English 101 Discussion Guide #2—Into the Wild ______

(pages—47-102) Name

If you are responding to this discussion guide as part of a small group, write the names of the other group members here.

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  1. The epigraph at the beginning of Chapter Six on page 47 again quotes Henry David Thoreau: “The greatest gains and values are farthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist. We soon forget them. They are the highest reality …. The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little star-dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.” What is he saying? Does whatever he is saying have any bearing on how you live your life? Should it? How?
  1. Although Chris’s journal entries might sound self-glamorizing and immature, sometimes his letters to other people can seem rather thoughtful. Consider his letter (page 56) to Ron, the older man who becomes so attached to Chris. In that letter, Chris gives Ron some advice about how to live and backs it up with this observation: “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.”

Unless you are in college only for intellectual enlightenment, can we assume that you are here primarily to help secure your future? Isn’t it your goal to develop a secure career? Are you missing something? What is the price of security?

  1. On page 60 we learn that Ron, upon being told that Chris was dead, “…renounced the Lord. I withdrew my church membership and became an atheist. I decided I couldn’t believe in a God who would let something that terrible happen to a boy like Alex.” What was it about Chris that inspired such devotion in Ron and some other people? What does it suggest about their own lives?
  1. Krakauer surmises that Chris had little or no sexual experience and that it didn’t seem to matter to him. “… McCandless seems to have been driven by a variety of lust that supplanted sexual desire. His yearning, in a sense, was too powerful to be quenched by human contact” (66). The author compares Chris in this regard to other, more famous people who “embraced wilderness with single-minded passion ….” Why might there be an inverse relationship between sexuality and the extreme pursuit of the wilderness experience? Do you think such an attitude is healthy? Why or why not?
  1. As a result of writing about Chris for a magazine, Krakauer received a number of letters from people, many from Alaska, most of which were highly critical of Chris’s adventure and the manner of his death. One such letter states, “Such willful ignorance … amounts to disrespect for the land, and paradoxically demonstrates the same sort of arrogance that resulted in the Exxon Valdez spill—just another case of underprepared, overconfident men bumbling around out there and screwing up because they lacked the requisite humility.” Obviously, the writer of this letter is responding to Chris’s story with contempt, even anger. Why would some people feel so provoked by Chris’s exploits that they feel the need to render such harsh judgment even after Chris is dead? Is this a reasonable response? Why or why not.
  1. In comparing Chris’s character to that of Everett Ruess (and his own), one person Krakauer interviewed commented that, “We like companionship, see, but we can’t stand to be around people for very long. So we go get ourselves lost, come back for a while, then get the hell out again” (96). Do you know people who are in any way like that? Are you? Do you think it’s just a normal part of their innate disposition, or is it an acquired trait, or is there something wrong with people who need to spend much of their time alone? What other unusual characteristics do such people display?
  1. As Chris leaves his friends in South Dakota for the last time, the mother of the man who employed him says that she noticed Chris was crying. “That frightened me. He wasn’t planning on being gone all that long; I figured he wouldn’t have been crying unless he intended to take some big risks and knew he might not be coming back” (68). On the next page, in a letter to different friends, Chris writes, “If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again ….” He closes yet another letter with, “Take care, it was great knowing you.” There is clearly a note of finality there.

Are these further examples of Chris’s tendency to dramatize his life, or do you think he had a presentiment of his death? If so, does the fact that he went ahead with his plans suggest he had a death wish? Explain your answer.

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