Assignment #5- Final Thoughts

I found the book "Into the Wild", by Jon Krakauer, both exciting and interesting. This book truly showed the beauties of nature and the dangers of it also. This book is completely worth reading. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys nature. I think this book tells us that the nature is a beautiful place but it can sometime take our lives. I think it also shows that the human being also only has a certain amount of strength, and that a human alone can not take on the power of the nature for months. I thought "Into the Wild" was a great book because it had everything aspect of a book in which I find interesting. It had action, nature, tension, and drama. All four of these things make up an excellent book to me. I also enjoyed some of the parts in the book where they explained the small amount of stuff in which Chris brought. A quote from this book which explains this is, "But he was sufficiently skilled to last for sixteen weeks on little more than his wits and ten pounds of rice." (page 182, paragraph 2)

I think of Chris as a hero who showed the human race that going into the wilderness and living for months was possible. Although he may have died, no one would ever expect the amount of time which he spent in the wilderness for was possible. He truly showed the power of a single human being. I do not agree with the person who wrote this note about Chris in chapter 8, "And while I feel for his parents, I have no sympathy for him." (page 72, paragraph 2) This person who wrote this thought that Chris was very idiotic and didn't know what he was getting himself into by going on this adventure. In the article named "The Cult of Chris McCandles" someone writes this positive note on Chris, "he found the serenity of the spirit that most die without ... pray for Chris's critics ... There is something about Alaska that changes you." I agree with this note because I feel the same way about Chris and the adventure which he went on. That is why I feel that Chris is a hero for going into the wilderness on this adventure.

Assignment #4- The Movie

There are many things that are alike and different from the film "Into the Wild" and the book "Into the Wild." A difference between the film and the book is that in the movie we meet Chris' family at the beginning of the film, but in the book we meet Chris' family later on in the book. In the book they do not explain Chris having that much stuff that he carried into the wild, but in the movie it looks as if he has a lot of stuff that he brought into the wild with him. He still didn't have tons of stuff but it seemed as if it was more stuff then what they explained in the book. In chapter 2 of the book Chris dies but in the movie he does not die at the beginning of the film, instead he dies at the very end. In the movie they had a transition from Alex being in college into his graduation from Emory College. I enjoyed the beautiful visuals of the nature in this movie. There were so many amazing and beautiful things such as the animals that we see. The nature is such a beautiful place and they truly show the beauties of it in this movie. I also really enjoyed the music in this movie. The singer Eddie Vender is one of my favorite singers and I feel that this music fits the mood of the movie. The movie made the book much more clear to me. I thought that the movie made the part about when Chris lived in a bus more clear to me. I didn't know that Chris actually lived in that bus for a while when he was in the wild, i thought that he just lived there for one night and then kept moving on. I also enjoyed the flashbacks of this movie. The flashbacks helped me understand the past of Chris McCandles life and some of the reasons why he might have left his home to go live in the wild. This film improves on the book because the film shows images of Chris and the nature which you had to picture when you were reading the book. The book is superior because the book gave more details of the people that Chris met on his journey. If I were a reviewer for this film I would give in five out of five stars. I loved this movie and it interested me when I saw the images of the animals. I would give the book two out of five stars. This book was not very entertaining to me and I did not like the order of events in it. That is what I thought of this book.

Symbolism- 3/7/10

There are many symbols that would represent my life. I have been many places and have had many experiences that were very important to me. One of the symbols that I would put on my belt would be a picture of Niagara falls. When I was in fifth grade I went to Niagara Falls with my family. This was a great experience and it truly shows the power of nature. Another symbol I would put on my belt is a soccer ball. Soccer is my favorite sport and I play it hours everyday. Soccer is one of the most important things to me in my life because I have played it my whole life for club and now for John Carroll. I would also put a picture of my family on my belt. My family is extremely important to me also and I love them all so much and they are always there for me when I need help. I would put a picture of my friends on my belt too. My friends are the people I can always count on to have a good time with. My friends enjoy the same things as me such as sports and they always are looking to have fun just like me. On my belt I would also have a picture of a lacrosse stick. Lacrosse means a lot to me because thats something I can do with both my family and my friends. Most of my friends play lacrosse with me on John Carroll and all of my family members have once played lacrosse. My family and I often go outside on weekends and play lacrosse together as a family. I would put a picture of Myrtle Beach on my belt also. Last summer I went to Myrtle Beach with my best friends Sully and his family. This was the best vacation I have ever been on. I am also going here again this year with Sully and his family. Another symbol that I would have on my belt is a helicopter. I would have a helicopter on my belt because my Dad is a helicopter pilot. Two years ago my Dad went to Iraq for a whole year and a half. This was a very sad time for me and my family when he went there but it was great to see him come home safely. Sadly he has to go back to Iraq next summer for a whole other year. The final symbol I would put on my belt is a farm. I currently live on a farm and I love it. I do not have any animals on my farm. I moved here when I was just five years old. My farm is a total of fifty four acres. I enjoy living here because I have plenty of room to ride my ATV and play soccer and lacrosse here. These symbols mean a lot to me and they summarize my life.

Characterization

Direct Characterization:
1. He excelled in academics. (1)
2. He was a great athlete. (1)
3. He was not prepared for the journey he was getting ready to go on. (4)
4. His remains weighed sixty-seven pounds. (14)
5. He was smallish with the hard, stringy physique of an itinerant laborer. (16)

Indirect Characterization:
1. Alex insists in giving away his watch, comb, and his money to Gallien- Alex doesn't care about his belongings anymore because he knows that he is going into the wild and he will not need in anymore. (6)
2. "Alex was smallish with the hard, stringy, physique of an itinerant laborer." (16)
3. "He had the kind of sensitive good looks that women made a fuss over." (16)
4. "The available evidence indicates that McCandles did not misrepresent the facts; telling the truth was a credo he took seriously. (29)
5. McCandles slowed his pace, and his mood became more contemplative. (35)

Paragraph:
In the book "Into The Wild", by Jon Krakauer, the main character Chris McCandles is very smart but he threw away everything he had in order to escape from his life and go into the wild. When I read this story the author truly expressed the kind of life that Chris wanted to live when the author talked about all that Chris threw away to go into the wild. McCandles is also very brave. It takes a brave person to go into the wild and live by yourself like Chris McCandles did. The author also makes Chris sound like he is almost crazy when he expresses some of the things which Chris did. Some of the things that McCandles does in the story truly make me wonder why he would want to live a life like that when he had everything.

Reflection On Nature

Nature is all around us. No matter where we are in the world there is nature. I personally love nature. I love to see all the living things around us. Nature also includes things that I love such as the snow, forests, and oceans. Oceans amaze me because there are so many things in the oceans that are alive. The power of the waves in the ocean also are amazing. The power of nature is insane. I have had many experiences with nature. One of the experiences I had with nature in which I got hurt is when I broke my arm snowboarding in the snow. This happened about two months ago when I went outside with my friends and went off a snowboard ramp and landed on my wrist. Nature is a great thing which makes our world a beautiful place to live in.