Into the wild reading schedule

By: Jon Krakauer

Name:___________________________________________

1. 
   Think about your experience hiking, backpacking, and/or existing in the wild/nature. What are the benefits of any one of these activities?
   

2. 
   Think about some alternative plans you might have to beginning college immediately after high school. What might you do? Why would you do it, and for how long could you see yourself doing that activity?
   

3. 
   Think about an experience you have had when you were alone and made some misjudgments that could have led to disaster but didn’t (it doesn’t have to be in the outdoors). What miscalculations did you make and how did you avert disaster?
   

A movement in art and literature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in revolt against the Neoclassicism of the previous centuries. The German poet Friedrich Schlegel, who is given credit for first using the term romantic to describe literature, defined it as "literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form." This is as accurate a general definition as can be accomplished, although Victor Hugo's phrase "liberalism in literature" is also apt. Imagination, emotion, and freedom are certainly the focal points of romanticism. Any list of particular characteristics of the literature of romanticism includes subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism; spontaneity; freedom from rules; solitary life rather than life in society; the beliefs that imagination is superior to reason and devotion to beauty; love of and worship of nature; and fascination with the past, especially the myths and mysticism of the middle ages.

American poets: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman.

Transcendentalism-

The adherents to Transcendentalism believed that knowledge could be arrived at not just through the senses, but through intuition and contemplation of the internal spirit. As such, they professed skepticism of all established religions, believing that Divinity resided in the individual, and the mediation of a church was cumbersome to achieving enlightenment. Many distinctly Romantic tropes echo through the pages of transcendental literature. Obviously, the predilection to turn to the natural world for intimations of truth was a recurrent theme for the Romantics. In Transcendental philosophy, the grind of ordinary life and society are seen as barriers between the self and the spirit. Thus, Nature presents a way to free the mind of its typical distractions. The very word “transcend” connotes moving beyond some stultifying condition of mind or body. Another strongly Romantic concept that the Transcendentalists embraced was the renewed potency and potentiality of the individual. Specifically, the imagination was glorified as one of the defining, almost divine characteristics of consciousness. Through imagination, the human mind could extend itself in ways that had never been considered. Transcendentalists differed somewhat from the Romantics in that they ultimately wanted to effect change, both personally and globally. This newly enlightened, transcendent individual could go into the world and work to make it a better place.

Ralph Waldo Emerson-

If the Transcendental Movement had a founding father, then he was most certainly Ralph Waldo Emerson. However, he only reluctantly adopted the role of figurehead. He mostly preferred to remain behind the scenes, observing the action but not participating.

Henry David Thoreau-

Not content to simply muse and write about the new way of thinking, Thoreau sought to live the Transcendental life to its fullest potential. He spent two years living in a self-built cabin on Walden Pond on land that belonged to Emerson. His goal was to simplify his existence, get back in tune with the natural world, and have more freedom to write and meditate. Thoreau would later recount his experience in Walden, or Life in the Woods. While living on Walden Pond, Thoreau was arrested and spent a night in jail for tax evasion. He argued that his political beliefs forbade him from supporting the government through taxes. The experience of his arrest served as the inspiration for an essay which would later be known as Civil Disobedience. In the essay, Thoreau outlines the justification and even the responsibility of citizens to peacefully resist the government’s power whenever that power reached too far.

At Walden Pond, he lived almost entirely on what the land would provide for him. He communicated little with the outside world, despite the fact that he was only a few miles from civilization. It is a fair criticism that Thoreau’s expression of Transcendentalist philosophy was impractical. Not everyone can retreat into solitude for years at a time. Society would grind to a halt were the whole world to go on leave. However, the literary output that Walden Pond allowed for is a landmark in American philosophy.

Leo Tolstoy-

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy also known as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Tolstoy was a master of realistic fiction and is widely considered one of the world's greatest novelists. He is best known for two long novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina . Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer. He was born into a wealthy family with a controlling father. He studied to become a lawyer, but left university life to become a farmer instead.

Jack London-

Jack London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone. Some of his most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush in Alaska.

Epigraph – a quote or reference at the start of a chapter of a book that is related to the contents of a chapter or refers to a theme in the chapter.
Literature Circle

What is a Literature Circle?

Literature Circles provides you with an opportunity to reflect upon what you have read, as well as to contribute to the overall meaning of the text. Furthermore, the literature circle encourages you to narrow your focus, as each group member is responsible for one specific role.

Literature Circles afford each group member the occasion to “try out a new role,” i.e. one session you might fulfill the role of summarizer, whereas at another session you would assume the title of motif hunter, etc. Groups will continue to cycle through the roles indicated below until each has moved full “circle.”

Your notes will be collected and graded. In every set of notes I expect:

• 
  Neatly written or typed notes that are organized. This means MLA heading, assigned role and chapter
  

1. Discussion Director

2. Figurative Language Finder

3. Theme Detective/Motif Hunter

4. Lit. Movement Monitor

5. Character Analyzer

6. Connector/Commentator

Discussion Director

What do I do?

1. Write at least 5 thought provoking questions for discussion. These should be questions which cannot be answered with “yes or no”. You are encouraged to write more questions if you like. Consider:

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  Character development
  
• 
  Plot development
  
• 
  Compare characters
  
• 
  Make outside the text connections
  
• 
  Ask for opinions/evaluations
  

Pose your questions, one at a time, to your group and try to get them to discuss the topic. Make sure:

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  Everyone has a chance to respond
  
• 
  The same student does not respond each time
  
• 
  Students SUPPORT THEIR ANSWERS with evidence from the text and explanation. Ask them why?
  
• 
  Take notes based on others’ roles
  

1. Take notes on the passages you select from the reading, which are examples of figurative language. Refer to our class handout about this if needed. Cite page numbers

• 
  Identify: What type of figurative language is being used? How does this help the reader understand or connect with the book?
  

• 
  Share the passages you identified and read these passages to the group, as they follow along in their books.
  
• 
  Discuss the following:
  

1. 
   What type of figurative language is this?
   
2. 
   How does this help the reader understand or connect with the book?
   
3. 
   What is your opinion of this example?
   
4. 
   Compare this example to others you have discussed previously.
   

• 
  Take notes based on others’ roles
  

1. Take notes on passages/events that represent any of our theme indicators. You should copy quotes and provide page numbers.

Theme Indicators: Truth, Fathers and sons (relationships), Risk, Simplicity, Adventure, Natural beauty, Independence
Motif Indicators: The pseudonym “Alexander Supertramp,” Physical pain or discomfort, Connections with strangers, Expressions of creativity
2. Select one quote from the story, copy it, and cite the page number. Also, write a brief paragraph explaining why you chose it.

What do I do when I meet in my group?

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  Share the passages you identified and read these passages to the group. As they follow along in their books.
  
• 
  Discuss the development of the themes/motifs thus far in the novel-how has it grown? Are you getting a clear picture of what the theme statement might be?
  
• 
  Take notes based on others’ roles
  

1. Take notes on passages/events that represent either Romanticism or Transcendentalism. You should copy quotes and provide page numbers.

• 
  Share the passages you identified and read these passages to the group. As they follow along in their books.
  
• 
  Discuss the development of the mode thus far in the novel. Are you getting a clear picture of how these modes connect to the themes of the story?
  
• 
  Take notes based on others’ roles
  

1. Provide a description of any new character(s) introduced within the assigned chapter(s). You should quotes and include page number. Consider the following items when classifying each character:

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  physical description
  
• 
  personality traits
  
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  relation to other characters
  
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  role within the story,
  
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  noticeable change/evolution and any memorable event in which the character is involved.
  
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  If no new character is introduced, focus on a character not previously highlighted. Special attention should be paid to character development (change over time).
  

• 
  Share the passages you identified and read these passages to the group. As they follow along in their books.
  
• 
  Discuss the development of the characters thus far in the novel- Why are they important? What is their role within the story? How have they changed/developed?
  
• 
  Take notes based on others’ roles
  

1. Take notes on passages/events that represent a comparison between what is happening in the book and something outside the text. You should copy quotes and provide page numbers.

• 
  This connection may be to a current or historical event, another story you have read, or movie/TV show you have seen. In addition, you might personally connect with a scene and/or character, in which case you can describe how you are like that specific character (i.e. endured a similar hardship, etc.).
  

• 
  Share the passages you identified and read these passages to the group. As they follow along in their books.
  
• 
  Discuss the connections you made. Encourage each group member to share one connection too.
  
• 
  Share your evaluative comment on the plot. Allow each group member to share one evaluative comment too.
  
• 
  Take notes based on others’ roles
  

Chapters 1-8: Figurative Language – language that targets the senses.

Directions: Find passages that entice the senses (sight, smell, sound, touch, taste) and copy them in the chart below. Additionally, describe the appeal of the passage.

Passage Utilizing Imagery	Page #	Sense that it appeals to (sight, smell, sound, touch, or taste)

Activity #3

Chapters 3-4: Themes/Critical Thinking

1. 
   Why would anyone isolate themselves from society?
   

2. 
   Describe a situation in which you isolated yourself from friends or family, or a time when you really wanted or needed to be alone.
   

3. 
   Give examples of and describe character traits of a person who may find themselves alone, or isolating themselves from others.
   

4. 
   After learning a little bit about Chris McCandless, why do you think he is the type to isolate himself from others? Give proof from the readings that support your claims (proof means textual evidence and a page number).