Into The Wild
By Jon Krakauer
English Language Arts II
Name:___________________________________________
1
INTO THE WILD READING SCHEDULE
Date
March 12th
In Class
Introduction
Vocabulary
Author’s note & Chapter 1
Chapter 2 and 3 (with LC group)
Homework
Read chapter 2 & 3 and
complete LC role
March 25th
Socratic Seminar Chapters 8-15
Chapter 16 (in-class)
Chapters 17-18 and
complete Lit Circle Role
March 26th
Study for TEST
March 28th
Chapters 17-18 (with LC
Group)
Epilogue (with class)
Review for Test
ITW Test
Vocabulary.com list mastery due
ITW in class writing
March 31st
ITW Movie
March 13th
March 14th
March 17th
March 18th
March 19th
March 20th
March 21th
March 24st
March 27th
Read chapter 4 and
complete LC role
Chapter 4 (with LC group)
Read chapter 6 and answer
Chapter 5 in class
questions
Chapter 6 (review questions)
Prepare for Socratic Seminar
Chapter 7 in class
Ch.1-7
Socratic Seminar
Read chapter 9 &10 and
Chapter 8 (in class)
complete Lit Circle
Chapter 9&10 (with LC Group) Read chapter 11 and
complete LC role
Chapter 11 (with LC group)
Read chapters 12-13 and
answer questions
Chapter 12-13 (review questions) Read chapter 15 and
Chapter 14 (with class)
complete LC Roles
Chapter 15 (with LC Group)
Prepare for Socratic Seminar
Prepare for in-class writing
These dates are tentative and may change.
2
Pre-Reading Questions
1. Think about your experience hiking, backpacking, and/or existing in the wild/nature. What are the
benefits of any one of these activities?
2. Think about some alternative plans you might have to beginning college immediately after high
school. What might you do? Why would you do it, and for how long could you see yourself doing
that activity?
3.
Think about an experience you have had when you were alone and made some misjudgments
that could have led to disaster but didn’t (it doesn’t have to be in the outdoors). What
miscalculations did you make and how did you avert disaster?
3
Key Terms/People
RomanticismA movement in art and literature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in revolt against the
Neoclassicism of the previous centuries. The German poet Friedrich Schlegel, who is given
credit for first using the term romantic to describe literature, defined it as "literature depicting
emotional matter in an imaginative form." This is as accurate a general definition as can be
accomplished, although Victor Hugo's phrase "liberalism in literature" is also apt. Imagination,
emotion, and freedom are certainly the focal points of romanticism. Any list of particular
characteristics of the literature of romanticism includes subjectivity and an emphasis on
individualism; spontaneity; freedom from rules; solitary life rather than life in society; the
beliefs that imagination is superior to reason and devotion to beauty; love of and worship of
nature; and fascination with the past, especially the myths and mysticism of the middle ages.
American poets: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry David
Thoreau, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman
TranscendentalismThe adherents to Transcendentalism believed that knowledge could be arrived at not just through
the senses, but through intuition and contemplation of the internal spirit. As such, they professed
skepticism of all established religions, believing that Divinity resided in the individual, and the
mediation of a church was cumbersome to achieving enlightenment. Many distinctly Romantic
tropes echo through the pages of transcendental literature. Obviously, the predilection to turn to
the natural world for intimations of truth was a recurrent theme for the Romantics. In
Transcendental philosophy, the grind of ordinary life and society are seen as barriers between the
self and the spirit. Thus, Nature presents a way to free the mind of its typical distractions. The
very word “transcend” connotes moving beyond some stultifying condition of mind or body.
Another strongly Romantic concept that the Transcendentalists embraced was the renewed
potency and potentiality of the individual. Specifically, the imagination was glorified as one of
the defining, almost divine characteristics of consciousness. Through imagination, the human
mind could extend itself in ways that had never been considered. Transcendentalists differed
somewhat from the Romantics in that they ultimately wanted to effect change, both personally
and globally. This newly enlightened, transcendent individual could go into the world and work
to make it a better place.
Ralph Waldo EmersonIf the Transcendental Movement had a founding father, then he was most certainly Ralph Waldo
Emerson. However, he only reluctantly adopted the role of figurehead. He mostly preferred to
remain behind the scenes, observing the action but not participating.
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Henry David ThoreauNot content to simply muse and write about the new way of thinking, Thoreau sought to live the
Transcendental life to its fullest potential. He spent two years living in a self-built cabin on
Walden Pond on land that belonged to Emerson. His goal was to simplify his existence, get back
in tune with the natural world, and have more freedom to write and meditate. Thoreau would
later recount his experience in Walden, or Life in the Woods. While living on Walden Pond,
Thoreau was arrested and spent a night in jail for tax evasion. He argued that his political beliefs
forbade him from supporting the government through taxes. The experience of his arrest served
as the inspiration for an essay which would later be known as Civil Disobedience. In the essay,
Thoreau outlines the justification and even the responsibility of citizens to peacefully resist the
government’s power whenever that power reached too far.
At Walden Pond, he lived almost entirely on what the land would provide for him. He
communicated little with the outside world, despite the fact that he was only a few miles from
civilization. It is a fair criticism that Thoreau’s expression of Transcendentalist philosophy was
impractical. Not everyone can retreat into solitude for years at a time. Society would grind to a
halt were the whole world to go on leave. However, the literary output that Walden Pond allowed
for is a landmark in American philosophy.
Leo TolstoyCount Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy also known as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who primarily
wrote novels and short stories. Tolstoy was a master of realistic fiction and is widely considered
one of the world's greatest novelists. He is best known for two long novels, War and
Peace and Anna Karenina . Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical
persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis
and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral
thinker and social reformer. He was born into a wealthy family with a controlling father. He
studied to become a lawyer, but left university life to become a farmer instead.
Jack LondonJack London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the
then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to
obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone. Some of his most famous
works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush in
Alaska.
Epigraph – a quote or reference at the start of a chapter of a book that is related to the contents
of a chapter or refers to a theme in the chapter
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Literature Circle
What is a Literature Circle?
Literature Circles provides you with an opportunity to reflect upon what you have read, as well
as to contribute to the overall meaning of the text. Furthermore, the literature circle encourages
you to narrow your focus, as each group member is responsible for one specific role.
Literature Circles afford each group member the occasion to “try out a new role,” i.e. one session
you might fulfill the role of summarizer, whereas at another session you would assume the title
of motif hunter, etc. Groups will continue to cycle through the roles indicated below until each
has moved full “circle.”
Your notes will be collected and graded. In every set of notes I expect:

Neatly written or typed notes that are organized. This means MLA heading, assigned role
and chapter
Literature Circle Roles and Descriptions:
1. Discussion Director
2. Figurative Language Finder
3. Theme Detective
4. Li. Movement Monitor
5. Character Analyzer
6. Connector/Commentator
Discussion Director
What do I do?
1. Write at least 5 thought provoking questions for discussion. These should be questions which
cannot be answered with “yes or no”. You are encouraged to write more questions if you like.
Consider:





Character development
Plot development
Compare characters
Make outside the text connections
Ask for opinions/evaluations
2. Select one quote from the story, copy it, and cite the page number. Also, write a brief
paragraph explaining why you chose the quote.
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What do I do when my group meets?
Pose your questions, one at a time, to your group and try to get them to discuss the topic. Make
sure:




Everyone has a chance to respond
The same student does not respond each time
Students SUPPORT THEIR ANSWERS with evidence from the text and explanation.
Ask them why?
Take notes based on others’ roles
Figurative Language Finder
What do I do?
1. Take notes on the passages you select from the reading, which are examples of figurative
language. Refer to our class handout about this if needed. Cite page numbers

Identify: What type of figurative language is being used? How does this help the reader
understand or connect with the book?
2. Select one quote from the story, copy it, and cite the page number. Also, write a brief
paragraph explaining why you chose it.
What do I do when I meet with my group?



Share the passages you identified and read these passages to the group, as they follow
along in their books.
Discuss the following:
1. What type of figurative language is this?
2. How does this help the reader understand or connect with the book?
3. What is your opinion of this example?
4. Compare this example to others you have discussed previously.
Take notes based on others’ roles
Theme/Motif Detective
What do I do?
1. Take notes on passages/events that represent any of our theme indicators. You should copy
quotes and provide page numbers.
Theme Indicators: Truth, Fathers and sons (relationships), Risk, Simplicity, Adventure, Natural
beauty, Independence
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Motif Indicators: The pseudonym “Alexander Supertramp”, Physical pain or discomfort,
Connections with strangers, Expressions of creativity
2. Select one quote from the story, copy it, and cite the page number. Also, write a brief
paragraph explaining why you chose it.
What do I do when I meet in my group?



Share the passages you identified and read these passages to the group. As they follow
along in their books.
Discuss the development of the themes/motifs thus far in the novel-how has it grown?
Are you getting a clear picture of what the theme statement might be?
Take notes based on others’ roles
Lit. Movement Monitor
What do I do?
1. Take notes on passages/events that represent either Romanticism or Transcendentalism. You
should copy quotes and provide page numbers.
2. Select one quote from the story, copy it, and cite the page number. Also, write a brief
paragraph explaining why you chose it.
What do I do when I meet in my group?



Share the passages you identified and read these passages to the group. As they follow
along in their books.
Discuss the development of the mode thus far in the novel. Are you getting a clear picture
of how these modes connect to the themes of the story?
Take notes based on others’ roles
Character Analyzer
What do I do?
1. Provide a description of any new character(s) introduced within the assigned chapter(s). You
should quotes and include page number. Consider the following items when classifying each
character:



physical description
personality traits
relation to other characters
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
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role within the story,
noticeable change/evolution and any memorable event in which the character is involved.
If no new character is introduced, focus on a character not previously highlighted.
Special attention should be paid to character development (change over time).
2. Select one quote from the story, copy it, and cite the page number. Also, write a brief
paragraph explaining why you chose it.
What do I do when I meet in my group?



Share the passages you identified and read these passages to the group. As they follow
along in their books.
Discuss the development of the characters thus far in the novel- Why are they important?
What is their role within the story? How have they changed/developed?
Take notes based on others’ roles
Connector / Commentator
What do I do?
1. Take notes on passages/events that represent a comparison between what is happening in the
book and something outside the text. You should copy quotes and provide page numbers.

This connection may be to a current or historical event, another story you have read, or
movie/TV show you have seen. In addition, you might personally connect with a scene
and/or character, in which case you can describe how you are like that specific character
(i.e. endured a similar hardship, etc.).
2. Write a brief paragraph in which you make an evaluative comment on the plot, character(s),
motif(s), or theme(s)
What do I do when I meet in my group?




Share the passages you identified and read these passages to the group. As they follow
along in their books.
Discuss the connections you made. Encourage each group member to share one
connection too.
Share your evaluative comment on the plot. Allow each group member to share one
evaluative comment too.
Take notes based on others’ roles
Please remember to choose a different role each time your group meets. Ideally, each person will have had at
least one opportunity to try each “job” at least one time.
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Study/Discussion Questions
Answer these questions on a separate sheet of paper
Chapter 1:
1. According to Jim Gallien, what attracts some people from the lower forty-eight to Alaska?
What do they find instead?
2. Clearly, “Alex” was Chris McCandless. Why might he have used a false name with Gallien?
3. Why did Alex strike Gallien as unprepared?
4. What picture of Alex does the reader get in Chapter One? What might have motivated
his adventure?
Chapter 2:
1. Krakauer opens the chapter with an excerpt from Jack London’s White Fang. Describe the
tone of the excerpt. How does it set the scene for Chapter Two?
2. How did Ken Thompson, Gordon Samel, and Ferdie Swanson reach the abandoned bus? What
does their journey suggest about them?
3. How did the couple from Anchorage and the hunting trio determine what was inside the bus?
What specific actions did Samel take?
4. What reason did Butch Killian give for not wanting to evacuate the man’s remains?
5. Based on the details about the recovery and evacuation of his remains, what can be inferred
about Chris McCandless’s final days?
Chapter 3:
1. Describe Carthage. What about the town appealed to McCandless?
2. Characterize the relationship between Westerberg and McCandless. What admirable traits did
Westerberg see in McCandless?
3. What trait did Westerberg think got McCandless into trouble?
4. Why was Westerberg imprisoned?
5. What can be inferred about McCandless through the gift he gave Westerberg (a copy of War
and Peace)?
6. What can the reader infer about McCandless through the gift he gave his mother
(candy, chocolates, and a card)?
7. Describe McCandless’s family and educational background.
8. What appeared to be a source of discord between McCandless and his parents?
9. How did McCandless prevent his parents from finding out he left Atlanta?
Chapter 4:
1. Describe the Lake Mead National Recreation Area where Chris camped.
2. Why might McCandless have decided against seeking help from the rangers when his
car battery died?
3. What reaction did McCandless have to losing the use of his car?
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4. What was the significance of McCandless’s burning his money? What role does money play in
this chapter?
5. How did Walt and Billie learn their son was in California?
6. Why might McCandless have referred to himself in the third person in his journal entries?
7. As his adventure continued, McCandless became thinner, had run-ins with the law, and
brushes with death. Despite all these, how did he feel about his journey, and why?
Chapter 5
1. Describe Bullhead City. Why does Krakauer refer to it as an “oxymoronic” community?
2. Why was it unusual for McCandless to be attracted to Bullhead City?
3. What was McCandless’s life in Bullhead City like? Why did he ultimately leave?
4. McCandless and Jan Burres had a meaningful connection. Why? What did each see in the
other?
5. Krakauer writes of McCandless’s obsession with Jack London’s writings that he seemed to
forget they were works of fiction, constructions of the imagination that had more to do with
London’s romantic sensibilities than with the actualities of life in the subarctic wilderness.
McCandless conveniently overlooked the fact that London himself had spent just a single winter
in the North. This passage marks one of the first times Krakauer inserts his judgments about
McCandless. What does Krakauer’s opinion of McCandless seem to be?
6. Was McCandless introverted, social, or both? Explain.
7. McCandless rejected the gift of warm clothing from Burres. Why?
Chapter 6
1. What misperception did Ronald Franz have about McCandless after their first meeting? How
did McCandless clear up this misperception?
2. Describe Franz, and explain why he grew so attached to McCandless.
3. Why did McCandless resist attachment to people? Was he successful?
4. Why did Franz want to adopt McCandless, and what was the latter’s reaction?
5. Contrast Franz’s existence in Salton City with McCandless’s existence.
6. Franz took a light touch with McCandless, never pushing him too hard or making too
many demands. Why?
7. Describe the errors McCandless saw in Franz’s way of life. What did McCandless offer as a
route to happiness instead?
Chapter 7
1. McCandless would neglect to clean rancid chicken grease from a microwave, yet according
to Westerberg, he was neither lazy nor a “space cadet.” What accounted for McCandless’s lapses
in judgment?
2. How were Chris and Walt McCandless alike, and how were they different? How did this set
up a conflict between them?
3. Why might McCandless have remained celibate?
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4. What was the nature of McCandless’s relationship with Gail Borah?
5. Describe two clues that McCandless had decided to shed attachments once he reached Alaska.
6. How do the letters McCandless sends at the end of Chapter Seven foreshadow what is to
come?
Chapter 8
1. Why were many of the Alaskans who wrote letters about McCandless so critical of him? Why
were they critical of Krakauer?
2. Why might Alaskans in particular have felt critical of McCandless?
3. What question did Gene Rossellini hope to answer by adopting a primitive lifestyle, and what
did he ultimately determine?
4. Who was John Waterman? What happened to him, and why?
5. Describe Carl McCunn. How did he perish, and why?
6. Contrast McCandless with Rosellini, Waterman, and McCunn.
7. What purpose might Krakauer have in recounting the stories of Rosellini, Waterman, and
McCunn?
Chapter 9
1. Describe three similarities between Everett Ruess and Chris McCandless.
2. Everett Ruess wrote to his friend: “But then I am always being overwhelmed. I require it to
sustain life.” What did he mean?
3. Why did Everett Ruess likely adopt the name “Nemo”?
4. What might have compelled Ruess to write his name on landmarks he passed?
5. What did Ken Sleight believe happened to Ruess?
6. Why does Krakauer include the story of the papar?
Chapter 10
1. Why did Jim Gallien think the hiker found dead might be Alex?
2. Why didn’t the Alaska State Troopers take Westerberg seriously when he first called?
3. Describe the difference between the tax forms McCandless filled out for Westerberg in 1990
and in 1992. What might account for the difference?
4. Who was the first person in McCandless’s family to learn of his death, and what about the
information concerning the Alaskan hiker’s identity was ironic?
Chapter 11
1. Krakauer writes of Walt McCandless, “Even from across the room it is apparent that some
very high voltage is crackling through his wires.” What does he mean?
2. What did Chris do when he was two years old, and how does the incident reflect his
personality?
3. What was Billie’s father like? How were these characteristics reflected in Chris?
4. Why was running the ideal sport for Chris?
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5. Describe two contradictions in Chris’s personality.
6. Describe how Chris was different from his high school classmates.
7. Why was it particularly important to Billie and Walt that Chris go to college?
8. What argument did Billie present to Chris to compel him to attend college?
Chapter 12
1. Why did Walt refrain from objecting to Chris’s travels?
2. Chris boasted to his father that his grades were good enough to earn him admission to Harvard
Law School. Why might he have said this to Walt?
3. How did Chris’s relationship with his parents change in college? What accounted for the
change, at least in part?
4. Describe Chris’s political beliefs and activities in college.
5. How did Chris’s family feel about his growing distance from them—and then his
disappearance?
6. The chapter opens with a quote from Walden about a table “where were [sic] rich food and
wine in abundance, an obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away
hungry from the inhospitable board.” Chris highlighted these lines and wrote the word “Truth” at
the top of the page. Why might he have done this?
Chapter 13
1. Why did Carine wonder if things would have turned out differently if Chris had taken Buckley
with him?
2. How were Carine and Chris similar? How were they different?
3. What is Krakauer’s tone as he describes Billie’s grief?
Chapter 14
1. How does Krakauer segue from McCandless’s story to his own? What question does he
purport to answer?
2. What similarity does Krakauer identify between his and McCandless’s relationships with
figures of male authority?
3. What does Krakauer mean when he writes about picking at his “existential scabs”?
4. Describe the appeal the Alaskan mountain Devils Thumb—particularly its immense north
wall— held for Krakauer.
5. What emotion did Kai—Krakauer’s host in Petersburg— evoke from him?
6. Describe Krakauer’s response after the pilot dropped his boxes and left. Why might he have
responded this way?
Chapter 15
1. What happened to Krakauer’s tent, and why did it upset him?
2. Describe Lewis Krakauer.
3. What resolution of his conflicts with his father did Krakauer achieve?
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4. In what way was the Devils Thumb similar to medical school?
5. How did Krakauer end up summiting the Devils Thumb?
6. Krakauer wrote that he never had a doubt that climbing the Devils Thumb would change his
life. Did it? Why or why not?
Chapter 16
1. What did McCandless promise Stuckey he would do, and what wouldn’t he promise to do?
2. Krakauer suggested that McCandless might have been planning to resume a more normal life
after his Alaska adventure concluded. Why might one draw this conclusion?
3. What upset McCandless about killing the moose, and why?
4. What indicated that McCandless had decided to leave the bush earlier than he had originally
planned?
5. Why did McCandless resolve to return to the bus?
Chapter 17
1. Why didn’t McCandless carry a map?
2. Describe the terrain after Krakauer and his companions crossed the river. What feelings did it
evoke in Krakauer?
3. What did Krakauer find when he entered the bus, and how did it affect him?
4. How was McCandless’s arrogance different from Sir John Franklin’s?
5. What general point does Krakauer make about youth and risk?
6. Why did Roman think McCandless’s critics might feel the way they do?
Chapter 18
1. To what did Krakauer initially attribute McCandless’s death?
2. Ultimately, what did Krakauer determine poisoned McCandless? Why does the new
information matter to McCandless’s story?
3. Why did the cabin owners suspect McCandless was the person who vandalized them?
4. What are some likely reasons for McCandless’s failure to set a forest fire to mark his
presence?
5. Describe two indications that McCandless might have been peaceful at the end of his life.
Epilouge
1. Compare Billie’s feelings of anticipation about the trip to the bus with Walt’s.
2. What was Walt and Billie’s reaction to seeing the bus’s setting?
3. Explain how seeing the site of their son’s death gave Walt and Billie solace.
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Into the Wild Vocabulary
Please master the following list of vocabulary on Vocabulary.com. You will get credit for your
mastery of the list.
List Mastery is due:______________________________________
Chapter 1
• unsullied
• sonorous
• meandered
Chapter 2
• trough
• amalgam
• permafrost
• derelict
• oxidized
• anomaly
• opaque
• amphibious
• environs
• enigmatic
Chapter 3
• hyperkinetic
• itinerant
• estranged
• nomadic
• unencumbered
• emancipated
Chapters 4–7
• intermittent
• emasculated
• indolently
• espoused
• desiccated
• endemic
• unalloyed
• surfeit
Chapters 8–10
• hubris
• requisite
• contrived
• theatrics
• equanimity
This will count as a vocabulary test grade
• sinewy
• balks
• enigmatic
• fatuous
• compulsive
• copious
Chapters 14 and 15
• circuitous
• melodramatic
• labyrinth
• zeal
• flamboyant
• exfoliated
• ephemeral
• demarcates
• overwrought
• gauzy reverie
• callow romantic
• desideratum
• esthete
• penitent
• atavistic
• inebriated
• incendiary
• phantasmagoria
• brush name
• madrigal
• penchant
• extricated
• recumbent
• chutzpah
Chapters 11–13
• taciturn
• epiphany
•mercurial
• volition
• entrepreneurial
• malevolent
• nuance
• inequities
Chapters 16–18
• incorrigible
• Rubicon
• monomania
• perambulation
• clemency
• autonomy
• lenity
• claustrophobic
• choler
• lacerations
•indignation
• malevolent
• sanctimonious
• coppice
•hypocrite
• repertoire
• obliquely
• resilience
• anomalous
• moral absolutism
• idiosyncratic
• feral
• extemporaneous
• precipitous
• insurrectionists
• insidiously
• abbreviated trip
• recalcitrant squint
Epilogue
• delineating
• epilogue
• keening
• anomalous
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Journal Prompts:
Journal #1
We know from Jim Gallien that Chris McCandless, or “Alex,” was, by Alaskan standards,
somewhat unprepared for his journey into the wilderness. Gallien said that McCandless’ pack
looked far too small for such an adventure, and that his boots were junk. However, he seemed
intent upon getting away, going so far as to tell Gallien that he no longer needed his watch
because he didn’t even want to know what day it was. With all this in mind, do you think that he
was completely crazy, or just an unprepared idealist? Why?
Journal #2
Krakauer writes that McCandless saw the flash flood that “ruined” his car as an opportunity to
“shed unnecessary baggage.” He burned his money and buried his belongings, then set off on
foot. Do a mental inventory of your life; what items do you have that you know you could get rid
of? What do you think you absolutely couldn’t live without?
Journal #3
At this point in the text, what are your impressions of Chris/Alex? Support your claim with at
least two pieces of evidence from the text. In your paragraph include the following:
#1 Topic Sentence - should cover everything that will be discussed in that paragraph.
#2 Examples/Details - use specific times in the story when the character trait is shown
Three categories of details:
WORDS - what the character says, or what is said about the character
THOUGHTS - what the character thinks
ACTIONS - what the character actually does
#3 Quote examples of the words, thoughts or actions in the paragraphs you write as proof
of the trait.
Two categories of quotes:
DIRECT QUOTE - copy word for word what is in the book
• put what you copy in quotes ( "xxxx" )
• put the page number you copied the quote from
"Julie forgot the combination after Christmas break" (43).
INDIRECT QUOTE
• use your words to describe a specific event
• use page numbers even though it is not word for word
After Christmas break, Julie couldn't remember her locker combo (43).
#4 Explanations - be sure to explain what the quote/detail demonstrates or shows.
Make the point you want to make. Lead the reader to the conclusion you want him/her to reach:
don't expect your reader to “just get it”
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Journal #4
According to Walt McCandless, Chris caused him a tremendous amount of
pain, despite having “so much compassion.” In your opinion, is causing parents pain part of the
process of growing up, or is it avoidable?
Journal #5
John Krakauer writes that both he and McCandless were challenged by the ideals that their
fathers had for them. Consider your own life for a moment; are there expectations that have been
foisted upon you that you have no interest in fulfilling? What are they? Or, conversely, do you
find that you like some of the expectations that have been put upon you? Why?
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Socratic Seminar Chapters 1-7
Summarizing and Responding
1. Summarizing is a very important skill used to extract the main ideas from a text and explain
what the author says about them. Try to write a one-sentence summary of Chapters 1-7. If a
friend who hadn’t read it asked you what it is about, what would you say?
2. Ron Franz taught McCandless how to do leatherworking. Krakauer writes,
For his first project McCandless produced a tooled leather belt, on which he created an artful
pictorial record of his wanderings. ALEX is inscribed at the belt’s left end; then the initials
C.J.M (for Christopher Johnson McCandless) frame skull and crossbones. Across the strip of
cowhide one sees a rendering of a two-lane blacktop, a NO U-TURN sign, a thunderstorm
producing a flash flood that engulfs a car, a hitchhiker’s thumb, and eagle, the Sierra Nevada,
salmon cavorting in the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific Coast Highway from Oregon to Washington,
the Rocky Mountains, Montana wheat fields, a South Dakota rattlesnake, Westerberg’s house in
Carthage, the Colorado River, a gale in the Gulf of California, a canoe beached beside a tent, Las
Vegas, the initials T.C.D., Morro Bay, Astoria, and at the buckle end, finally, the letter N
(presumably representing north). Executed with remarkable skill and creativity, this belt is as
astonishing as any artifact Chris McCandless left behind. (52)
Near the end of Chapter 7, Westerberg says of the belt,
Alex used to sit at the bar in the Cabaret and read that belt for hours on end… like he was
translating hieroglyphics for us. Each picture he’d carved into the leather had a long story
behind it. (68)
Considering what you know of McCandless so far, why did he make the belt? What does it
represent to him? Why did he feel a need to explain it to others? What stories does it tell?
3. If you were going to make a belt that told the story of your own life, what would you put on it?
Questions about Logic (Logos)
1. At the end of Chapter 2, Krakauer says of McCandless,
Driving west out of Atlanta, he intended to invent an utterly new life for himself, one in
which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience. To symbolize the complete
severance from his previous life, he even adopted a new name. No longer would he
answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own
destiny. (23)
These are some pretty strong assertions about what McCandless was trying to do. Do you
believe them at this point? Has Krakauer supported these conclusions about McCandless?
What is some of the evidence he presents?
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2. In Chapter 6, Krakauer writes,
On March 14, Franz left McCandless on the shoulder of Interstate 70 outside Grand
Junction and returned to southern California. McCandless was thrilled to be on his way
north, and he was relieved was well—relieved that he had again evaded the impending
threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes
with it. He had fled the claustrophobic confines of his family. He’d successfully kept Jan
Burres and Wayne Westerberg at arm’s length, flitting out of their lives before anything
was expected of him. And now he’d slipped painlessly out of Ron Franz’s life as well.
(55)
Does Krakauer actually know what McCandless was feeling at that point? How can he tell?
What evidence does he have? Do you think he is right?
3. In Chapter 6, McCandless writes to Ron Franz, telling him,
You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships.
God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We
just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in
unconventional living.
My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light
in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is
reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage
in new circumstances. (57-58)
Does McCandless offer any evidence for these assertions about life? Are his life and his journey
an argument for or against this position? Is Ron Franz convinced? Are you?
Questions about the Writer (Ethos)
1. Does Krakauer have an acceptable background to speak with authority on this subject?
Why or why not?
2. Is this author knowledgeable? Smart? Successful?
3. What does the author’s style and language tell you about him?
4. Do you trust this author? Why or why not?
Questions about Emotions (Pathos)
1. Does this section of the book affect you emotionally? Which parts?
2. Do you think the author is trying to manipulate your emotions? If so, how?
3. Do your emotions conflict with your logical interpretation of the arguments?
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Socratic Seminar Chapters 8-15
Summarizing and Responding
Chapters 1-7 describe McCandless’s journey and death. Chapters 8-15 try to put McCandless’s
life in a larger context by comparing him to other people: other wanderers, his family, and the
author of the book.
1. How does McCandless compare with the other wanderers Krakauer describes? In what ways
is McCandless similar? In what ways is he different? Do we understand McCandless better
after making these comparisons?
2. Krakauer and others have speculated that McCandless was estranged from his family because
of his relationship with his father. What was his family life like? Does it explain his later
behavior?
3. Krakauer clearly feels a strong connection to McCandless. Do you think they were very
similar? Why or why not? In what ways is this book as much about Krakauer as it is about
McCandless?
4. Taking your notes and your answers to the above questions into account, write a short
paragraph answering the following question: Who was Chris McCandless?
Questions about Logic (Logos)
1. Krakauer summarizes the response to his article by saying, “The prevailing Alaska wisdom
held that McCandless was simply one more dreamy half-cocked greenhorn who went into the
country expecting to find answers to all his problems and instead found only mosquitos and a
lonely death” (72). Has Krakauer made the case that the prevailing Alaska wisdom is wrong?
Why or why not?
2. Krakauer argues in Chapter 14 that McCandless’s death was unplanned and was a terrible
accident (134). Does the book so far support that position? Do you agree with Krakauer? Why or
why not?
Questions about the Writer (Ethos)
1. Chapters 14 and 15 describe Krakauer’s successful attempt when he was 23 years old to
climb the “Devil’s Thumb,” a mountain in Alaska. He also describes what he thinks are
parallels between McCandless and himself. Do these chapters increase his credibility for
writing this book, or do they undermine his credibility by making it seem like he has his own
agenda and is not objective?
Questions about Emotions (Pathos)
1. Chapters 11-13 are about McCandless’s relationships with his family. Do any of these
descriptions cause an emotional reaction in the reader? If so, what is it about the descriptions
that causes this connection? Is it the words? Is it that we identify with the family situations?
Do these effects make the book more powerful? Explain your answer.
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2. Chapters 14-15 describe the author’s actions and his emotional and psychological state as he
climbs the mountain. For example, when he accidentally burns a big hole in his tent, which
actually belongs to his father, he is more worried about his father’s reaction than the cold.
What are some other details that have an emotional impact on the readers? How do these
affect you as the reader?
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Timed Writing Assignment (Option A)
What kind of person was Chris McCandless and what was he trying to do?
You will have 45 minutes to plan and write an essay on the topic assigned below. Before you
begin writing, read the passage carefully and plan what you will say. Your essay should be as
well organized and carefully written as you can make it.
Jon Krakauer writes,
McCandless didn’t conform particularly well to the bush-casualty stereotype. Although he
was rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry, and incautious to the point of
foolhardiness, he wasn’t incompetent—he wouldn’t have lasted 113 days if he were. And he
wasn’t a nutcase, he wasn’t a sociopath, he wasn’t an outcast. McCandless was something
else—although precisely what is hard to say. A pilgrim, perhaps. (85)
What was Chris McCandless seeking in the wilderness? Do you think he found it before he died?
Considering these questions and Krakauer’s statement, write an essay in which you define who
Chris McCandless was and explain what he was trying to do. Support your conclusions with
evidence from your notes and your reading of the text.
Timed Writing Assignment (Option B)
You will have 45 minutes to plan and write an essay on the topic assigned below. Before you
begin writing, read the passage carefully and plan what you will say. Your essay should be as
well organized and carefully written as you can make it.
According to Shaun Callarman, “Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He
had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness. He
made a lot of mistakes based on arrogance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble
ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy.”
Explain Callarman’s argument and discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with his
analysis. Support your position, providing reasons and examples from your own experience,
observations, or reading.
Timed Writing Assignment (Option C)
You will have 45 minutes to plan and write an essay on the topic assigned below. Before you
begin writing, read the passage carefully and plan what you will say. Your essay should be as
well organized and carefully written as you can make it.
Is life on the road suited for everyone?
A question implicit in this book is whether something is fundamentally wrong with human
society, which McCandless says poisons him, or if there is simply a type of individual who
desires the friendship of other humans but can’t abide in society. Krakauer quotes Ken Sleight
talking about Everett Ruess, another wanderer like McCandless who disappeared in the
wilderness. Sleight says that Ruess was a loner who liked people too much to live in secret all his
life. He says,
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A lot of us are like that—I’m like that, Ed Abbey was like that, and it sounds like this
McCandless kid was like that: We like companionship, see, but we can’t stand to be around
people for very long. So we go get ourselves lost, come back for a while, then get the hell out
again. (96)
McCandless gives advice consistent with that view to Ron Franz, an 81-year-old man. He
writes in a letter, Don’t settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make
each day a new horizon. You are still going to live a long time, Ron, and it would be a shame
if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new
realm of experience. (57)
Ron Franz actually follows the advice and moves out of his home. Is this good advice for
everyone, or only for a certain kind of person? What does McCandless experience on the road
that justifies the risks and discomforts of this kind of life? Considering the quotations and
questions above, write an essay in which you discuss the advantages and disadvantages of life on
the road. Who should follow this path? Support your views with examples from the text and your
own experience.
Strategies for Writing to Time Writing Assignments
1. Read and then reread the prompt. Underline the important verbs that tell you what action to
perform. For example, the verbs “define,” “explain,” and “support” are in the above prompt.
2. Identify and explain the argument in the passage.
3. Quickly jot down some ideas that come to mind. Do you agree or disagree with the author’s
basic position?
4. Figure out the topics and topic sentences of your body paragraphs, and put them in a brief
scratch outline.
5. Don’t worry about a smooth introduction if nothing comes to mind; begin with your point,
your thesis.
6. What is the evidence that you will use to prove your position? Jot down in list form the
evidence that comes to mind. Fit these ideas into your paragraph outline under your topic
sentences. Having this brief outline will remind you of what you want to say, but it won’t
mean that you can’t change your mind.
7. Brainstorm your thoughts in response to the topic. Use your vocabulary log, your
annotations, and your notes about the book to provide more ideas and examples from the text
and ways to speak about them to help you move as smoothly as possible from reading to
writing.
8. Consider what most people know and think about the topic of their papers. To change the
opinions of the audience, you will need to think about persuasive techniques, both logical and
emotional.
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