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

2. Racing against a storm, Krakauer reaches the summit of the Thumb. How does he describe it?

3. What did Krakauer do similar to what Chris did when he needed to go to the village of Petersberg?

4. At the time of publication of the notice of Chris's death, what problem did the police have?

5. How was Westerberg able to help the police?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is so unusual about Chris's never seeing another human being while he was camped at the bus?

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

4. Who was Sam McCandless, and why was he the one to notify Chris's parents?

5. What items did Billie and Walt McCandless leave behind in the bus?

6. What discovery about himself did Krakauer make after conquering Devil's Thumb?

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

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

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

10. To show his kindred spirit with Chris, what does Krakauer write about in Chapter 14?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Write an essay expressing your opinion of Chris McCandless. Answer whether he was mentally stable, how he did or did not use people, whether he might have survived except for some bad luck, and how well he was prepared to survive alone.

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 988 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample