Impactful Books and Elections

1. Warm-Up: Tuesday, April 16th What book has had the greatest impact on you? What book would you carry around in your backpack if you were Chris? Explain your answer. If you did not finish your “To Build a Fire” questions from yesterday, you need to do that immediately after the warm-up. If you turned in your story/questions, pick them up now as well.

2. Class Officer Elections It's time for class officer elections. If you are interested in running for a Sophomore class officer positionfor next year, you must attend a meeting after school on Wednesday, April 17, in Room 1108 (Red House 1). You can only get an election packet by coming to this meeting. If you have questions, see Mrs. Barnes in Room 1108 or Mrs. LeBlanc in the Gold 1 office.

3. Chris McCandless wrote “Jack London is King” on a piece of wood at the site of Chris McCandless’ death. Jack London Jon Krakauer writes, • “McCandless had been infatuated with London since childhood. London’s fervent condemnation of capitalist society, his glorification of the primordial world, his championing of the great unwashed-all of it mirrored McCandless’s passions.Mesmerized by London’s turgid portrayal of life in Alaska and the Yukon, McCandless read and reread The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and “To Build a Fire.” He was so enthralled by these tales, however, that he seemed to forget they were works of fiction, constructions of the imagination that had more to do with London’s romantic sensibilities than with the actualities of life in the sub arctic wilderness. McCandless conveniently overlooked the fact that London himself had spent just a single winter in the North and that he’d died by his own hand on his California estate at the age of forty, drunk, obese and pathetic, maintaining a sedentary existence that bore scant resemblance to the ideals he espoused in print.

4. “To Build a Fire” by Jack London

5. “To Build a Fire” • Track and label the mistakes made by the man in the story. What should he have done differently? • What are the themes of this short story? What is significant about the last sentence? • What does “The Man” in “To Build a Fire” have in common with Chris McCandless? • Author Jack London was Chris’ literary hero. He undoubtedly knew this story very well. Why do you think the themes of this piece were not taken to heart by Chris before his own Alaskan adventure?

6. McCandless and Tolstoy 1.) Both were raised in wealthy families with overly controlling fathers. 2.) Both rebelled against the culture they were being directed into by “going against the norm” and giving away most/all material possessions. 3.) Both had alter-egos that allowed each man to explore who he really was.

7. McCandless and Tolstoy “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life.” LEO TOLSTOY, “FAMILY HAPPINESS” PASSAGE HIGHLIGHTED IN ONE OF THE BOOKS FOUND WITH CHRIS MCCANDLESS’S REMAINS (Chapter 3 Epigraph) How does this connect to Chris’ experience? Answer on your “To Build a Fire” question sheet.

8. McCandless & Thoreau

9. McCandless & Thoreau “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life,living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms,and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”

10. “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, an obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board. The hospitality was as cold as the ices.” HENRY DAVID THOREAU, WALDEN, “ON LIFE IN THE WOODS” PASSAGE HIGHLIGHTED IN ONE OF THE BOOKS FOUND WITH CHRIS MCCANDLESS’ REMAINS. AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE, THE WORD “TRUTH” HAD BEEN WRITTEN IN LARGE BLOCK LETTERS IN MCCANDLESS’S HAND. (Chapter 12 Epigraph) How does this connect to Chris’ experience? Answer on your “To Build a Fire” question sheet.

11. Chris’ Connection to Literature • Why was literature so transformative for Chris? • Would he have made the same choices without the influence of his favorite writers?

13. “What’s in a Name?” When you’re on the A.T. (or Appalachian Trail – a 2,200 mile hiking trail from Georgia to Maine) you’re bestowed a trail name—a nickname, of sorts, that becomes your primary identity.

14. Mouse King “My first night on the trail, I got to the shelter, and I noticed everybody was in their tents. No one was in the shelter because there were so many mice. I was so tired, I didn’t care. I was the only one who slept in the shelter. There were mice everywhere. I would turn on my headlight and they’d go away. Then after awhile, they just stopped going away. So I set up my tent in the shelter and went to sleep. The next morning I went to the privy (toilet), and there was a mouse right behind me, just staring at me the whole time.”

15. Cheese “I was at one of the shelters, and I picked up a block of cheese, and ate it down in under a minute, and it was good, so they called me cheese. I tell bad jokes, and I’m from Wisconsin, too, so I’ve got all three things going on.”

16. Heat Wave “I got it on the Pacific Crest Trail. I had never backpacked before, and I had no idea what I was doing. I was probably carrying about 60 pounds. I kept pulling up and cinching my backpack, and when we stopped at the first break, I unclipped everything, and I think my squeezed-up insides just kind of loosened, and I threw up all over the trail. Some older gentlemen came by and checked that I was okay and walked on. About 10 days later, or so, I ran into one of them again. He walked right up to me and was like, “Hey, Heat Wave, how’s it going?” The name stuck.”

17. Cindy Loo Hoo “My hair is crazy purple, and I put it in a really high top bun a lot of the times.”

18. Banana Split “I split my pants on Day 3, and I wear yellow shorts. I guess I’m kinda stuck with that the rest of the way.”

19. What’s Your Trail Name? • You can’t name yourself. • Someone else will use your interests and traits to create a trail name for you. • Keep it clean and kind!!

20. Exit Ticket Chris was greatly influenced by his favorite authors. These men spoke truth into his life, and Chris took their words to heart. Think about the music you listen to, the shows you watch, what you read, etc. What truth is coming through the “entertainment” you enjoy? What messages are being sent to your generation? What “truths” are you adopting for yourself?