Wags Class...Bhill and the Commadores

Let’s get going on TKAM

kwags4 — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:39:44 +0000

Hey guys…I expect break is treating you well and that all of the posts will show up on Sunday night, but in case you are struggling to get started, here is a talking point:

Think about the different father figures in the book…Mr. Cunningham, Bob Ewell, and Atticus. How would you characterize each of these men? What are they teaching their children through their own actions?

Or, if that doesn’t suit you, talk to me about Dolphus Raymond. He does not live according to society’s expectations. What does he do to break the mold, and do you agree with the way he avoids any issues?

Catcher Questions Week 2

kwags4 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:09:31 +0000

Hey bloggers…sorry I didn’t get these questions up until now. I will give you two extra days to get blog responses in because I was late on giving them to you. But, rules still apply: choose one question to respond to, provide support for you answer, and make sure you pay attention to your blogmates’ responses. Due date is now Tuesday, Nov. 17 at midnight.

Questions (chapters 7 – 15):

1. Describe Holden’s emotional stability.

2. How prepared is Holden for the adult world?

3. How does Holden view the women he meets?

4. What effect does Holden’s red hunting hat have on his demeanor?

Catcher in the Rye Questions: Week One

kwags4 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:11:52 +0000

Blog Questions for Catcher in the Rye: Week One (chapters 1 – 6)

Directions: Answer one of the questions THOROUGHLY using support from the book to back up your answers. This means that you need to QUOTE passages that relate to what you are trying to say. Post by midnight on Sunday, November 8.

Where is Holden writing his story from, and why? (California is not enough, and I don’t mean give me a city. Think about this critically.)
Why is Holden so hung up over Stradlater taking Jane on a date? Does he have a right to act the way he is acting?
What are Holden’s views on education? How are these views similar to students today?
Why do you think Holden lies so much? What does this say about him?

Weekend Three Questions

tsaylor2 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:40:01 +0000

1. Walt McCandless asks us, “How is it that a kid with so much compassion could cause his parents so much pain?” Well, I don’t think the entire amount of pain caused was on purpose. If McCandless went onto the Stampede Trail with absolute intention of returning, than I cannot see how Walt McCandless can believe the pain caused to him was completely intentional. I believe this trip would have been Chris’s last proving thing he would do towards his parents. I believe that this would have been his “last hoorah” of showing his parents that he could be completely independent. So my answer to Walt McCandless is that “a kid with so much compassion” could not cause his parents so much pain.

2. Krakauer’s including of his own story of adventure and near death experience in a book about Chris McCandless was his (Krakauer’s) way of proving his opinion that McCandless did not go to Alaska and onto the Stampede Trail with any intention of dying. His including of the climb of the Devil’s Thumb is his way of proving this, which we can plainly see when he says, “had I not returned from the Stikine Ice Cap in 1977, people would have been quick to say of me-as they now say of him-that I had a death wish” (155).

3. According to Chris McCandless, it is better to be a little bit more selfish than selfless. It is apparent this statement is truthful because of McCandless’s actions. McCandless often became close to people along the course of his trip, but, when things got really crazy close, Chris left; he cut off all ties. I think this way of living is only good if you do not wish for people to truly become close to you. I do not believe though that living this way of more selfish than selfless can lead to very much happiness however. Personally, living this way only seems like a recipe for loneliness.

Answer to: What significance does abandoning one’s name hold for Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess?

tsaylor2 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:24:51 +0000

Held within the name change of Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess is a very significant thing for each. Becoming Alexander Supertramp (McCandless) and Nemo (Ruess) held something they both wished to have. It was an escape from who they are. They saw themselves in the past as something that they may connect to, but as something they no longer wished to be. Becoming Alexander Supertramp for McCandless allowed him to mentally cutoff ties with Chris. His family was no longer his family and he was who he wished to be. The same thing applies to Ruess. The significance of their name changes is they made their own identities.

answer to: Who is most affected by Chris’s death? week one

tsaylor2 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:47:10 +0000

Those most affected by Chris’s death are his parents and all those people he got close to during his trip. We know it affected his family hard because they loved him; they argued and had some anger towards him at times, but they did love him. It affected his sister very hard as well because they were very close, much more than him and his parents (and especially his father). Some of the people that were just as equally affected as Chris’s family were those he grew to become friends with over the time of his trip. One great example would be Wayne Westerberg, who Chris found it most important to keep in contact with which we can see when Chris sent “a postcard to Westerberg in care of Glory House, the Sioux Falls workrelease facility where Westerberg was doing time” (p. 33). Others would be Jan Burres and Charlie (the old man who let Chris sleep in the house trailer) who Chris made a point to continue contact with. Although the family was affected by Chris’s death so were friends that Chris met along the way of his trip.

Week 3 Qs

kwags4 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:40:14 +0000

Answer Walt McCandless’s question: “How is it that a kid with so much compassion could cause his parents so much pain?”
Why does Krakauer include his own story of adventure and near death in a book about Chris McCandless?
Is it better to be selfless or selfish, according to McCandless? What do you think?

Blog Questions: Into the Wild (weekends one and two)

kwags4 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:15:59 +0000

Blog Questions:

Directions:

For each weekend, choose a question to respond to with your blog group. Please use passages from the book or other pieces we have read in class to support your argument. This is meant to be an interaction, so read what your group members say and contribute to that discussion. You are welcome to look at more than one question if you would like.

Weekend One:

How does Chris McCandless exemplify the Transcendental lifestyle?
Who is most affected by Chris’s death?
Why do the desert and Alaska have such a strong allure for Chris?
What is it that Chris is trying to escape?

Weekend Two:

Nick Jans writes in a letter to Krakauer: “Jack London got it right in To Build a Fire. McCandless is, finally, just a pale 20^th-century burlesque of London’s protagonist, who freezes because he ignores advice and commits big-time hubris.” Is Jans correct in his analysis? Why or why not?
Why is it important for Krakauer’s purpose to incorporate examples of other people doing what Chris had done and escape “into the wild.”
Krakauer states (at the end of chapter 8): “McCandless didn’t conform particularly well to the bush-casualty stereotype. Although he was rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry, and incautious to the point of foolhardiness, he wasn’t incompetent—he wouldn’t have survived 113 days if he were. And he wasn’t a nutcase, he wasn’t a sociopath, he wasn’t an outcast. McCandless was something else—although precisely what is hard to say” (85). What do you think McCandless was? Why?
What significance does abandoning one’s name hold for Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess?