Hamlet
This Danish prince is obsessed with revenge, talks to ghosts, and can't make up his mind.
Who is Hamlet?
This classic symptom involves an alarming lack of motivation to complete any work after being accepted into college.
What is senioritis?
This young protagonist rejects society, changes his name to Alexander Supertramp, and hitches a ride to Alaska.
Who is Chris McCandless?
This generative AI tool is frequently blamed for writing essays, though your English teacher can usually spot it instantly.
What is ChatGPT?
This punctuation mark is used to create a compound sentence by joining two independent clauses without using a conjunction like "and" or "but."
What is a semicolon?
This verbose court counselor gives his son Laertes a long list of hypocritical advice, including "To thine own self be true."
Who is Polonius?
What is another way for a senior to say that they are highly concentrated on a single task?
What is "I'm locked in"?
Before venturing into the Alaskan bush, Chris buys a cheap copy of this classic, survivalist Henry David Thoreau book at a garage sale.
What is Walden?
This video-sharing app's algorithm has completely ruined your attention span during late-night study sessions.
What is TikTok?
This structural error occurs when a writer joins two independent clauses with only a comma and no coordinating conjunction.
What is a comma splice?
This loyal best friend is the only major character left alive at the end of the play to tell Hamlet's story.
Who is Horatio?
This is the unofficial holiday where graduating students collectively decide to skip a random day of spring semester classes.
What is Senior Skip Day (Senior Ditch Day)?
This 81-year-old leatherworker and veteran meets Chris in California, grows to love him like a grandson, and even offers to adopt him.
Who is Ronald Franz?
This expression serves as the definitive vernacular label for an individual experiencing a profound detachment from objective reality, indicating an urgent necessity for them to physically interface with the terrestrial biosphere.
What is delulu?
This is the only mammal capable of true, sustained flight
What is a bat?
Before her tragic drowning, Ophelia hands out these items to the court, symbolizing her grief and madness.
What are flowers?
This stressful, multi-step process involves begging your favorite teachers for recommendation letters and staring at a blinking cursor on your personal essay.
What is applying for college?
Jon Krakauer includes chapters about his own dangerous, youthful attempt to climb this sheer ice-and-rock peak in Alaska to show he shared Chris's mindset.
What is Devil's Thumb?
This viral social media dance trend—set to a song by rapper h5wk—involves holding your nose closed while bouncing your knees to the beat.
What is the Scuba Dance? (Acceptable: What is the Scuba Juke?)
This specific color is the most dominant on the flags of the world, appearing on over 75% of them.
What is red?
This skull belongs to the former court jester, prompting Hamlet to realize that death conquers everyone.
Who is Yorick?
This specific, high-stakes financial document—which underwent a massive, glitch-filled digital redesign—must be submitted by seniors to unlock federal grants, work-study programs, and student loans for college.
What is FAFSA?
This is the specific botanical mistake that Jon Krakauer argues ultimately doomed Chris by causing him to starve to death in the bus.
What is eating toxic wild potato seeds / moldy seeds? (Acceptable: Hedysarum alpinum)
This viral, double-walled metal cup became a massive status symbol on campus, causing people to obsessively collect every limited-edition color.
What is a Stanley tumbler / Stanley cup?
This popular fizzy beverage was originally invented by a pharmacist in 1886 as a medicine to treat headaches and exhaustion
What is Coca Cola?