 5 pages long, but is our first introduction to Alex/Chris. What do we learn about him in these opening pages? Does he come across as a likable character, someone you can identify with? We, as readers, are also presented with his final postcard. Why? What does that postcard tell us about McCandless? What does chapter 4 (in which we learn about Alex’s tramping, including his canoe trip) tell us about Alex?

4. Why do you think Alex “found a surrogate family in Westerberg” (18)? In chapter 3 what do we learn about Alex’s own biological family and his relationship with them?