1. Into The Wild
John Krakauer

2. Think about August 2017 How do you feel about leaving PBHS?
How about being on your own?
Does anyone have the desire to explore the US by car or backpacking though Europe?
Does anyone know someone who did either of these?

3. Author’s Background Info
Author: An outdoorsman with a love of nature
Balances journalistic instinct for a good story with sensitivity towards subjects

4. WOW!
Wrote Into Thin Air- personal account of Mt. Everest Disaster and his life long passion for climbing
Ill-fated attempt killed 8 people including some in his party
Controversy on Krakauer’s account from other climbers who were on the climb

5. Who was Chris McCandless?
Inspired by Leo Tolstoy, Jack London (Call of the Wild) and Henry David Thoreau

6. Who are those guys?
Tolstoy- noble who wrote War and Peace, Advocate of simplicity and nonviolence, he devoted himself to social reform.

7. Jack London
Life symbolized the power of will, survival against hardships, embraced the concepts of unconfined individualism and exploration of the laws of nature.

8. Henry David Thoreau
Transcendentalist (belief in the universality of creation and the primacy of personal insight and experience) advocacy of simple, principled living, writings on the relationship between people and the environment helped define the nature essay

9. Back to McCandless…
All hated devotion to material wealth and people should have great courage and discipline.
They believed in living with less- of everything

10. Deep rooted anger at his parents- not sure why, probably tied to their affluent life style
Always a very giving person
Through his diaries, pictures, postcards, etc his story is played out in Into the Wild as almost a detective story trying to find out what really happened.

11. Alaska Baby! What do you know about Alaska?
When you hear “Alaskan Territory”, what kind of pictures come to your mind?
Why might Chris wanted to have gone into the wild in Alaska?

12. Take out Into the Wild Turn to “Author’s Note”
Read this section and write down 5 questions in your notes that come into your mind as you are reading it.
Be prepared to share…

13. Author’s note What magazine did Krakauer write the article for?
What prompted Krakauer to write Into the Wild?
Krakauer saw many similarities in McCandless to himself

14. Questions I had while reading author’s note:
How did the novel come to be?
Who is Christopher McCandless?
How is he characterized?
What author influenced him?
Describe reaction to the article.
What does author want?
How will the story be told? Why
What themes will be explored?

15. Summary: After writing an article for Outside magazine on the tragic death Chris McCandless, a young man who ,in April 1992, hikes into the Alaskan wilderness and dies, author Jon Krakauer says he felt a personal connection with McCandless, seeing parallels between McCandless and his young self. This bond, combined with the mixed feedback his readers give the McCandless article, lead Krakauer to write this book. Krakauer says his view on whether McCandeless was a courageous, young man or an idiot will become evident as we read, but he wants us to form our own opinion. Furthermore, he will give an emotional account of McCandless’s journey, mixing in bits of his one life story in order to given insight into McCandless

16. Answer in your notes:
What is self denial?

17. Self-Denial a limitation of one's own desires or interests
Theme: Self denial is the only true way of living for Chris McCandless.
Subject: Self denial

19. Chapter 1 Look at first page
What does each chapter have to start to out with?
Why?

20. Each chapter begins with a quotation to set the tone and mood of the chapter
Who is Gallien? What name does Alex give him?
Alex Supertramp, aka Chris McCandless

21. What doesn’t bother Gallien that would bother us?
All things need to be put into perspective depending on time, place, people etc.

22. What was Gallien trying to talk him out of?
Why couldn’t he?
McCandless’s excitement about his adventure was deafening to Gallien’s attempt to reason with him
What did Gallien think of doing when he dropped Chris off?

23. Chapter 2 Turn to page 9- Read quote What is the tone that is set?
Tone is dark, threatening and foreshadows the deadly results to follow.
What is the stampede trail?

24. Eww…that is a bad smell…
Pg 12- How did Alex sign the note?
When Chris was facing the end of his life, he returned to using his legal name.
What was on the bus?

25. Chapter 3 Look at quotes on 15-
What do you think that this chapter will be about?
Who is Wayne Westerberg?
Pg 18
What does Westerberg mean by that?

26. Alex was always searching for answers for questions that did not make sense. This desire and passion led him to exciting and ultimately fatal situations.
Why did Alex leave Carthage?

27. Present for ya! What did Chris give Wayne?
Where did Chris consider home now?
Pg 21
Why is Chris so adamant about not taking gifts from his family?

28. What did Chris’ parents find when they went to his apartment and then back home?
Why does Krakauer discuss Westerberg and Chris’s family in this chapter together?
Chris felt alienated from his biological family, yet Krakauer believes that this relationship is important to him, so he then found it in Carthage.

29. What is a Vagabond? Vagrant? Tramp?
Vagrant- one who has no established residence and wanders idly from place to place without lawful or visible means of support

30. Chapter 4 Pg 25 “To the desert…” What is this saying?
McCandless found reality in isolation and reflection enduring the harshness of all forms of nature.

31. Pretty flower… What is an Arctomecon Californica?
Why is this important?
What does the ranger find while looking for this flower in Detrital Wash?

32. Cool car dude Why is the car there?
Why didn’t McCandless get help to fix the car?
Pg 28
Characterization- McCandless did not want to answer questions from police and leaving his car was another way to shed more materialism.

33. Datsun 210

34. What ya burning man??? What did McCandless do to his money? Why?
Self Denial- he burned his money in order to further his quest of denying himself the comforts it can bring.

35. Nice to meet ya! Who did he meet next? Jan Burres and Bob
Why did Burress take McCandless under her wing?

36. Oh no- Police ! What did Alex get a ticket for?
What address did he give? Why?
What did his parents do?

37. Raging River~ What did Chris do after he reached the Colorado river?
Where did he hope to go?
What happened?
What does he gain from this part of his trip?

38. Chpt 5- Bullhead City Pg 36… “The dominant…” What does this mean?
As time goes by Chris becomes more resilient to nature and going without which convinces him that he can survive against nature’s harshest conditions.

39. Fries with that? What does he do in Bullhead City?
What do the McDonald’s employees say about him?
Why doesn’t he want to wear socks? Or work fast to serve the customers?

40. A favorite author
When did Chris first begin to love Jack London’s writing?
Pg 44
What does Krakauer think that McCandless would have thought of London had he lived and matured more?

41. Slabs r us! What are the slabs? Who does he stay with there?
Does he enjoy being there?
When he decided to go back on the road, what does he need to do first?

46. Double standard here! Pg 46
What did he accept from Burres? What didn’t he?
Why is this a double standard?
Self denial- by denying money Chris feels it puts him on a higher moral ground than others.

47. Chapter 6 Anza Borrego Pg 47- look at quote
Read it and write a 3 sentence response to what you think it means in your notes.
NOW!
The greatest gifts in this life are those that are already around us and need to be appreciated.

48. Hey Ya!
Who writes a letter to Outside Magazine wishing to speak with Krakauer?
How old is Ron Franz?
Why did he take McCandless under his wing?

49. Where are we? Where does McCandless take Franz that he has never seen?
What is this place like?
What did Franz try to talk McCandless out of?
What did McCandless try to talk Franz into?

50. Chow Bella! Where does McCandless go?
What new way of traveling does Chris embark on?

51. All by myself… Once Chris is on his way, why is he happy? Pg 55
Self denial- once again Chris has been able to deny himself of having the benefits of someone who cares about him.

52. Listen to me man!
What does Chris write to Franz about once he is in South Dakota?
Pg 56
Why is Chris trying so desperately to convince Franz to live the same lifestyle as he does?
In order to justify his way of living, Chris feels the need to convince Franz to live the same nomadic lifestyle.

53. Where have all the flowers gone?
What does Franz do as a result of this letter?
What has happened to the Oh-my-God Hot Springs area?

54. Hard times man… How did Franz find out about Chris’ death? Pg 60
What did Franz consider Chris?
What is his reaction?

55. Hmmm this is different…
How is Chris portrayed in this chapter?
Chris did not stop and consider the hurt he was causing those who cared about him. His youth and inexperience caused him to make choices that cause other’s inconvenience and or pain.

56. Chapter 7 Pg 60 Look at the quotes… What do they relate to?
Who does Krakauer interview in this Chapter?
What jobs did McCandless do for Westerberg?
What couldn’t he do well?

57. Thanks for being my friend!
Who did Chris become good friends with while in the Carthage area?
What does Wayne regret not having talked to Chris about?
Pg 64
What is the relationship between Chris and his father like?

58. Hey Dad!
Theme- The relationship between a father and son is not always easy.
Subject- Father and son
What was the bottom line to their father son relationship?
Chris’ father had a need for control which clashed with Chris’ need for independence.

59. Stay, go, leave Where did Chris say he would go after Alaska?
Why did Westerberg want Chris to postpone his trip?
What was Westerberg’s sense of Chris’ trip to Alaska?

60. Hey Hey Hey … goodbye!
What did Chris do at his going away party that surprised everyone?
Pg 69
What might Chris have sensed?
Chris knew that he was taking a serious risk and that the ultimate consequence might have to be paid.

61. Hmm…what about Into the Wild?
Think about your reading of Into the Wild…
…why did Krakauer write this?
…what philosophy did Chris try to live by?
…what were important aspects / events in Chris’ life?
Answer these in your notes…silently!

62. So…what are some KEY IDEAS in the novel?
Perspective- John Krakauer’s perspective is different than many others because of the similarities between him and Chris

63. Can’t Stand the pain!
Relationships- Chris avoided close relationships because of the hurt he felt from his father’s betrayal, yet he still made good friends on his journeys.

64. I don’t need anything or anybody!
Self Denial- Chris denied himself any of the materialistic items that make life easier or more comfortable.

65. He’s not crazy…really!
Thesis- Krakauer wrote this book to show that Chris was not insane and did not have a death wish but was just an uncommon individual.

66. Key Ideas Assignment:
1. From chapters 8-9 you must find one example of two key ideas.
2. Write down the page number that the key idea is on in the chapter.
3. Write at least two sentences explaining how the example connects to the key idea.

67. Key Ideas Group Assignment:
From your assigned chapters must find one example of EACH key idea (ALL 4).
Write down the page number that the key idea is on in the chapter.
Write at least three sentences explaining how the example connects to the key idea.
Write a summary of the chapter.
Choose ONE quote that you that stood out to you and explain why.
Each group will hand in ONE piece of paper.

68. Chapter 8 What letters does Krakauer discuss? Why does he do this?
What was the general belief about Chris and his lifestyle?

69. Not so fast… What is Krakauer trying to prove, what is his thesis?
Who was Gene Rosellini?
What experiment was he trying to prove ?
What happened to him?

70. Chapter 9
Who is Everett Ruess?
How is he like McCandless?

71. Crazy Monks!
What is different about the end of Ruess’ life compared to McCandless’?
Who are the Papar?
Pg 97
Like the Papar, McCandless pursued the spiritual ideal of seclusion from the world’s temptations.

72. Chapter 10
What large, world wide newspaper printed a story about Chris before he had been identified?
Who was the first to call about him?
Who was next?

73. Who is this guy? What did Westerberg provide?
After they received his SS#, whom did the police contact?
What did Sam have to do?

74. Chapter 11 What did Walt do for a living?
What was Chris’s early childhood like?
How did Walt and Billie grow up?
What did they want to provide for their children?

75. What a good boy! Who did Chris’ parents think that he was like?
What did Chris and his father do together when Chris was young?
What were Chris’ grades like in high school?

76. Page 109 What did Walt say Chris had a hard time accepting?
Chris did not like people to advise him on how to improve a skill that he had. He did not take constructive criticism well.

77. It keeps him runnin’ What sport did he participate in?
What did he say he was doing while running?
What did Chris’ friends say about him?

78. You too can make a difference…
What did Chris have from an early age?
Chris had a social conscience for a very early age, he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.
What feeling did he have towards going to college at first?

79. Chapter 12 Page 117 Quotes- how do they relate to Chris?
What did Chris give to his father?
What does this reveal about Chris’ feelings towards his father?

80. On the road! What happens on Chris’ first trip across country?
What happened to Chris while going through college?
What did Chris learn about that ruined him against his father?

81. I’m gonna burst man!
What increases over the years because Chris keeps it locked up inside?
What are the McCandless family’s thoughts about Chris when he graduates college?
Why doesn’t it bother Carine that Chris doesn’t tell her where he is?

82. Bad Boy!
What did Chris’ total disregard towards his parents and giving them information about his life do to them?
Why did he do this?
Chris’ selfishness and lack of communication with his parents was his revenge for the wrong he felt they committed against him.

83. Hey Dad!
Theme- The relationship between a father and son is not always easy.
Subject- Father and son
What was the bottom line to their father son relationship?
Chris’ father had a need for control which clashed with Chris’ need for independence.

84. Chapter 9 Who is Everett Ruess? What did he do?
How is he like McCandless?

85. So alike the two boys!
They are both romantics- belief in the mysterious lure of adventure and that all will turn out well
Took on new name
Put up with physical discomforts- almost welcomed them- why do you think?

86. Crazy Monks!
What is different about the end of Ruess’ life compared to McCandless’?
Who are the Papar?
Pg 97
Like the Papar, McCandless pursued the spiritual ideal of seclusion from the world’s temptaions.

87. Page 109 What did Walt say Chris had a hard time accepting?
Chris did not like people to advise him on how to improve a skill that he had. He did not take constructive criticism well.

88. You too can make a difference…
What did Chris have from an early age?
Chris had a social conscience for a very early age, he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.
What feeling did he have towards going to college at first?

89. Bad Boy!
What did Chris’ total disregard towards his parents and giving them information about his life do to them?
Why did he do this?
Chris’ selfishness and lack of communication with his parents was his revenge for the wrong he felt they committed against him.