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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Krakauer's message by using the details of the moose hunter's trip to the bus?
(a) He shows that even seasoned hunters must contend with the harsh elements of the northwest.
(b) He breaks up the story to keep it interesting.
(c) It is how he explains the difficulty in getting to the place where Chris died.
(d) He shows more about how beautiful the landscape is in that place.

2. In October of 1990, National Park Ranger, what did Bud Walsh discover?
(a) A backpack with $123 stuffed inside it.
(b) A rifle that had been buried.
(c) Chris's old yellow Datsun that had been abandoned.
(d) Evidence of a camp in a restricted area.

3. When Chris corresponded with his sister, what did he confide to her?
(a) That he planned to lull his parents into a false sense of security then cut them out of his life abruptly and decisively.
(b) That he would surprise them all and come home.
(c) That he was tired of being on the run all the time.
(d) That he would see her by Christmas time.

4. What news seriously alarmed Jan Burres?
(a) That Alex might be a serial killer.
(b) That Alex was wanted by the Nevada police.
(c) That Alex never intended to see any of his family again.
(d) That Alex had burned the last of his money when he abandoned his car.

5. What work did Chris (Alex) do while he stayed with Jan and Bob at The Slabs?
(a) Selling in their fleamarket books stall.
(b) Acting as a security gurad.
(c) Making hamburgers that he learned how to do at McDonald's.
(d) Digging ditches.

6. What problem did Killian have in contacting the authorities?
(a) It was difficult to find a place where radio signals could get through.
(b) The other people did not want him to contact the troopers because they did not want to get involved.
(c) The ice broke on the river and left it more than a hundred yards wide.
(d) His vehicle broke down and it took hours to fix.

7. To whom did Chris send a postcard from Bullhead City?
(a) His sister.
(b) Westerberg.
(c) Jan Buress.
(d) His ex-girlfriend.

8. After dropping Chris off, why did Gallien decide not to notify the authorities?
(a) It slipped his mind after he got back to town.
(b) He decided Chris would give up on his foolish plan soon enough.
(c) He planned to return to check up on Chris.
(d) He promised he would not do that.

9. What strange actions did Chris take right after graduating college?
(a) He shot his father and spent the next three years on the run from the police.
(b) He began a backpack trip that he hoped would eventually take him around the world.
(c) He gave away his entire savings to charity, abandoned his possessions, and became a drifter and wilderness explorer.
(d) He gave his car to his sister and took a bicycle to New York where he went to work on a merchant ship.

10. What parallel does Krakauer draw between Chris and Carl McCunn?
(a) Both of them were serious dropouts from society.
(b) Like Chris, McCunn ruined his camera in the Alaskan wilderness.
(c) Both Chris and McCunn were gainfully employed when they went on their fatal trips.
(d) McCunn died in the Alaskan wilderness because of an oversight just as Chris did.

11. What is ironic about Krakauer's descriptions of Walt McCandless and that of his rebellious son, Chris?
(a) Walt had always been kind and generous but Chris had always been aloof.
(b) Krakauer describes Chris and Walt McCandless as being very similar, both stubborn and temperamental individuals.
(c) Walt and Chris believe in the same socialistic things.
(d) Chris was a carbon copy of his father when he was that age.

12. What questions did Chris ask Gallien that impressed the older man?
(a) About moose and carribu.
(b) About traffic in that part of Alaska.
(c) About the length of winters in Alaska.
(d) Informed questions about the flora and fauna of Alaska.

13. Who had carved a passage from the creek up to the dry gulch?
(a) Railroad explorers.
(b) American Indians.
(c) Campers.
(d) Mormon cattlemen.

14. How does Krakauer classify Chris as opposed to the way most people saw him?
(a) As a true hero others should look up to.
(b) As not very different from many idealistic, if short-sighted, young people.
(c) As a classic example of a true Robinson Crusoe.
(d) As mentally unbalanced.

15. What did Walt and Billie McCandless discover when they drive to Chris's apartment in Atlanta?
(a) That Chris had never lived there.
(b) That the building had been torn down.
(c) That there was no such address.
(d) That he had moved out three months before.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did Chris meet Wayne Westerberg?

2. Why did Krakauer include so much about the McCandless family in Chapter 3?

3. In what area do people who knew Chris agree that he was inexperienced?

4. How do Waterman and Chris differ?

5. Near what famous landmark did Chris McCandless die?

(see the answer keys)

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