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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When did Jon Krakauer interview Walt McCandless?
(a) On what would have been Chris's birthday.
(b) Seven weeks after Chris's body was recovered.
(c) Never. He would not speak with Krakauer.
(d) A year after Chris died.

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

3. What evidence does Krakauer find that suggests Chris was ready to re-enter society?
(a) Chris's journal indicated that he was beginning to doubt Thoreau.
(b) Doctor Zhivago, a book Chris was reading, includes that genuine happiness must be shared with one's fellow human beings and Chris had made a note beside that passage.
(c) The graffiti Chris drew on the bus indicated he wanted to see people again.
(d) Chris had written down the names and addresses of everyone who had helped him so he could visit them again.

4. After Chris left home, why didnn't Carine get upset when he won't tell her where he was?
(a) She knew Chris was happy and thought he would come home some day.
(b) She thought their father would try to bring him home if he knew.
(c) She didn't want to know because she didn't care.
(d) She was glad he was gone so she could have his room.

5. What was the tender moment between Chris and his father right after Chris graduated from high school?
(a) He spent that summer doing things with his father.
(b) He let his father ready his personal journal.
(c) He asked his father's advice about choosing a college.
(d) He gave his father an expensive telescope and told him how much he appreciated him.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happened to Billie in July of 1992?

2. What family outings did the McCandless family mention to Krakauer?

3. What spurred Krakauer on after his failed attempt to climb Devil's Thumb?

4. What shows Chris's attitude toward injustices that began when he was in college?

5. What characteristic of his father's does Krakauer mention as a flaw?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. How was Krakauer's Alaska experience different from Chris's?

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

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

7. How does swainsonine become lethal in the body?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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