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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. Two decades later, what has Krakauer learned about his relationship with his father?

2. Chris's parents had moved, but his step brother was contacted. After he positively identified Chris, what did he do?

3. What important work does Walt McCandless do?

4. What emotional experience disturbed Chris while he is staying in the bus?

5. What did Chris do the summer after his sophomore year in college?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Carine and her parents regret after the fact of Chris's death?

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

3. What defense does Krakauer make of Chris's ability to survive in the wild?

4. As Krakauer, visiting the site, stood on the banks of the raging Teklanika River, what advantage did he have that Chris did not have?

5. What indicates to Krakauer that there was a very close relationship between Carine and Chris?

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

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

8. What was the irony Krakauer thought about as he kept attempting to climb Devil's Thumb?

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

10. How did Chris manage the last leg of his trip into Fairbanks?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write about other people's opinions of a person. Use the examples of what Westerberg, Jan, and Franz had to say about Chris when Krakauer interviewed them. Did they express opinions that they never expressed to Chris himself? Include the confusion of Walt McCandless as he talked to Krakauer seven weeks after Chris died.

Essay Topic 2

Look up four or five edible wild plants and write about them. Tell where to find them, how to prepare them for eating, whether they must be cooked, and any danger of confusing them with another plant that is poisonous.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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This section contains 965 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample