Welcome to the Fourth Quarter!

   This year has gone by so fast! It is already the fourth quarter, and the school year is almost over. It feels like it is still September! Anyways, I have made a lot of new friends this semester. I am now officially on the John Carroll badminton team! Yay! We have our first match today! Hopefully, we will win. I am looking forward to the next three years at John Carroll. Next year, I am planning to take Honors English again. This year has been great so far. I also cannot wait for summer 2011!

http://www.fasilitassport.com/tag/badminton

Into The Wild Final Project

My Life Had Changed!

When we met in January 1992,

I had made up my mind that I wanted to adopt you.

I taught you the secrets of leatherwork, and you made a belt.

Boy! It was so deeply creative and heartfelt!

I even asked you if you would like to be my grandson,

But you said, “We’ll talk about it when I get back from Alaska, Ron.”

You were a very smart kid,

And I truly admired what you did.

Everything seemed to be over when I was a drunk after the death of my son and wife,

But you helped me create a new and improved life.

I followed as you had done,

And I camped in the desert for adventure and fun.

I was greatly impressed by the things you knew and said,

On my way to the hot springs, a hitchhiker told me that you were dead.

My prayers did not work, so I became an alcoholic and an atheist.

Chris, I want you to know that you are sincerely missed.

After all that we did, I even drove you to Grand Junction.

Leaving the Church seemed to be the only option.

My life had changed since the moment we met,

And that impact is something I will never forget.

Christopher McCandless Characterization Chart

Chapter	Page Number	Quote/Description	Impression
1	4	Five feet seven or eight with a wiry build	Chris is underweight and not healthy.
1	6	"I won't run into anything I can't deal with on my own."-Chris McCandless	Chris thinks he is prepared to  go into dangerous situations.
1	6	"He was determined. Real gung ho. The word that comes to mind is excited."-Gallien
2	12	"S.O.S. I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone , this is no joke. In the name of God, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening. Thank you, Chris McCandless. August?"	Chris did not want to die that way. He wanted to be saved.
2	12	A peek through a window revealed a Remington rifle, a plastic box of shells, eight or nine paperback books, some torn jeans, cooking utensils, and an expensive backpack.	Chris had many hobbies. Hiking into the wild wasn't the only thing that interested him.
3	18	He always had to know the absolute right answer before he could go on to the next thing.
3	20	Chris graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, where he'd been a columnist for, and editor of, the student newspaper, The Emory Wheel, and had distinguished himself as a history and anthropology major with a 3.72 grade-point average.	He was very smart.
3	21	"I'm going to have to be real careful not to accept any gifts from them[his parents] in the future because they will think they have bought my respect."- Chris McCandless	Chris does not think that people should buy respect; they should earn it.
4	29	telling the truth was a credo he took seriously	He did not like lying or liars.
4	29	McCandless documented the burning of his money and most of the events that followed in a journal-snapshot album	He liked to keep a record of things, so he could keep track of everything he did.
5	45	"He had an amazing voice. He drew quite a crowd."-Jan Burres
5	46	"He was smart. He'd figured out how to paddle a canoe down to Mexico, how to hop freight trains, how to score a bed at inner-city missions. He figured all of that out on his own, and I felt sure he'd figure out Alaska too."-Jan Burres	Chris knew how to adjust to the hardships of living in the wilderness.
6	52	McCandless's face would darken with anger and he'd fulminate about his parents or politicians or the endemic idiocy of mainstream American life.	Chris searched for equality in the world. He wanted social justice for everyone.
6	55	McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well--relieved that he had again evaded the impeding threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it.	He liked to be  around people, but he did not like developing relationships because relationships caused him problems.
7	64	Both father[Walt] and son[Chris] were stubborn and high-strung.
7	65	remained largely or entirely celibate, as chaste as a monk	He respected life.
10	102	'Chris almost always had short hair and was clean-shaven. And the face in the picture was extremely gaunt."-Sam McCandless	Chris changed.
11	107	"Even when we were little, he was very to himself. He wasn't antisocial -- he always had friends, and everybody liked him -- but he could go off and entertain himself for hours. He didn't seem to need toys or friends. He could be alone without being lonely."-Carine McCandless
11	113	On weekends, when his high school pals were attending "keggers" and trying to sneak into Georgetown bars, McCandless would wander the seedier quarters of Washington, chatting with prostitutes and homeless people, buying them meals, earnestly suggesting ways they might improve their lives.	He wanted the best for everyone and didn't care about his 'social status.'
12	118-119	"If you attempted to talk him out of something, he wouldn't argue. He'd just nod politely and then do exactly what he wanted."-Walt	He didn't care about other people's opinions.
12	122	"If something bothered him, he wouldn't come right out and say it. He'd keep it to himself, harboring his resentment, letting the bad feelings build and build."-Carine
12	122	He could not pardon the mistakes his father had made as a young man, and he was even less willing to pardon the attempt at concealment.	He was unforgiving.
13	128	"Chris didn't think twice about risking his own life, but he never would have put Buckley in any kind of danger."-Carine	Chris respected life and would never force any kind of danger on someone.
13	129	Chris and Carine were uncommonly close.
16	159	"He was a dandy kid. Real courteous, and he didn't cuss or use a lot of that there slang. You could tell he came from a nice family."-Gaylord Stuckey	Chris gave great impressions on people.
16	159	"He wanted to prove to himself that he could make it on his own, without anybody else's help."-Gaylord Stuckey
17	174	He simply got rid of the map.	He was spontaneously travelling and didn't know  what was going to happen next.
17	183	McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but, rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul.
18	198	"Chris would never, ever, intentionally burn down a forest, not even to save his life. Anybody who would suggest otherwise doesn't understand the first thing about my brother. "-Carine
18	199	Chris is smiling in the last picture taken of him.	Although he was suffering, he felt accomplished and died happily.

  

Reaction:

                While reading the book, I thought that Chris McCandless was prepared and not crazy. It seemed like he knew what he was doing, but towards the end of the book, I changed my mind. He was not as prepared as he seemed. I think that he was a reckless idiot, and he was a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity. He realized that happiness is only real when it is shared. Into the Wild is a very tragic story. At least, McCandless realized that he was somewhat wrong about life and enjoyed his journey. I feel bad for what had happened to him.

A Changing Journey

I want to go on a trip around the world. I always have liked to travel. I need to be able to speak many languages, though. On my trip, I would go with friends and take a lot of pictures.  I would also eat a lot of foreign foods because I like food. I'd try to change people's lives in Africa on my trip and end world hunger.  I want to make a change in the world on my trip, and that will change me.

Halfway Through Into The Wild

1.  He was from a well-to-do East Coast family and graduated from Emory University with honors in 1990.  He was an elite athlete. After graduating, he decided to leave everything, change his name, and give his money away to charity. He went on a journey to hitchhike in Alaska (Author’s Note 1). No one knew of his plans (6).

2.  Chris had an attraction to dangerous things and liked exploring new things. Another theme is the complicated relationships between parents and their children. Also, one of themes introduced in the Author’s Note is people having divergent point of views of Chris McCandless. Some think he was an idiot and narcissist, and others admire his courage (Author’s Note 3).

3.  The quoted material at the start of Chapter One is about McCandless on his journey, and it is his goodbye to Wayne Westerberg. It was his last conversation with someone he knew before he went into the wild. It proves that he knew what he was doing (3).

4.  Alex is Chris McCandless’s alias (3).

5.  Jim Gallien is the man that drove McCandless to the Stampede Trail (6). Gallien met McCandless when he picked up McCandless hitchhiking (3).

6.  Gallien’s assessment was to take him to drive him to Anchorage, buy him gear, and then drive him wherever he wanted (6). Gallien was experienced with nature, and he gave McCandless advice.

7. Gallien told him to wear the boots to keep his feet warm and dry (7).

8.  Also, what gift did Gallien give to McCandless? When Gallien offered to drive McCandless to Anchorage and buy him gear, McCandless said, “No, thanks anyway. I’ll be fine with what I’ve got.” Gallien gave McCandless lunch and a pair of boots (6,7).

9.  He thought that McCandless would get hungry and walk out to the highway (7).

10.  The opposite of what he said is what happened. McCandless is not normal. He is different.

11.  An excerpt from one of Jack London’s novels was carved into a piece of wood at the site of McCandless’s death (9). McCandless could relate to what the quote said, and it seems like nature is the thing that killed him.

12.  The detailed descriptions of Mt. McKinley, Denali, and the Stampede Trail explain the geography of where McCandless was and the history of the Stampede Trail and abandoned bus (9-11).

13. The cause of McCandless’s death was considered to be starvation (14).

14. Westerberg picked Chris up while Chris was hitchhiking. Wayne takes Chris under his wing (16). He let Chris stay with him and work for him (17).

15. They describe travellers and road culture. Rubber tramps are travellers that own a vehicle, and leather tramps are travellers that walk and hitchhike (17).

16.  He hung out with them all the time and lived with them. They accepted him for who he was. At the Carthage home, they cooked for each other, went drinking together, and chased women together (18).

17.  Westerberg was in trouble with the law, and there was no work at the grain elevator for McCandless to do.  McCandless left earlier than he thought he would have (19).

18.  Chris has a connection to the character Pierre, and he tells Wayne to “listen to Pierre” (19).

19.  He was raised in Virginia. His dad worked for NASA and then made his own business with Chris’s mom. There were eight children in their family. Chris graduated from Emory University in Atlanta (19, 20).

20.  He did not talk to his family after he sent them his grades, and he did not accept money or a car from his parents (22).

21.  He changed his name to Alexander Supertramp (23).

22.  Chris wanted to leave everything and go on a journey. His journey was his reality.

23.  She is a rubber tramp who sold knick-knacks at flea markets with her boyfriend. She saw Chris on the side of the road and offered him a ride. Chris sent her and her boyfriend postcards every month or two (30-31).

24.  Chris paddled the canoe down the Colorado River to the Gulf of California (32). He paddled through restricted military ground and sneaked into Mexico (33-34). Chris had gotten lost in the maze of channels in Mexico (34). Mexican duck hunters agreed to tow Chris and his canoe to the ocean (35). They took him to the Gulf of California where he continued to travel south (35).

25.  It is written in third person (29).

26 Chris is thankful for still being alive (37). We should live our lives to the fullest extent.

27.  Chris lived a good life in Bullhead City. He really liked it there. He got a job at McDonald’s and was going to open a savings account at a bank (39). When he applied for the job, he used his real name, instead of Alex (40).

28. The residents of the Slab were snowbirds, drifters, and sundry vagabonds. Slab consisted of the teeming itinerant society. There were a lot of poor people there. There was a girl that had a crush on McCandless (43-44).

29.  He was a socializer, had musical talents, was a hard worker, and liked to read (43-45).

30.  Jan thought that he would figure everything out because he had done many other difficult things. She offered him clothes and knives (46).

31.  Ron Franz was an eighty year old man that drove McCandless from Salton City, California to Grand Junction Co. He wrote a letter to the offices of Outside magazine wanting to understand what happened to McCandless (48). Franz was a grandfatherly figure for McCandless (51).

32.  Anza-Borrego is a desert state park (48).

33.  While he was overseas for the army, his wife and only child were killed by a drunk driver in a car accident. He started drinking a lot after that happened (50).

34.  Franz liked Chris a lot. He felt like a father again (50). He requested to take him to San Diego (52). He asked Chris if he would be his adopted grandson (55).

35.  It was a way of communicating skill and creativity (52).

36.  Chris was thrilled to be on his way north (55).

37.  Chris told him to change “his habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living” (57). Franz listened to Chris and lived in the bajada (58). After a flash flood, he had to move twenty miles out and camped there (59).

38.  He picked up two hitchhikers, and one of them told him that he saw an article about his friend in the Outdoor magazine. When Chris left, Franz prayed that he would be okay. When he found out he died, Franz lost his belief in God and started drinking again. He had gotten really sick (60).

39.  The combine had broken down for the third time, and he was trying to replace a hard-to-reach bushing before nightfall. He was counting on Chris to be back at work by then (62).

40.  How did Chris feel about his sister Carine? They were both stubborn and high strung (64). Chris was pretty close to Carine (63).

41.  Rossellini is similar to McCandless. He tried to live like he was a Stone Age native, but he killed himself (75). His full story includes all of the things they have in common. They were both seekers and had an impractical fascination with the harsh side of nature (85).

42.  According to Krakauer, “parallels have been drawn between John Waterman and Chris McCandless.” (80). They were both fascinated by nature, but McCandless was not mentally ill (85).

43.  McCunn is similar to McCandless, too. McCandless was not the only person interested in hiking in Alaska (84).

44.  Everett Ruess was born in California and was the younger of two sons. His family moved around a lot when he was a kid. When he was sixteen, he spent his summer hitchhiking in Yosemite and Big Sur until he ended up in Carmel. Then, he returned home to graduate from high school.  He explored through the American West and wrote letters about the terrific experiences he had in each place he visited. He changed his name to a different alias often. He had a “craving for connection to a natural world” (89-93).

45.  Sleight said that they both like companionship, but do not like being around people for a long time. Ruess and McCandless both tried to follow their dreams (96).

Favorite Famous Quotes

Jack London
http://www.nndb.com/people/929/000031836/

Jack London

White Fang, The Call of the Wild

“It was the masterful and incommunicable wisdom of eternity laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life. It was the Wild, the savage, frozen-hearted Northland Wild.” (Page 9)

This quote from the novel White Fang by Jack London was part of a graffito carved into a piece of wood by Chris McCandless. It pretty much sums up the reason that he died and could not beat nature; the wild was laughing and making fun of him while he suffered and died.  

Henry David Thoreau
http://www.thoreausociety.org/_news_abouthdt.htm

Henry David Thoreau

Walden, Or Life in the Woods

“All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. The greatest gains and values are the farthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist.” (Page 47)

This quote was part of a passage highlighted by Chris McCandless. It shows that people do not realize what they are fortunate to have. The most valuable things in life are not recognized by people. McCandless realized what is really important, though. He realized he didn’t need a car or money to make him happy, just a life to explore new things.

Mark Twain
http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/mark-twain-64.php

Mark Twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“There was some books…One was Pilgrim’s Progress, about a man that left his family, it didn’t say why. I read considerable in it now and then. The statements was interesting, but tough.” (Page 61)

Jon Krakauer put this quote in this book because it relates to what McCandless did. McCandless just left his family for a reason that they didn’t understand.

Bob Marley

"Love the life you live. Live the life you love."

This is one of my favorite quotes because it is true. You will only be happy if you live the way that you want to. I think that Chris McCandless would agree with this quote because he left everything to do something he loved. He invented a new life for himself that he would be happy in. 

Bob Marley
http://bobmarleyfacts.com/

A Trip to the Grand Canyon

           I would like to go to the Grand Canyon. The environment would be so much different than it is in Maryland. The Grand Canyon seems like such an interesting place. It is known for its colorful landscape and overwhelming size. The Grand Canyon is carved by the Colorado River. The weather changes according to the elevation. It will be hot if I visit during the summer. I would take a good pair of sneakers or boots, a lot of water, clothes, and money for this trip because I am going to explore the wildlife of the Grand Canyon.

           My grandparents live in Arizona, so I can stay with them during my visit. I would get there by a military plane with my family. We have flown to California and Hawaii over the last two summers, so we could drive from the closest military base to my grandparents’ house.  I will probably be in the Grand Canyon National Park during most of my visit. They have tours that will teach us all we need to know. I am expecting to take many pictures during this trip. This will be an unforgettable experience!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon

Sources:
http://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon