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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. Why does Krakauer think Chris could not excrete poison from his body?

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

3. What important work does Walt McCandless do?

4. How did the police know Chris's real last name?

5. What did the bones outside the bus reveal?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. Explain Jim Gillien's difficulty in contacting the Alaska police.

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

Write an essay on romanticism as it pertains to frontier adventure. Use Chris, Krakauer, and Ruess from the book, but also include frontiersmen from American history and those adventurers who are at the forefront of space exploration.

Essay Topic 3

Look up information about the Mojave Desert and write an essay about the advisability of trying to exist alone in a place like that. Give your opinion about what might have happened to Chris in the Mojave Desert when he is reported to have nearly died.

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