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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. In light of his own experiences, what does Krakauer think of Chris's tactics?
(a) More young people should do what chris did.
(b) Except for a bit of bad luck, Chris was right to do what he did.
(c) They are understandable but not justifiable.
(d) They are exemplary.

3. What did Chris do the summer after his sophomore year in college?
(a) He worked in a garage to make money to buy his Datsun.
(b) He returned to Annandale and wrote a flawless software program.
(c) He spent the entire summer with his sister, Carine.
(d) He took a cross country hike.

4. Two decades later, what has Krakauer learned about his relationship with his father?
(a) Krakauer learned that his father was always shallow and always would be.
(b) Krakauer realizes he was selfish, stubborn, and as difficult for his father to deal with as his father's behavior had been for him.
(c) Krakauer learned that he had improved himself by not becoming like his father.
(d) Krakauer learned that he had been right to defy his father.

5. What was the tender moment between Chris and his father right after Chris graduated from high school?
(a) He spent that summer doing things with his father.
(b) He let his father ready his personal journal.
(c) He asked his father's advice about choosing a college.
(d) He gave his father an expensive telescope and told him how much he appreciated him.

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

7. What daunting challenge did Krakauer set for himself as a young man?
(a) To ski down Mt. McKinley.
(b) To scale a mountain called the Devils Thumb alone.
(c) To prove that he is always right.
(d) To find out how much terror he can stand.

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

9. At the time of publication of the notice of Chris's death, what problem did the police have?
(a) They had been unable to identify him.
(b) They had no response from the public about the body.
(c) They did not have forensic labs in that part of Alaska.
(d) They had beed unable to get the body out.

10. When Krakauer reached an impassable place on the mountain, what did he do?
(a) He radioed for help.
(b) He sat down and cried.
(c) There was nothing to do but descend.
(d) He started traveling horizontally on the mountain.

11. How was Westerberg able to help the police?
(a) He told them Chris graduated from Emory University.
(b) He had Chris's fingerprints on file.
(c) He had Chris's Social Security number on file.
(d) He had a photo of Chris's yellow Datsun with the license plate showing.

12. How does Roman Dial, who teaches at the University of Alaska, interpret Chris's actions?
(a) He thinks the native Alaskans are right to condemn Chris.
(b) Roman admires McCandless's efforts but would not undertake them himself.
(c) He agrees that Chris was borderline neurotic.
(d) Roman thinks no one should ever attempt what Chris did.

13. What happened to Billie in July of 1992?
(a) She had a nervous breakdown.
(b) She had a dibilitating auto accident.
(c) She was diagnosed with cancer.
(d) She had a vivid dream of Chris calling her for help.

14. What is prominently displayed in Carine McCandless's home?
(a) A scrapbook of news clippings about Chris.
(b) Two photographs of her brother, Chris.
(c) A painting she did of her brother, Chris.
(d) All of Chris's track trophies.

15. What did Walt leave in the bus?
(a) A flashlight and some batteries.
(b) An emergency radio operated by a hand crank.
(c) A book about edible plants in the area.
(d) A memorial plaque.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was in the McCandless house that speaks to the feelings of Walt and Billie McCandless toward Chris?

2. What shows Chris's attitude toward injustices that began when he was in college?

3. What ambitions did Jon Krakauer's father have for all of his children?

4. Why does Krakauer relate his own experiences in Chapter 14?

5. Who gave Krakauer dinner and a place to sleep in Petersberg?

(see the answer keys)

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