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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Gallien think about Chris's weapon?
(a) It was too small to be effective against large animals.
(b) It had no case to put it in for protection from the weather.
(c) It was difficult to carry.
(d) It was badly in need of cleaning.

2. What device does Krakauer use to open Chapter 1 and subsequent chapters?
(a) A quotation.
(b) A drawing.
(c) A skull and cross bones.
(d) A photograph.

3. What event happened in April 1992 that prompted the writing of Into The Wild?
(a) Christopher McCandless disappeared and no one ever knew what happened to him.
(b) Christopher McCandless hitchhiked to Alaska and entered the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley and four months later, a party of hunters found his body.
(c) An 80-year-old man called OUTSIDE Magazine to tell them about Chris McCandless.
(d) There was a volcano that killed a young man named Christopher McCandless.

4. What surprising thing about Chris does Westerberg remember about him?
(a) That he would eventually end up in a monastery in Tibet.
(b) That he secretly had a sexual fantasy about his sister.
(c) That he had expressed a desire to marry and have a family some day.
(d) That he knew what he was doing was unfair to his parents.

5. How long did Chris survive in that hostile environment?
(a) Two weeks.
(b) Almost a year.
(c) Sixteen weeks.
(d) Six months.

6. During an interview with Krakauer, what does Westerberg say about Chris?
(a) That he seldom told the truth.
(b) That he was an expert mechanic.
(c) That he had an admirable spirit of adventure.
(d) That he lacked common sense.

7. How were Chris's ideals defined in his own mind?
(a) His ideals were defined by his own sense of injustice in the world.
(b) They were defined by the poetry of E.E. cummings.
(c) He valued chastity and moral purity as defined by Tolstoy and Thoreau.
(d) They were defined by the works of Phillip Roth and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

8. Where did Chris intend to hike?
(a) The Stampede Trail, a faint track in the wilderness well off the beaten path.
(b) Along the Alaskan Pipeline.
(c) Where no one had ever gone before.
(d) Southwestward into Canada.

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

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

11. What was located at Oh-My-God Hot Springs?
(a) A pool with a waterfall.
(b) A ranger station.
(c) A hippie commune of sorts, which had sprung up around some natural hot springs.
(d) A tourist inn and spa.

12. What appears to be Krakauer's main motive in writing Into The Wild?
(a) To justify his own youth.
(b) To defend Chris McCandless from his critics.
(c) To win a Pulitzer Prize.
(d) To sell it to the movies.

13. What happened when the moose hunters got to the bus where they plan to camp out?
(a) The bus had been moved and they didn't know where to look for it.
(b) There was a terrible smell coming from inside the bus.
(c) There was a pack of wolves surrounding the bus.
(d) The bus was a burned out shell.

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 a classic example of a true Robinson Crusoe.
(c) As mentally unbalanced.
(d) As not very different from many idealistic, if short-sighted, young people.

15. Why did Chris write in his journal that hiking around Lake Meade was a mistake?
(a) There were no people anywhere around the lake.
(b) The heat was so intense that he became delirious.
(c) He had not been in a town where he could buy new boots.
(d) It was much larger than he anticipated.

Short Answer Questions

1. What indicates that Chris intended his Alaska trip to be his final great adventure?

2. After a semester at UCLA and a winter in San Francisco, what did Ruess do?

3. What did Chris and Ruess each do shortly before their deaths?

4. What parallel does Krakauer draw between Chris and Carl McCunn?

5. What comment does Krakauer make about Chris's fondness for Jack London?

(see the answer keys)

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