Question B: Due Monday, November 25

Answer Question A or B.

Question B:

How did the movie and the book differ? What challenged you most about the movie? What struck you?

Question A: Due Monday, November 24

Answer either question A or B.

Question A:

Into the Wild began as an article, turned into a book, and then became a movie. What, in your estimation, makes Chris and his story so appealing? Why have this story captured so many people's attention?

Question B: Due Wednesday, November 19

Answer either question A or B.

Question B:

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?

Question A: Due Wednesday, November 19

Answer either question A or B.

Question A:

Chapter 14 and 15 are devoted to Krakauer's own experience on the Stikine Ice Cap. What purpose does this extended story about Krakauer's adventure in Into the Wild?

The Great Search within the Wild

The mountains of Alaska are wild to the extreme. The dangers are staggering. Large, dangerous predators, snow year round in some places, unpredictable rivers, very, very few people in the vicinity. The planes that passed over where the Fairbanks City Transit System bus 142 were mostly just commercial jets at an altitude of 25,000 feet. The mosquitoes are enough to drive anyone crazy. In the Everglades, for example, there may be vast places of dense, treacherous wildnerness, yet it is surrounded by populated areas. Planes fly overhead more frequently. The vast majority is swampland and thus is flat and easy to see for miles around. In Alaska, the forest trees and mountains form more of a barrier between explorers and the outside world.
Was Alexander Supertramp crazy? No. He was socially adept, presumably had no suicidal thoughts or gestures. He had lots of energy and drive, was highly intelligent and was searching for something, and the combination allowed for him to become accustomed to succeeding quickly or faster than the normal rate at most things he attempted. “‘Chris was good at almost everything he ever tried,’ Walt (his father) reflects, ‘which made him supremely overconfident.’” (118) Chris was not humble in the sense that his actions do not reflect it. He had little respect for most boundaries that tie most of us down, such as longing for intimate interpersonal relationships and sex, money, physical insecurity in extreme situations. His excessive hubris clouded his view of reality and thus led him to not reflect and see the dangers of what Alaskan wilderness held. He was impulsive, and if something he attempted did not go the way he wanted, he ran off to the next thing quickly before the reality of his previous failure caught up with him. This is evident in later chapters when he is within the Alaskan bush. Somewhere in the book there is a quote that states by one getting lost in the wilderness, they are actually becoming more and touch with reality; thrown into relief by the extremes of the landscape. Perhaps Alexander Supertramp was searching for that reality he was unable to find anywhere else.

Question B: Due Monday, November 17

Answer either question a or question b.

Question B:
In Chapter 11 "Chesapeake Bay" we finally meet Chris' parents and his sister and we learn about Chris as a child. What do you think about Chris' relationship with his father?

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?

• Chris’s relationship with his father?

Question A: Due Monday, November 17

Respond to either question A or question B.

Question A:

Last week I asked you to think about ways that Chris was like the other Alaska adventurers. Only a few of you answered the question and we did not get around to talking about Chris' similarities and differences to the other adventurers in class on Thursday. For this post, think about the chapters on Waterman and Everett Russ and how they are described.

Do you think Chris was suicidal or mentally ill or both or neither? Why or why not? If not, how would you describe Chris' state of mind as he walked "into the wild?"

Project 3: What are you going to do?

You need to meet with me sometime before Thanksgiving (and preferably this week or next) about your project. Come prepared with a topic, an audience, and a project. You need to convince me this is a solid final project for the course. These meetings are mandatory. If you do not meet with me ahead of time I will not accept your final project.

After our meeting you will post your project and your plans to the class blog as a kind of contract between us that you understand the requirements of the assignment. The post will also let you and your classmates draw inspiration from one another.

Use the comment link below to post your project plans--be as specific as possible.

Question B: Due Wednesday, November 12

Pick either A or B.

Question B:
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?

Use the comment link below to post your response.

Question A: Due Wednesday, November 12

Pick either Question A or B.

Question A:

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?

Use the comment link below to answer this question.

Question B: Due Monday, November 10

Answer either question A or B.

Question B:

Krakauer opens each chapter with an excerpt from another book--Alexander/Chris' journal, Tolstoy, London. Why does he quote from these books? What role do these excerpts play in the story Krakauer is telling? How do the excerpts set the scene/mood/tone of the chapter they introduce?

Please respond by adding in your comment below.

Question A: Blog Assignment for Monday, November 10.

Answer either question A or B:

Question A:
In Into the Wild John Krakauer opens the book with Alexander/Chris' entrance into the Stampede Trail followed by a chapter on finding Alexander/Chris' body. Why does Krakauer open the books with these scenes? How do these scenes introduce us to Alexander/Chris and what do they tell us, the reader, about him?

Please respond to this question by adding in your comment below.