For Monday: Krakauer, Into the Wild, Chs.10-15

No questions for Monday, though we will have an in-class response based on a big idea from Chapters 10-15. If you missed class today (Friday), be sure to turn in the questions by 5pm, otherwise I can't accept them. Even if you missed the questions, keep up with the reading since we'll have our Exam #1 over both books before long! (see syllabus)

Here are some ideas to consider as you read:

* How did Chris' childhood shape the man-to-be? How much of his philosophy might have been a case of nurture over nature?

* How did Chris apply his trademark intensity/obsession to other areas of his life before he set off "into the wild"? What might this say about his psychological need to perform and test the odds?

* What event happened in his life that made "his entire childhood seem like a fiction"? How does this help explain (if not explain away) his sense of anger and betrayal at his parents?

* Why did climbing 'matter' to Krakauer? Why did it make his world "real" in a way that nothing else did? How does this connect, possibly, to the way McCandless saw/experienced the world?

* How does Krakauer's quest to conquer the Devil's Thumb compare to McCandless' journey to Alaska? What makes them similar or different? 

* What does Krakauer mean when he writes, "I was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic"?