25 Random Facts About Me

1. When I was about ten years old, I hit about 10 home runs in Little League.
2. I try to attend at least 5 Baltimore Oriole games a year.
3. I despise all the Yankee fans at Oriole games.
4. I love my dog and seeing her every day is certainly going to cheer me up.
5. I am fascinated by all the elements of the weather.
6. I had many nicknames in middle school, including Andy, Andre, and Dr. Dre.
7. My dad has influenced me the most in my life from sports to life lessons, and I am thankful for all he has done for me.
8. I say my prayers every day and thank God for all he has given me.
9. I have been playing basketball since I was about five years old.
10. Unlike most kids, I do not get bored easily and I can occupy myself for a long period of time.
11. I have one of the fattest cats you will ever lay eyes on.
12. I get extremely frustrated with my laptop and most technology.
13. I love to go outside and get fresh air when it is nice outside.
14. I do not like reading books for school and only do it because I have to.
15. I like looking at statistics of any sport because they interest me.
16. I get annoyed when people cannot tell me apart from my twin brother.
17. I am not a big candy eater and I am not huge on chocolate.
18. I hate having the worst luck of anyone on Earth.
19. I had two life-threatening situations in the summer of 2009: one incident where I was tubing down the Potomac River and almost hit my head on a big rock and I almost got runover by a car. This is why I thank God for keeping me alive each day.
20. You cannot consider me a picky eater; put any food on my plate and I will eat it.
21. I am not a photogenic person, so people should refrain from taking pictures from me.
22. My grandfather died when I was very young, and the more I have learned about him from my parents, he would have been the perfect grandfather for me.
23. I had a huge accident on a Slip 'n Slide where I got a ten inch long cut on my back.
24. Even though I get hurt all the time and I am in pain, I have never broken a major bone in my body.
25. Every time I go to the beach and go into the water, I get wrecked by huge waves. It happens every time and I am starting to get tired of it.

jimsabo.com

Washington D.C. Field Trip

I think the field trip was kind of exciting and was somewhat worth it in my opinion. I definitely enjoyed the coach bus we went on because they are so much better than school busses, so that was a plus. I liked walking and seeing all the famous buildings and structures of DC, but it could have been more pleasureable if it was not so warm. I think the play and performance was very good and I thought the actors and actresses were great. I thought they got their point across very well and their reenactments were so well performed that they impressed me a lot. I think getting the audience to participate was a great idea and made my experience more fun. After learning about Shakespeare's language, I will approach it differently in Julius Caesar and use the techniques learned at the play. I will look for clues in the text to figure out what is going on and paraphrase it to understand it beter. Hopefully these techniques will help me understand what goes on in the plays. My favorite part of the show was the fighting scene from Hamlet because it was full of action and kept me interested throughout. I pretty much enjoyed all the fighting scenes for the same reasons. I liked Union Station a lot and that was probably my favorite part of the field trip. I had a very good luch and I even bought a vuvuzuela from a gift shop. I really missed going to the Library of Congress because I was interested to see what was in there. Overall, I enjoyed this field trip but I think it could have been a lot better.

The Real Tragic Hero

Julius Caesar

• He was a very strong military general who had a very strong army and was a ferocious leader. 
• He was a brave leader who would do anything to help Rome flourish and was not afraid to stand up for the city of Rome. 
• He was a real hero since he was respected by most of the people of Rome and wanted to help Rome.
• He definitely had good intentions to do good things for Rome and the people.
• He loved the city of Rome so much and he was a perfect fit for the leader of Rome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CaesarTusculum.jpg

Marcus Brutus

• He had a loving relationship with his wife and needed to help Rome since he did not want a dictator (Julius Caesar) ruling it.
• He had many friends, all of which he had good relationships with and he was very social.
• He was not afraid to speak up for the Romans in case something was wrong or needed to be done.
• He was willing to work his way up to being leader because he desperately wanted to see new changes in Rome.
• He was a nobleman who was respected and was always thinking about others instead of himself, a very heroic trait.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_Brutus_Massimo.jpg

Tragic Flaws

Julius Caesar

• He was crazy for power and was ready to become dictator of Rome, which did not appeal to the conspirators. 
• He refused to stay home on the Ides of March and he went to the Capitol instead because he was promised the crown. 
• He thought he was invincible and did not listen to anyone, especially his wife. 
• He was overly ambitious, so he had a great desire for power and his hubris went to the extremes.

Brutus

• He did not think through the plan and his devotion to the conspiracy caused him to lose his wife.
• He was naive about the conspirator's motives and he had too much trust in his friends since he thought they all had the same intentions.
• He let the conspirators influence his thoughts and actions.  





My Opinion

In my opinion, I think that Their Eyes Were Watching God was a great novel to read and I enjoyed reading it a lot. At first, I thought it would be a very confusing book to read because of all the black dialect and I was not looking forward to reading it. After reading the first few chapters, I started to understand all the dialect and I could read it fluently while understanding it at the same time. Zora Neale Hurston did a great job writing this book and I think it is the best book she has ever written even though it received a lot of criticism from her peers. I think the characters in the novel really got the book going and made it seem so realistic, especially Janie. I think her life story is very moving and it is definitely worth reading about in this book. I think that the events that take place are very detailed and vivid and that is why imagery is so important in this famous novel. All the things that went on in the book made you want to keep reading, so that is one reason I wanted to keep reading this novel. I think Janie is a very important figure for the African American race because she shows that they can rise up and accomplish their dreams even with racism. The book was very easy to understand after getting used to it and the many symbols of the book added to the overall greatness of the novel. I think Hurston should have been praised a lot more for this novel and I do not understand why she received so much criticism for such an excellent book. I think all the components of a great book came together in this novel and it was one of the best books I have ever read in school. Even though this book is “different” in many ways does not mean it is not worth reading. I would recommend this book to almost anyone because it is a very inspirational story of a woman trying to find true love in her life and it would appeal to a lot of people. I would probably rate this book as a nine out of ten for its excellence in all the components of good literature.

http://www.foundvalue.com/photo/their-eyes-were-watching-god-26757

Symbols in Their Eyes Were Watching God

Important Symbols in Their Eyes Were Watching God

1. The roots of the trees- represents how African Americans have little to no roots.
2. Pear tree- represents Janie's budding womanhood and her desire to grow in love.
3. The mule- represnts how African Americans are mistreated and they have the worst jobs.
4. Janie's long, straight hair- represents how Janie is "different" and how she has bi-racial roots. Also, it represents her freedom as a woman.
5. A dog- represents how not to treat a lady.
6. The lamp post- a symbol of light and hope for the new town of Eatonville (progress).
7. Horizon- represents new dreams/wishes for Janie and also new beginnings.
8. The gate- represents the opening of new possibilities down the "road".
9. The general store- represents progress in Eatonville because black people have their own store and it is owned by black owners. It is also the central meeting spot for the town.
10. Janie's head rag- represents Joe's control; similar to slavery.
11. Joe's house- represents how people of wealth can afford expensive things.
12. Packet of seeds- symbolizes new life for Janie and how Tea Cake is with her always.
13. Hurricane- symbolizes God's almighty power and how he is the source of all power.
14. Checkerboard- represents how Janie is respected and has some sort of freedom in society.
15. Spitoon- symbolizes Joe's wealth and power.
16. Mrs. Turner- represents racism during that time and how segregation was encouraged.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spittoon.jpg

Imagery in Their Eyes Were Watching God

Imagery is the usage and formation of descriptions and details to create a mental image in the reader's head. These descriptions help create a vivid image in the reader's head and really enhace the reader's experience. Imagery can be found in almost any kind or form of literature and it a very important component in modern English literature. Imagery is used a lot in Their Eyes Were Watching God and it is very easy to point out because there is so much of it. The imagery used really helps the reader understand what is going on since they have images of the various events that go on in the book. The imagery was also helpful if some things in the book did not make sense and it adds emphasis and detail to the characters and events of this famous novel. Here is a list of the imagery I found in Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Imagery in Their Eyes Were Watching God

1.  “the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume,” Description of Janie’s hair, which is a big symbol in the novel. Page 2

2. “time makes everything old so the kissing, young darkness became a montropolous old thing while Janie talked.” Time loomed on as Janie told her story to Phoeby. Page 7

3. “She had glossy leave and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her.” This compares Janie to the blooming pear tree and how it is blooming as she is growing up and becoming a woman. Page 11

4. “Mind- pictures brought feelings, and feelings dragged out dramas from the hollows of her heart.” Nanny is trying to raise Janie while remembering the past things from her life, and trying to do better this time. Page 16

5. “They sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged.” This is symbolizing the start of a new day, and Janie has a new start for happiness. Page 33

6. “The fact that the thought pictures were always crayon enlargements of life made it even nicer to listen.” Listening to stories and talking makes life seem a lot better than it is to Janie; it idealizes things. Page 51

7. “The new moon had been up and down three times before she got worried in mind.” It had been a long time before Janie started to worry that she wasn’t falling in love with Logan as she hoped she would with time. Page 22

8. “She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether.” Life is fast changing and constantly moving. Page 25

9. “The women took the faded shirt and muddy overalls and laid them away for remembrance.” This was a description of the clothes Janie was wearing at the time, which was different then what she left wearing. Pg. 2

10. “From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom.” This describes how the pear tree grew during the seasons and how Janie should grow into a woman. Page 10

11. “There is a basin in the mind where words float around on thought and thought on sound and sight.” The mind is very complex, especially in Janie’s case and it works in strange ways. Page 24

12. “The shirt with the silk sleeveholders was dazzling enough for the world.” This is a good description of Joe Stark’s clothing and how stylish he was on the day he met Janie. Page 27

13. “Joe noted the scant dozen of shame-faced houses scattered in the sand and palmetto roots and said, “God, they call this a town? Why,’tain’t nothing but a raw place in de woods.”” This describes Joe’s first impression on the town of Eatonville and how rundown it was at the time. Page 34

14. “This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it. Her hair was NOT going to show in the store.” Janie was not allowed to let down her beautiful hair in the store and she was annoyed about it. Page 55

15. “His prosperous- looking belly that used to thrust out so pugnaciously and intimidate folks, sagged like a load suspended from his loins.” This describes how Joe was looking and getting much older, especially in his stomach since he was getting fatter. Page 77

16. “Tuh think Ah been wid Jody twenty yeahs and Ah just now got tuh bear de name un poisonin’ him! It’s ‘bout to kill me, Pheoby. Sorrow dogged by sorrow is in mah heart.” The rumor about Janie trying to poison Joe with her cooking is so much that it could kill Janie. She feels sorry for Joe and all of her sorrow is in her heart. Page 83

17. “Janie starched and ironed her face and came set in the funeral behind her veil. It was like a wall of stone and steel.” Janie did come to the funeral in clothing that looked like she was concerned and mournful over the death of Joe, but her veil blocked her unconcerned feelings on her face about Joe’s death. Page 88

18. “Those full, lazy eyes with the lashes curling sharply away like drawn scimitars. The lean, over-paddled shoulders and narrow waist. Even nice!” Janie notices some of the physical appearances of Tea Cake that make him so attractive, which impresses her a lot. Page 96

19. “In the cool of the afternoon the fiend from hell specially sent to lovers arrived at Janie’s ear. Doubt.” The devil had brought doubt to Janie after she had not seen Tea Cake for a while and she was starting to think if Tea Cake was worth it. Page 108

20. “Done took to high heel slippers and a ten dollar hat! Looking like some young girl, always in blue because Tea Cake told her to wear it. Poor Joe Starks. Bet he turns in his grave every day.” Tea Cake spoiled Janie a lot on expensive items and he did anything for her. Joe, even though is dead, must be really mad at Janie and cannot stand Tea Cake at all. Page 110

21. “But, don’t care how firm your determination is, you can’t keep turning round in one place like a horse grinding sugar cane.” You cannot stand in one place to accomplish something, but rather you must move around and have determination. Page 118

22. “Dirt roads so rich and black that a half mile of it would have fertilized a Kansas wheat field.” The dirt in the roads were so fertile and were rich in nutrients that it could all have been used to help a huge wheat field grow in Kansas. Page 129

23. “A little seed of fear was growing into a tree.” Janie’s fear that Tea Cake would end up running away with Nunkie was continually rising and what was just a little fear was turning into a lot of fear. Page 136

24. “Look at me! Ah ain’t got no flat nose and liver lips. Ah’m uh featured woman. Ah got white folks’ features in mah face.” Mrs. Turner thinks that she has physical characteristics that make her part of the white race, not the ugly black in her opinion. Page 142

25. “See dat! Mah woman would spread her lungs all over Palm Beach County, let alone knock out mah jaw teeth.” Any woman except Janie would yell and scream if they were whipped by their husbands and they would even retaliate, but Janie is the kind of person who would submit to it. Page 148

26. “The monstropolous beast had left his bed. The two hundred miles an hour wind has loosed his chains. He seized hold of his dikes and ran forward until he met the quarters; uprooted them like grass and rushed on after his supposed-to-be conquerors, rolling the dikes, rolling the houses, rolling the people in the houses along with other timbers.” The hurricane was rolling on and it was reaching its peak strength. It was destroying almost everything in its path and even killing people in its wake, leaving catastrophic damage. Pages 161-162

27. “Corpses were not just found in wrecked houses. They were under houses, tangled in shrubbery, floating in water, hanging in trees, drifting under wreckage. The hurricane was so devastating that it took bodies with it and threw them everywhere. Everywhere you looked in the muck there would be a dead body around. Page 170

28. “Ah done been done tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons.” Janie says that she has lived her dream by finally finding love in her life and she is satisfied to be at home again. Page 191

My favorite example of imagery in the quotes listed is the one about the hurricane because it is the most detailed description of all the quotes. It shows how strong and powerful the hurricane was and shows how devastating the hurricane was. This quote really helps the reader understand what the situation was like for Tea Cake and Janie and is so detailed, which is why I like it so much. This is a great example of putting a vivid image inside the reader's head so they can see what it would be like to be at the sight of the hurricane. This quote can even help the reader understand what is going on and a mental image can help the reader follow along with the story. This is definitely my favorite quote and the best example of imagery because of its ability to create a mental image in the reader's head.



The Criticism of Zora Neale Hurston

Andrew B.

Mrs. Zurkowski

Honors English 9- Yellows

13 April 2011

Controversy Surrounding Zora Neale Hurston

            Zora Neale Hurston was a very famous writer during the Harlem Renaissance and she wrote a very famous book called Their Eyes Were Watching God in 1937. Through this work and many others written by Hurston, African American critics have come to really despise her work for how she makes African Americans feel like they have no freedom and never would. Critics have also noticed that she is, in a way, writing to a white audience since her works have favored white suppression. Zora had many brash views on the black race and critics questioned why she wanted blacks to rise up in society in ways that were not appropriate. In her books, such as Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston displays that blacks should live under the rule of whites and be silent instead of openly protesting against white rule. Many critics of the African American race are very upset with her because they think she portrays African Americans as people of no value and they think she supported segregation in her own time. One very famous African American, Richard Wright, was one of the main critics of Hurston and he challenged her views so much that Hurston had to stop writing.

            Richard Wright was a very influential character during the Harlem Renaissance and he is very famous for criticizing Hurston and her views on the black race. He hated the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, particularly for how Hurston portrays blacks in society. Hurston was very famous for her black dialect within the books and she treasured using it. But Richard Wright thought it was completely wrong because the dialect described blacks as dumb people who did not know how to talk. With this he says that blacks had no knowledge of anything if they could not even speak right. He also criticizes Hurston for her description on what blacks do and does not like the fact that the blacks have to do all the work and they have be under the control of white rule. “Richard Wright , Author of "Black Boy", disliked Zora portrayal of blacks as "common folks working beanfields”” (Jack, 1998). As an active speaker for African American rights, Wright thinks that blacks should fight for their rights instead of accepting that whites have the power and being silent, which Hurston portrays about blacks. His ultimate view of the book is this: “He therefore thought the story of "Their Eyes are watching God, the story of Jamie Crawford a wasted one” (Jack, 1998). Since Wright was so popular amongst his peers, everyone agreed with him and Hurston disappeared from literature and society.

            I agree and disagree with the critics on their views on Hurston. I agree that Hurston should have promoted black protest rather than the blacks just keeping quiet. I also definitely agree with the idea that Hurston wrote to white audiences and it seemed to me that she was supporting segregation and white rule. I do not agree that she was trying to make African Americans seem like dumb people and people that do all the work. I say this because the dialect that she used in the book was very important to her heritage and she valued it a lot, so I think she deserves to use it. When she portrayed African Americans doing all the work, I think she was just trying to detail the lives of the African Americans at the time and describe how mistreated they were. Her book was not a waste to me but rather was very influential because it described that segregation had a bad impact on African Americans. Overall, I have mixed feelings about Hurston and what the critics have to say, but she will always be remembered for all the criticism she had to take.

Bibliography

Jack, Grace. "Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)." Http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu. 7 Dec. 1998. Web.     13 Apr. 2011. http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/386/zhurston.html.

Vrotsos, Karen. "AP Central - English Literature Author: Zora Neale Hurston." HTML REDIRECT. Collegeboard.com. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/courses/teachers_corner/30289.html

http://kalamu.posterous.com/video-richard-wright-black-boy

Blog Post #2 - Zora Neale Hurston

Background Information

• She was born in Notasulga, Alabama, in 1891 but was raised mainly in the town of Eatonville, Florida, which was the first incorporated all-black town in the United States.
• In 1918, she began her college career at Howard University and founded the student newspaper, but she left to go to Barnard College in 1925, where she was the only black student.
• She received a degree in anthropology at Barnard in 1927 when she was 36 years old and went to Columbia University to study with famous anthropoloist Franz Boas.
• She visited the Carribbean and South America to see what the culture was like and many of her folklores were based off of the folklore customs of these areas.
• Hurston's knowledge of her racial heritage and African American life was very influential on many writers during the Harlem Renaissance and helped many become famous.
• She compiled many famous works, including Mules ans Men in 1935, which was a collection of African American folklores, and her most famous work, Their Eyes Were Watching God in 1937.
• She contriuted to the Harlem Renaissance by writing the famous short story "Spunk", which was selected for The New Negro, a collection of poetry and essays that focused on African American art and literature.
• She was very vocal in addressing the issues with race and gender and she thought that blacks could find freedom in society.
• Her work became unknown for decades for cultural reasons and many people opposed her work for the language she used to express the African Americans in her literature.
• In 1960, Hurston was struggling finacially and physically and ended up dying from hypertensive heart disease in a nursing home in Fort Pierce, FL.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/zora-neale-hurston-she-was-a-plain-jane-192642.html

http://www.africawithin.com/aalit/zora_neale_hurston.htm

Information sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zora_Neale_Hurston

Microsoft Student with Encarta

Background Information on the Harlem Renaissance

• During the Great Migration, many African Americans left the South and migrated to the cities of the North for employment oppurtunities.
• One area that flourished with African Americans was the nieghborhood of Harlem in New York City, which became the culutural center of black America.
• In the late 1800s and continuing through the early 1990s, literature and art began to flourish with such authors as Claude McKay and artists such as Bob Cole.
• Young writers and authors such as Langston Hughes began to fuel the rise of the Harlem Renaissance and literature would continue to thrive with all the young writers beginning to take shape.
• Music and literature during the Harlem Renaissance was very diverse and there was no common type that was expressed and the lives of African Americans were expressed through songs and poems.
• There were some racial issues of the work done during the Harlem Renaissance because some works made African American stereotypes, but W.E.B. Du Bois really spoke up for all the black people.
• African American musicians played to audiences of blacks and whites and many of the more successful musicians played exclusively in dowtown New York.
• The Harlem Renaissance was affected greatly by the Great Depression in the mid-1930s because many blacks artists and writers left the city so it was on a decline.
• The Harlem Renaissance ended because many writers and musicians stopped working and young artists were not associating with the Harlem Renaissance anymore.
• African American art and literature was changed forever due to this time period and it showed that African Americans could thrive in literature just like the whites could.

Countee Cullen

• He was a very important important poet during his time and wrote about the lives of African Americans.
• He won many poetry contests at a young age and eventually moved on to New York University, where he produced many works for many literary magazines.
• He contributed to the Harlem Renaissance by producing many volumes of poetry including Color in 1925 and Copper Sun in 1927.
• Cullen died very unexpectedly in 1946 due to kidney failures and complications from high blood pressure.
• He will always be remembered for his poetry works he created during the Harlem Renaissance and he always tried to avoid using steroetypes in his works.

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cullen/life.htm

W.E.B. Du Bois

• He graduated Harvard University with a doctoral degree the first African American to do so.
• Du Bois wrote many famous books that influenced the Harlem Renaissance, including Black Reconstruction in 1935 that desribed how important African Americans were in the past.
• During the Harlem Reniassance, Du Bois was a prominent civil rights activist who fought for the rights of all African Americans.
• Du Bois made national attention when he argued against Booker T. Washington's view on African Americans while saying that blacks should work their way up in society to guarantee themselves civil rights.
• He helped young writers such as Langston Hughes rise up in the Harlem Renaissance so they could contribute their own works.
•  Du Bois founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and he led them to fights for civil rights.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WEB_DuBois_1918.jpg

Claude McKay

• McKay was a Jamaican-American writer and poet and he wrote three books during the Harlem Renaissance, including Home to Harlem in 1928, which was a best-seller.
• At a young age, he was attracted to the Communist Party when he was in London, but he never became an official member of the party.
• He emerged as one of the first voices of the Harlem Renaissance and he was one of the first major poets of the Harlem Renaissance.
• In his literature, he expressed racial awareness for African Americans that would help African Americans gain freedom and rights.
• He also made a book of his own poems, called Selected Poems, but he died of a heart attack at the age of 59.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mackey.jpg

Information Sources- Microsoft Student with Encarta

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_McKay

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countee_Cullen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois

Creative Project

Some photos of Bullhead City.

These are different maps of Bullhead City.

This is the typical weather of Bullhead City, where it has a desert climate and very warm temperatures.

This is the wildlife of Bullhead City with many fish species and Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which has tons of plant and animal species.

This is the plant and animal life, which includes desert plants and animals and insects that can survive the harsh conditions.

These are some interesting sites in Bullhead City like nearby Laughlin, Nevada and the Colorado River and Lake Mohave.

The numerous ways that you can reach Bullhead City, especially the local airport called Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport by plane and Interstate 40 by car.

There are many things to do in Bullhead City, especially the water activities like kayaking, scuba diving, fishing, and white water rafting.

Some more pictures, including Lake Mohave, cacti, and the Colorado River.

Picture Sources

Information Sources



Characterization Notes on Chris McCandless

Direct and Indirect Characterization Notes on Christopher McCandless

(Alex Supertramp)

Chapter and page #	Description/quote from novel	What impression you get about Chris with this character trait or description?
Chapter 1, page 4	“Five feet seven or eight with a wiry build, he claimed to be 24 years old and said he was from South Dakota.  He explained that he wanted a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he intended to walk deep into the bush and ‘live off the land for a few month.’”	Chris is not physically fit for walking into such a dangerous environment.  He seems a little crazy.
Chapter 1, pg. 5	“Still, Galien was concerned. Alex admitted that the only food in his pack was a ten-pound bag of rice. His gear seemed exceedingly minimal for the harsh conditions of the interior, which in April still lay buried under the winter snowpack.”	Chris was obviously not prepared for his journey into Alaska and seemed to not even care. His materials were not adequate enough and with those supplies, he probably would not survive in Alaska alone.
Chapter 2, pg. 12	“S.O.S. I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone, this is no joke.”	Chris was not able to survive in Alaska on his own and it shows he was not prepared for this epic journey.
Chapter 2, pg. 14	“At the time of the autopsy, McCandless’s remains weighed sixty-seven pounds.”	Chris was not skilled enough to find enough food to survive and this resulted in starvation.
Chapter 3, pg.16	“McCandless was smallish with the hard, stringy physique of an itinerant.”	Chris had the body of a very hard worker and means he was physically fit to work jobs that required manual labor.
Chapter 3, pg. 18	“If McCandless felt estranged from his parents and siblings, he found a surrogate family in Westerberg and his employees, most of whom lived in Westerberg’s Carthage home.”	Chris had a lot of trust in Wayne and his employees and he could depend on them for anything. Chris found someone he could go to for help and support.
Chapter 3, pg. 20	“What Walt, Billie, and Carine didn’t know when they flew down to Atlanta to attend Chris’s commencement- what nobody knew- was that he would shortly donate all the money in his college fund to OXFAM America, a charity dedicated to fighting hunger.”	This act would show that Chris is kind of strange and unusual because not many people would do that. This would show that Chris wanted to do something else in his life and start a newl ife for himself.
Chapter 4, pg. 29	“Instead of feeling distraught over this turn of events, moreover, McCandless was exhilarated: He saw the flash flood as an opportunity to shed unnecessary baggage.”	Chris is very smart and knows what to do in certain situations. He also finds the best in situations that are even life-threatening.
Chapter 4, pg. 32	“While he was in town, he noticed a secondhand aluminum canoe for sale and on an impulse decided to buy it and paddle it down the Colorado River to the Gulf of California, nearly four hundred miles to the south, across the border with Mexico.”	Chris was very adventurous and wanted to live his new life exploring the world. Chris was daring and just wanted to live his life to the fullest.
Chapter 5, pg. 40	“I don’t think he ever hung out with any of the employees after work or anything.”	Chris was not very social and this shows that he was pretty shy. He wants to keep his life a secret so no one finds out who he really is.
Chapter 5, pg. 42	“But like I was saying, Alaska- yeah, he talked about going to Alaska. Maybe to find whatever it was he was looking for.”	Chris had a love for Alaska and enjoyed everything about it. At this point, he was definitely planning to go to Alaska and live there for a while.
Chapter 5, pgs. 45-46	“The Sunday before McCandless left Niland, he was watching an NFL playoff game on the television in Burres’s trailer when she noticed he was rooting especially hard for the Washington Redskins.”	From this event, you know that Chris is from Washington, D.C., since he is rooting for the Redskins. This is the only real background information he gives to Jan Burres.
Chapter 6, pg. 51	“Over the next few weeks McCandless and Franz spent a lot of time together.”	Chris has a positive relationship with Ron Franz and likes to socialize with him. Chris meets someone who he is fond of and really understands him.
Chapter 6, pg. 55	“McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well- relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it.”	Chris has a passion for Alaska and has always wanted to go there since he started traveling. Chris did not like to be around people for long periods of time and he just liked to be by himself.
Chapter 7, pg. 63	“He was a big eater. Never left any food on his plate. Never.”	During his journey, Chris is always trying to survive on anything he can eat. He adapted a lifestyle of never wasting food and if he wanted to survive in Alaska alone, there was absolutely no wasting food.
Chapter 7, pg. 64	“He brooded at length over what he perceived to be his father’s moral shortcomings, the hypocrisy of his parents’ lifestyle, the tyranny of their conditional love. Eventually, Chris rebelled- and when he finally did, it was with characteristic immoderation.”	Chris was getting angry at his father during his teenage life and was tired of experiencing the bad relationship between his parents. This was one of the reasons why he left home to go to the West and begin his journey without telling his parents. He just did not care about his parents anymore.
Chapter 8, pg. 72	“The prevailing Alaska wisdom held that McCandless was simply one more dreamy half-cocked greenhorn who went into the country expecting to find answers to all his problems and instead found only mosquitos and a lonely death.”	Chris was a very strange guy who thought going into the wild would help him get away from his problems. He lacked common sense since he was not prepared for Alaska and that ended up costing him his own life.
Chapter 8, pg. 85	“Like Rosellini and Waterman, McCandless was a seeker and had an impractical fascination with the harsh side of nature.”	Chris was the kind of person who wanted to explore the United States and wanted to find nature at its finest in the West. Chris was a daring person who wanted to experience how harsh nature was, especially in Alaska.
Chapter 9, pg. 93	“And like McCandless, upon embarking on his terminal odyssey, Reuss adopted a new name, or rather, a series of new names.”	Chris was very smart in the way that he created a new name for himself. He created Alex Supertramp, and this shows that Chris wanted to be alone so no one, especially his parents, could bother him again.
Chapter 9, pg. 96	“Kind of different. But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.”	Chris was one of the few people who would actually try living in the wild for such a long time. This made Chris very strange in the way that he does thing that people would never do.
Chapter 10, pg. 100	“He’s talking about some kid who starved to death up in Alaska. The police don’t know who he is. Sounds a whole lot like Alex.”	This suggests that Chris obviously was not prepared for the harsh conditions in Alaska and ended up dying there. Chris was not smart to be so unprepared for his stay in Alaska and should have known better.
Chapter 10, pg. 101	“It didn’t occur to me that the hiker might be Chris. Never crossed my mind.”	Chris never told anyone he knew what he was going to do after college so no one thought he died in Alaska.
Chapter 11, pg. 107	“He didn’t seem to need toys or friends. He could be alone without being lonely.”	Chris did not mind being by himself and actually could entertain himself without anyone around him. This characteristic helped Chris on his journey because he had to be by himself for long periods of time but he handled it well.
Chapter 11, pg. 109	“And Chris adored his grandfather. The old man’s backwoods savvy, his affinity for the wilderness, left a deep impression on the boy.”	Chris had a very strong relationship with his grandfather because he shared a passion for the outdoors with Chris. This is probably why Chris developed a love for nature.
Chapter 12, pg. 119	“To Walt’s dismay Chris bristled at this small dollop of fatherly advice. The only effect it seemed to have was to make him even less inclined to share his plans.”	Chris did not like to listen to what his parents had to say. He pretty much ignored them because he wanted to do things his way without his parents interrupting him.
Chapter 12, pg. 123	“Indeed, he delighted in ridiculing the policies of the Democratic Party and was a vocal admirer of Ronald Reagan.”	We now understand Chris’s political views and how he is a follower of the Republican Party. He would follow this party as long as they helped America with the issues at the time.
Chapter 12, pg. 125	“Whenever we were out driving and saw a hitchhiker,” she says, “if he looked anything like Chris, we’d turn around and circle back. It was a terrible time.”	Chris’s absence had a major effect on how his parents acted. His parents were not the same after Chris left but Chris did not care because he was glad to get away from his parents.
Chapter 13, pg. 128	“My parents can’t help wondering- and I admit that I can’t either- how things might have turned out different if Chris had taken Buck with him.”	There is a chance that if Chris had taken his dog Buckley with him on his journey, he might have never went to Alaska and starved to death. Chris was responsible for his dog and he would have never put him in danger.
Chapter 13, pg. 129	“In a letter delineating his quarrels with Walt and Billie, Chris once wrote to her, “Anyway, I like to talk to you about this because you are the only person in the world who could possibly understand what I’m saying.”	Chris had a hard time living with his parents, but it helped him become close to Carine. He had a strong relationship with her and felt she was the only person who cared about him.
Chapter 14, pg. 134	“My suspicion that McCandless’s death was unplanned, that it was a terrible accident, come from reading those few documents he left behind and from listening to the men and women who spent time with him over the final year of his life.”	Chris did not intentionally try to kill himself because he was not that dumb. Chris’s death was an accident because people know what happened to him.
Chapter 14, pg. 134	Like McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in me a confusing medley of corked fury and hunger to please.	Chris was pressured by his dad to do well in his life and Chris became so confused. He left home just to get away from all the chaos occurring at home.
Chapter 15, pg. 155	“As a young man, I was unlike McCandless in many important regards; most notably, I possessed neither his intellect nor his lofty ideals.”	Chris was very smart and had knowledge of what was happening around the world. Chris also had crazy ideas about what he wanted to do and always had good ideas.
Chapter 15, pg. 156	“In my case-and, I believe, in the case of Chris McCandless-that was a very different thing form wanting to die.”	Chris did not want to die when he went to Alaska but rather for the excitement. Chris did not understand what death was and how it felt so he did not go to Alaska to die.
Chapter 16, pg. 158	“Alex was clean-shaven and had short hair, and I could tell by the language he used that he was a sharp fella.	This description from Gaylord Stuckey describes some of the physical characteristics of Chris. This description really describes Chris before he went on his journey: very smart and had good hygiene.
Chapter 16, pg.	“Said he didn’t want to see a single person, no airplanes, no sign of civilization.”	This is just the way Chris likes to live his life. He does not like to be near or around people for too long and he wanted to prove himself he could survive on his own.
Chapter 17, pg. 173	Unlike McCandless, however, I have in my backpack a 1:63, 360 scale topographic map (that is, a map on which one inch represents one mile.)”	The map that Krakauer had when he went into the bush would have been very helpful to Chris during his stay in Alaska. If he could have had a map, he could have found an alternate route through the Teklanika River and maybe would not have starved to death.
Chapter 17, pg. 178	“The boy made some mistakes on the Stampede Trail, but confusing a caribou with a moose wasn’t among them.”	Chris did a lot of things wrong on his stay in the Stampede Trail that ultimately cost his own life. Even though the Alaskans think Chris mistook a caribou for a moose, Chris was smart enough to know he killed a moose, not a caribou.
Chapter 18, pg. 191	“On July 14, he began consuming the pealike seedpods of the plant as well, probably because the roots were becoming too tough to eat.	By this time, Chris was beginning to become desperate for any kind of food he could find. He had to eat the seeds for food and did not even know or care if they were toxic or not.
Chapter 18, pg. 195	“Laid low by the moldy seeds, McCandless discovered that he was suddenly far too weak to kike out and save himself.”	The effects of the moldy potato seeds were really getting to him by this point. Chris lost all of his energy and the end of his life was near.
Epilogue, pg. 202	“After a long beat she declares, to herself more to anyone else, “He must have been very brave and very strong, at the end, not to do himself in.””	Chris did not want to face death and he did everything he could to survive. Chris was very brave in Alaska and was trying to fight his illness.
Epilogue, pg. 203	“There is much about Chris that still baffles him and always will, but now he is a little less baffled. And for that small solace he is grateful.”	During his life, Chris did certain things that really confused his parents and made them think, “What was Chris thinking?” But now after seeing the place where Chris died, his parents now understand him a little more.

Source- http://www.thequietman.org/?p=186

At the conclusion of this novel, I think Chris was a reckless idiot and not very smart for what he did because all he did was travel around the West and hitchhike, which does not accomplish anything. It was mostly his fault that he died because he was obviously unprepared for the Alaska wilderness and he got himself into such a terrible situation. Chris did not deserve all of the media attention for what he did and he set out on his journey to find answers to all of his problems, but all he found was death.