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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What feat did Waterman achieve in 1978?

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

3. What message did Chris leave taped to the door of the bus?

4. What prevented Jan and Bob from going to Bullhead City to pick Chris up?

5. What is The Slabs?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did there happen to be an abandoned bus where Chris could find it?

2. What is a literary parallel between Chris and Ruess?

3. Discuss Chris's abandonment of his beloved Datsun.

4. What was the relationship Chris developed with the Westerberg family?

5. Describe the first indication that Walt and Billie McCandless had of where Chris might be.

6. What impression did Chris make on Ron Franz?

7. What are some particulars about Alex (Chris) deciding to go to San Diego?

8. Explain Chris's lack of readiness for his Alaskan adventure.

9. Why do people still come to the site where the bus stands?

10. The man Chris describes as a lunatic, Charlie, holds what kind of opinion about Chris?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write about respect for authority. Using the example of Chris failing one course, physics, because he refused to turn in his assignments according to the way the professor wanted them. Then broaden the point of view. You may want to write about taggers (delinquents who paint graffiti on public buildings). Conclude with your idea about what society would be like if everyone simply did whatever he or she pleased without regard to others or the law.

Essay Topic 2

Gather information about Jack London. Write about how Chris admired his description of survival in the Alaskan wilderness but did not recognize it as fiction written by a man who never did the things included in his book, CALL OF THE WILD.

Essay Topic 3

Given the amount of information Krakauer includes about Chris's abilities, write and OP-ED piece about another successful course Chris might have taken to realize his ideals. You might want to have him go into the Peace Corps or get involved in something like Habitat for Humanity.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 882 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample