Into the Wild
Chapters 1-2
Bellwork
Please begin the following activity at the bell.
• Read and annotate the excerpt from “Letter from a
Birmingham Jail,” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Annotations should focus on evidence of parallelism and
periodic structure, as well as exigence, audience, purpose,
ethos, pathos, and logos.
• Read and annotate again.
• Read and annotate AGAIN.
Author’s Note
Share annotations about the following with your group and
add to your own as needed.
• McCandless’s motives
• Themes of the book
• Authorial presence
• The complexity of the subject matter
Epigraphs
1. Read the first page of your group’s assigned chapter.
2. Review & share your annotations with your group, adding
to your own notes as needed.
3. Make the following notes in your text margins:
• Circle the source of the epigraph.
• Explain why the author used this as the introduction to
this chapter.
• Explain how the epigraph enhances or enriches the ideas
in the chapter.
4. Share answers with the class when called upon to do so.
Structure of the Text
Continue to take notes in the margin of your book & highlight
&/or underline textual evidence.
1. What is the purpose of your group’s chapter? What is it’s
main focus? What is described in the chapter?
2. What is the organization of your group’s chapter?
• Beginning: How long is each introduction/exposition in
the chapter? Why does the author organize the chapter
this way? What does it show the reader?
• End: What is the purpose of the last paragraph of your
group’s chapter? Is the last paragraph effective? What
big question is the reader left with?
3. Share answers with the class when called upon to do so.
Extended Analysis
Highlight lines in your text that evidence the answers to the
following questions & annotate in margins as needed.
1. How do Ch. 1 & 2 represent the idea of “beginning & end”?
2. What is the mood the reader feels by having the
organization of the two chapters arranged like this?
3. What is the tone the author is using as he sets up the
reader to react a certain way?
4. Is he creating McCandless as a sympathetic or an
unsympathetic character? How does he do this?
5. Are the actions of Chris McCandless the actions of a
“normal” or a “sane” person?
Extended Analysis
Highlight lines in your text that evidence the answers to the
following questions & annotate in margins as needed.
6. What kind of diction do you notice in Krakauer’s writing?
Are his word choices effective? Why or why not?
7. How does the author use imagery?
8. What type of language does Krakauer use? What was he
attempting to do with the language he used? What type of
reactions did he want?
9. What sentence structure does the author use and to what
effect?
Extended Analysis
Highlight lines in your text that evidence the answers to the
following questions & annotate in margins as needed.
9. What evidence does the author give to support his story?
10. Why was Jim Gallien, who gives McCandless a ride, initially
concerned?
11. What does he do to help McCandless?
12. Why was Gallien unconcerned at the end of the chapter
and why does he leave McCandless alone?
13. How do McCandless’s actions show he is not a “normal”
hiker?
Conclusion Argument
Work alone to answer the following question in one periodic
paragraph on your own sheet of paper.
Based on your annotations and discussions, analyze Krakauer’s
writing style. Remember to build to your main point through
dependent parallel constructions as demonstrated in “Letter
from a Birmingham Jail,” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.