Into the Wild
Who is the author of Into the Wild?
Jon Krakauer
Who is the author of Walden?
Henry David Thoreau
What name does Chris McCandless change his name to in Into the Wild?
Alexander Supertramp
Who is the author of "I never hear the word 'Escape'"?
Emily Dickinson
What does the setting sun symbolize in the poem?
The end of life.
What was Chris' official cause of death?
Starvation
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
What tense and point of view is Walden told from?
Past tense; first-person point of view.
Why does Jim Gallien worry about Chris McCandless at the beginning of Into the Wild?
Jim Gallien worries that Chris is unprepared for the Alaskan wilderness because he lacks proper gear, experience, and realistic plans for survival.
The word "escape" is compared to this action in the poem, which suggests a sense of soaring or rising above.
Flying
How is Death characterized when he stopped to pick up the speaker in a carriage?
He seemed kind, civil, formal, and polite.
What important object did Chris get rid of that could have helped him to leave the Alaskan wilderness safely?
The map
How long did the author live in the woods for this book?
About two years.
According to Chris’s letters to his sister Carine, what is one reason he cut his parents out of his life?
Chris was angry toward his parents and felt his life was a fiction.
How does the speaker react when she/he hears the word escape?
I never hear the word “Escape”
Without a quicker blood,
A sudden expectation –
A flying attitude!
The speaker feels excitement (quicker blood), anticipation, hope, and a sense of speed and freedom (flying attitude).
As the speaker rides along with Death, what is the poem mostly describing?
It describes her journey to the grave and watching her life pass by.
What realization about life did Chris have from reading the book Dr. Zhivago before he died in Alaska?
Happiness only real when shared.
What is one of the main reasons why Thoreau moved to the woods?
He wanted to live life simply and deliberately and report back on the results, good or bad.
Why did the state troopers initially doubt both Jim Gallien's and Wayne Westerberg's calls, saying they knew Chris? What changed the state trooper’s mind?
Jim and Wayne were able to provide details about Chris that were not included in the news reports.
How does the message of this poem challenge the social norms of the historical period in which it was written?
It challenges societal expectations for women’s roles, emotions, and behavior, such as the expectation to be passive, domestic, or dependent, to name a few.
What is the grave compared to in this excerpt?
"We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –"
It seems very much like a kind of house.
What happened when Chris attempted to return to civilization?
He couldn't cross the Teklanika River because it was to high and dangerous.
"If I should only give a few pulls at the parish bell-rope, as for a fire, that is, without setting the bell, there is hardly a man on his farm in the outskirts of Concord, notwithstanding that press of engagements which was his excuse so many times this morning, nor a boy, nor a woman, I might almost say, but would forsake all and follow that sound, not mainly to save property from the flames, but, if we will confess the truth, much more to see it burn..."
What does this passage reveal about what the author believes?
He thinks that the true reason people will run toward a fire alarm is to see what the fire burns.
According to Krakauer, why did he climb Devil’s Thumb?
He thought the experience would change or improve his life.
Based on this line in the poem, how does the speaker feel about her situation?
“But I tug childish at my bars / Only to fail again!”
She feels as if she is emotionally imprisoned.
Who else is in the carriage, besides Death and the speaker?
Immortality