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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. How did the police know Chris's real last name?
(a) From his journal.
(b) From the note he had taped to the bus door.
(c) From his Social Security card they found in his wallet.
(d) From his virginia driver's license.

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

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

5. What emotional experience disturbed Chris while he is staying in the bus?
(a) Watching an otter get captured by an eagle.
(b) Thinking about his sister.
(c) Bad dreams that hinted of his death.
(d) Killing a moose and being unable to preserve the meat.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How does Roman Dial, who teaches at the University of Alaska, interpret Chris's actions?

3. What happened 10 months after Chris's death?

4. What daunting challenge did Krakauer set for himself as a young man?

5. What was the skeleton in Walt's closet that stressed the whole family, Chris in particular?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain Jim Gillien's difficulty in contacting the Alaska police.

2. What is so unusual about Chris's never seeing another human being while he was camped at the bus?

3. How was Krakauer's Alaska experience different from Chris's?

4. Describe why the McCandlesses could not take the exact trek to the bus that Chris had taken.

5. What items did Billie and Walt McCandless leave behind in the bus?

6. In Chris's journal, what did he think was happening to him?

7. What kind of work made Walt McCandless such a success?

8. Who was Sam McCandless, and why was he the one to notify Chris's parents?

9. What discovery did Chris make the summer after his freshman year in college that drove a deeper wedge between him and his father?

10. What discovery about himself did Krakauer make after conquering Devil's Thumb?

(see the answer keys)

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