Today's homework: Complete the work for the first prompts (chapters 1-3)-

 Part 1 – Into the Wild
 Chapters 1-3; pages 3-23
1. After reading chapter 1, use two adjectives to describe your impressions of Chris McCandless (Alex). Explain and support each adjective with a specific quote from the chapter. 2. After graduating college, McCandless begins, “an epic journey that would change everything” (22). He saw his time in college as “an absurd and onerous duty” (22). In heading west he felt freed “from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess” (22). Using examples from the reading explain what he meant by this. Do you agree with his motivation for leaving? 
Chapters 4 and 5; pages 25-46 3. Chapter 4 ends with the following quote from McCandless’ journal: “It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found” (37). Identify an experience from this chapter and explain what “meaning” you think Alex has found. Use a quote to support your explanation. 4. What does “Plastic People” in chapter five mean? What are two things McCandless considered plastic? Do you agree with his assessment? Support your answer with a quote.
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 Chapters 6 and 7; pages 47-69 5. Ronald Franz and McCandless establish a father-son type of relationship. Identify one benefit or drawback (using a quote) that each gets out of the relationship. 6. Before McCandless leaves for Alaska, Wayne Westerberg offers to buy him a plane ticket. McCandless refuses, however, claiming, “flying would be cheating. It would wreck the whole trip” (67). Find and explain two quotes from this chapter that demonstrate whether or not McCandless actually lives by his own words. 
Chapters 10 and 11; pages 98-116 7. Identify two qualities that Walt McCandless and his son have in common. Support each quality with a quote from the text. 8. Identify two specific details or examples (using quotes) from Chris McCandless’ childhood/high school years that seem to predict his later behavior. What is it about these events that help to explain his actions as an adult? 
Chapter 12, pages 117-126; Chapter 14-15, page 133-56 9. Contrast McCandless’ feelings about his family with his family’s feelings about him. How does the Thoreau quote that opens the chapter match Chris’ feelings about his family? Support your points with two quotes from the reading. 10. Krakauer admits to not being an “impartial biographer” (ii). How do his experiences (particularly his own journey into the wild (pp.133-56) comments and opinions add to or take away from Chris’ story? Support your answer with specific details from these chapters.
 Chapter 16, pages 157 – 171; Chapter 17; pages 172 - 186 11. Read the italicized passage on page 168 that McCandless wrote and the italicized passage he highlighted from Tolstoy on page 169. Based on these writings and events in this chapter, what convinced McCandless that it was time to return to civilization? What did he learn from his time “in the wild”? Support your answer with specific details. 12. Krakauer observes that it is not “unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders.” Identify two details from this chapter where McCandless exemplifies this observation. Explain whether or not McCandless would agree with Krakauer. Finally compare McCandless’ view with that of one of the following men mentioned in this chapter: Andy Horowitz, Gordon Samel, Roman Dial, Sir John Franklin. 13. Krakauer goes on to claim that McCandless’ “life hummed with meaning and purpose. But the meaning he wrested from existence lay beyond the comfortable path.” Do you agree with Krakauer? Support your response with two specific quotes from this chapter. 
Chapters 18 and Epilogue; pages 185-203 14. How does the Doctor Zhivago quote that opens the chapter foreshadow McCandless’ actions and writings later in the chapter? Cite two specific examples using quotations from the text. 15. Do you believe McCandless is to blame for his own death? Explain your answer using two specific details from the chapter. Use quotations to support your response.