Into The Wild: Chapter Summaries Flashcards
Nknmnnmnmmmn
,nm ,m m m,
Authors note….
Mm mm mm,m. Mm
What happens in Chapter One: The Alaska Interior?
. Jim Gallien sees a young man hitchhiking four miles outside of Fairbanks, and he picks him up.
. The hitchhiker introduces himself as Alex.
. Alex tells Jim that he is heading to Denali (he plans to hike into the wilderness and live off of the land for a few months).
. Jim is concerned, because he notices that Alex’s pack seems awfully light and he lacks a lot of essential tools.
. Alex tells Jim that he plans to go to the end of a little known path that peters out into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley.
. Jim does his best to warn Alex, but Alex won’t budge (even offers to buy him some better gear).
. We find out that Alex doesn’t have a hunting license, and no one knows where he is going (hasn’t spoken to anyone in his family for nearly two years).
. Jim convinces Alex to take his boots and some sandwiches his wife made for him, then he takes a picture for Alex at the trail head and leaves him there on April 28, 1992.
What happens in Chapter Two: The Stampede Trail?
McCandless follows a trail called the Stampede Trail, which was blazed in the 1930s by a legendary Alaska miner. In 1961, Yukon Construction started to upgrade the trail, but gave up in 1963, leaving a bus outfitted to house workers along the trail as a shelter for hunters and trappers (although it is rarely used). In early September 1992, three moose hunters, Ken Thompson, Gordon Samel and Ferdie Swanson, go out to the bus, where they find a couple from Anchorage standing about fifty feet away, looking disturbed.
A powerful smell is coming from the bus, and there is a note taped to it written by Chris McCandless, saying that he is injured, weak, near death, and in need of assistance. The couple is too disturbed to look inside the bus, so Samel looks through the window, and sees a sleeping bag that might have something inside it. He goes around the other way, and sees a head protruding from it. McCandless has been dead for two weeks when they find him.
Samel thinks the body should be evacuated immediately, but Butch Killian, another hunter who soon after comes upon the scene, is the only one whose vehicle is large enough, and he thinks it should be left to the state troopers, so he drives back until he can get a signal to radio them the information. The police helicopter comes the next morning, and they examine the scene before taking McCandless’s body, note, diary, camera and film back to Anchorage.
What happens in Chapter Three: Carthage?
We flash back to earlier. Wayne Westerberg, the owner of a grain elevator in Carthage, South Dakota, meets McCandless when he picks him up hitchhiking. McCandless ends up staying in his trailer for a few days, and Westerberg tells him to look him up if he ever needs work. McCandless comes back a few weeks later and starts working for Westerberg. He is one of the hardest workers Westerberg has ever seen, willing to do even the most unpleasant jobs, and finishing everything he starts. McCandless lives in a house owned by Westerberg with some of his other employees, which he really enjoys.
Westerberg, however, has to serve some time not too long after McCandless’s arrival, and so although McCandless has found a lot to love in the town, there is no work for him without Westerberg, and he moves on. He keeps in touch with Westerberg from then until he goes into the wilderness, and tells almost everyone he meets that he is from South Dakota.
McCandless is actually from Annandale, Virginia, a wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C., where he grew up living with his father, Walt, an aerospace engineer, mother Billie, and younger sister Carine. In May 1990 (we have again flashed back further in the past), Chris graduates from Emory. His parents believe that he is planning on law school. The day after, which happens to be Mother’s Day, Chris gives Billie a gift and sentimental card, which is extremely touching because for the past two years he has refused to give or accept gifts on principle. Not too long before that, for example, Chris became very angry when they offered to buy him a new car as a graduation gift, or to help him pay for law school.
What happens in Chapter Four: Detrital Wash?
Lmmmm
What happens in Chapter Five: Bullhead City?
M,mm,mm.m.k
What happens in Chapter Six: Anza-Borrego?
Jknjnkhjjknkjn,
What happens in Chapter Seven: Carthage?
Mm,m,mm,n
What happens in Chapter Eight: Alaska?
Jknjnkhjjknkjn
What happens in Chapter Nine: Davis Gulch?
Jkkkkkkk
What happens in Chapter Ten: Fairbanks?
Jjkkkk
What happens in Chapter Eleven: Chesapeake Beach?
Knknmnmmmm
What happens in Chapter Twelve: Annandale?
Kmkmmkkm
What happens in Chapter Thirteen: Virginia Beach?
Nnmnm m m
