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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Krakauer think actually killed Chris?
(a) Choking on rabbit bones.
(b) The wild potato seeds he was eating.
(c) Poisonous leaves he was reduced to eating.
(d) Tainted canned goods he found in the bus.

2. What similarity is there between Jon's relationship with his father and Chris's relationship with Walt?
(a) Both fathers turned out to be bigamists.
(b) Both fathers were old and out of touch.
(c) Both fathers were weak willed and seldom gave their children advice.
(d) Secrets were revealed and both young men resented the hypocracy.

3. What trait did sports reveal in Chris?
(a) He did not take defeat well.
(b) He was lazy about training.
(c) He was not interested in competition.
(d) He wanted other people to win.

4. What is significant about the cloth belt Krakauer founds in the bus?
(a) It must have been made when Chris got too thin for his jeans.
(b) He seemd to have made it to tie up his paperback books.
(c) Chris probably didn't want to ruin the leather belt he had made at Ron Franz's house.
(d) Chris had made it to keep himself busy.

5. What emotional experience disturbed Chris while he is staying in the bus?
(a) Thinking about his sister.
(b) Bad dreams that hinted of his death.
(c) Killing a moose and being unable to preserve the meat.
(d) Watching an otter get captured by an eagle.

6. What sad discovery does Krakauer make just a quarter mile down stream on the river?
(a) There is an old bridge that a person could walk across.
(b) There is a ranger station stocked with all kinds of food.
(c) At the now defunct station, a steel cable stretches across the river with an aluminum basket suspended from this cable by pulleys.
(d) There is evidence that Chris came that far and went back.

7. Why does Krakauer think Chris could not excrete poison from his body?
(a) His bowel and urinary sustems had shut down.
(b) His deteriorated body did not have enough glucose and amino acids to bind with the poisons.
(c) Melted snow water caused him to become severely constipated.
(d) He did not have enough white blood cells to fight organisms.

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

9. Racing against a storm, Krakauer reaches the summit of the Thumb. How does he describe it?
(a) He describes it as the coldest place on earth.
(b) He describes it as breathtakingly beautiful.
(c) He describes the summit as malevolent and surreal.
(d) He describes it as a big disappointment.

10. What did Billie find in the bus?
(a) A coffee mug with the family monogram on it.
(b) A spoon from an old family silverware set.
(c) Photos of her and Walt.
(d) One of Buck's dog collars.

11. What did Billie leave in the bus?
(a) A set of steel plates and cups.
(b) A suitcase filled with emergency food supplies.
(c) A down coat and some matches.
(d) Three heavy blankets.

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

13. August 12, Chris left the bus to forage for berries. What did the note he left on the door say?
(a) "Gone fishing, be back in one hour."
(b) "There is stew on the stove, go in and help yourself."
(c) It was a desperate plea for assistance signed with his real name.
(d) "If I do not return, look for me north of the bus."

14. What ambitions did Jon Krakauer's father have for all of his children?
(a) That they would excell in sports.
(b) That they would attend Ivy League schools.
(c) That they would leave home and be on their own after high school.
(d) That they would all enter the family business.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What information does Gallien provide the police?

2. What two requests did Stuckey make of Alex as they parted company?

3. How did Chris travel the 1,000 miles from Laird, Alaska, to Fairbanks?

4. What kind of business do Carine and her husband operate?

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

(see the answer keys)

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