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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What gift did Walt give Billie after the birth of Chris?
(a) A vacation in Paris.
(b) The Gianni guitar that was left in the yellow Datson.
(c) A leather bound copy of Leaves of Grass.
(d) A 3-carat diamond ring.

2. What characteristic of his father's does Krakauer mention as a flaw?
(a) That his father worked too many jobs.
(b) That his father could never admit to being wrong.
(c) That his father was too kind to everyone.
(d) That his father never climbed a mountain.

3. What connection did Jim Gallien make when he read the article about Chris's death?
(a) The .22-caliber rifle they found in the bus was the same as the hitchhiker's he'd given a ride to.
(b) The rubber boots the news article mentioned were the ones he'd given Chris.
(c) The empty bag of rice the article said the police found in the bus reminded him of the hitchhiker he'd picked up.
(d) Chris was the young hitchhiker he had given a ride to the Stampede Trail.

4. What evidence does Krakauer find that suggests Chris was ready to re-enter society?
(a) Chris's journal indicated that he was beginning to doubt Thoreau.
(b) Doctor Zhivago, a book Chris was reading, includes that genuine happiness must be shared with one's fellow human beings and Chris had made a note beside that passage.
(c) Chris had written down the names and addresses of everyone who had helped him so he could visit them again.
(d) The graffiti Chris drew on the bus indicated he wanted to see people again.

5. What spurred Krakauer on after his failed attempt to climb Devil's Thumb?
(a) His mood after he naps.
(b) The prospect of defeat.
(c) A spider that keeps working after its web breaks.
(d) The fact that he has enough food to try again.

6. How is Carine different from Chris?
(a) She is interested in helping the homeless.
(b) She is a good cook.
(c) She made peace with their parents.
(d) She always returns home when she disappears.

7. Racing against a storm, Krakauer reaches the summit of the Thumb. How does he describe it?
(a) He describes the summit as malevolent and surreal.
(b) He describes it as breathtakingly beautiful.
(c) He describes it as the coldest place on earth.
(d) He describes it as a big disappointment.

8. Who gave Krakauer dinner and a place to sleep in Petersberg?
(a) A kind woman named Kai Sandburn.
(b) The captain of a tuna fishing boat.
(c) A policeman offered him a jail cell.
(d) A drifter named Jan Buress.

9. What does Carine recall that Chris loved so much?
(a) Reading Moby Dick.
(b) His yellow Datsun.
(c) The Gianni guitar.
(d) Her dog, Buck.

10. What trait did sports reveal in Chris?
(a) He wanted other people to win.
(b) He did not take defeat well.
(c) He was lazy about training.
(d) He was not interested in competition.

11. What was the skeleton in Walt's closet that stressed the whole family, Chris in particular?
(a) Walt kept a mistress after Chris went to college.
(b) Walt had affairs with several women.
(c) Walt and Billie divorced but later remarried.
(d) Walt had lived a bigamist life for some years after Chris was born.

12. What sad discovery does Krakauer make just a quarter mile down stream on the river?
(a) There is an old bridge that a person could walk across.
(b) There is a ranger station stocked with all kinds of food.
(c) At the now defunct station, a steel cable stretches across the river with an aluminum basket suspended from this cable by pulleys.
(d) There is evidence that Chris came that far and went back.

13. What two requests did Stuckey make of Alex as they parted company?
(a) Change his mind and go back to the Westerbergs.
(b) Wait until spring and work to get money for better boots.
(c) Write him a letter when he returns and call his parents before he goes into the wilderness.
(d) Send him photos of his adventure and notify the forrest service where he will be.

14. What important work does Walt McCandless do?
(a) Biochemist.
(b) Nuclear physicist.
(c) CIA undercover.
(d) Advanced radar technology.

15. When Krakauer was at the mountain he came to climb, what enhanced his emotions?
(a) Two sturdy aluminum curtain rods with him, lashed in a cross shape, to prevent him from falling into a crevasse.
(b) The cheers of the people who came to see him off.
(c) The beauty of the snowy terrain and clear sky was intensified for him by his solitude.
(d) The clean air which gave him an oxygen high.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is significant about August 5?

2. What did the bones outside the bus reveal?

3. What did Billie realize as she get to the bus?

4. What did Krakauer do similar to what Chris did when he needed to go to the village of Petersberg?

5. What information does Gallien provide the police?

(see the answer keys)

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