His extreme independence and confidence made him underestimate the difficulty of survival in the wilderness. “The only navigational aid in his possession was a tattered state road map he’d scrounged at a gas station…A little later Alex pulled out his crude map…” (Krakauer 5). His “crude map” revealed how unprepared he was for this intense journey and the lack of thought he put into his survival. Instead of taking the easy route to his destination and accepting Westerberg’s offer to buy him a ticket, Chris wanted to hitchhike, claiming that “ ‘Flying would be cheating. It would wreck the whole trip’” (Krakauer 67).
He got great love for Bleheris and understood him. Hugh did not seem religious in the beginning of the book, but he showed by what he thought, said, and did that he became religious by the end of the story. Hugh got bored at the convent at first and stayed in his room while the brothers went to mass. After, he began to like it more he thought at first that he wanted to be a strong knight. After he began to like the idea of finding hidden pages and restoring them and he began to be friend of brother John, Bleheris, and Dickon.
Alexie also read from his father's vast collection of books, which were acquired mostly from pawnshops and second hand stores since paychecks were far and few between on the reservation. Alexie excelled past his Native American peers in reading and writing causing him to get into fights and to be ridiculed by his peers. Native American children were supposed to fail, but Alexie refused to succumb to that stereotype. Alexie fought against the stereotype just like Superman fought against evil in the comics he used to read. Alexie’s passion has lead him to become a teacher.
I was lucky.” The main highlighted purpose I observed in this story was the use of expression as well as comparison and contrast and a second pattern of illustration to describe how he became such a great writer in his life. Throughout the story, I found the author uses the expressive purpose when he reveals himself as a low class trying to survive when he says, “We were poor by most standards.” He then goes on giving a second example of expressive purpose when he clearly shares the same interest as his father by saying, “My father loved books, and since I loved my father with an aching devotion, I decided to love books as well.” These two examples are very clear to me that Alexie is expressing his feelings as well as revealing himself to the reader by describing his economic status as a child, as well as his emotions of loving his father and books. On the other hand, Alexie main pattern of the story is comparison-contrast. This pattern is highlighted when he is comparing himself to his peers. He mentions how the other Indian kids struggle with basic reading in school, while he was reading newspaper, bulletins, junk mail and anything he could possibly read.
It was extremely hard to learn to ride horse-back with a crippled hand, but as he learned it taught him patience. As stated above, the Boston Observer was very into politics and was known as a Whig paper. While working there, Johnny learned to be patriotic and to stand for what was right. His crippled hand taught him one other thing; it taught him to be less proud. Rab, the quiet yet strong nephew of the printing press’ owner, also taught him to be more patient by example.
One of his biggest mistakes was his lack of common sense. He decided to go out into the wild with not enough food or survival equipment to sustain himself. One of the people Krakauer interviews, Jim Gallien, commented about McCandless, “He wasn’t carrying anywhere near as much food and gear you’d expect a guy to be carrying for any kind of trip” (4). Even though some readers may argue that he did not deserve
His father had a passion for books; he’d buy them whenever he had a little spare of money. Alexie describes that on an Indian Reservation if you were smart the other Indians considered you as a “dangerous person”. Sherman Alexie felt that he wouldn’t want to be dumb if he that that much intelligent. He didn’t want to live what others expected. He not only learn how to read but to love reading.
He also even took the time to write a plant book of which he could reference to see if a plant was edible. Yet Krakauer tells us that he “came into the country [of Alaska] with insufficient provisions, and he lacked certain pieces of equipment deemed assential by many Alaskans” (180). This shows us that one can’t be prepared for everything. In the novel it also says that Chris “intended to invent an utterly new life for himself, one in which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience” (23) and after that it shares that Chris had believed that he was the “master of his own destiny.” This proves to be false. It can be thought that absolutely no one can run the world.
This difference is a crucial reason for their conflicting views. Tom grew up with a civilized, orderly family. Because of his cultured family, Tom had access to literature. He learned from his romantic novels, which nourished his wild imagination. Huck, conversely, was raised by an abusive, alcoholic father.
Different Educational Experiences Authors Richard Rodriquez in “Scholarship Boy” and Gerald Graff in “Disliking Books” had very different experiences finding their way through the education system. Rodriquez loved the classroom environment and learning, in his home life his family was loving and supportive, but having Spanish speaking, blue collar parents created some difficulties bringing the two worlds together. Graff did not like reading as he found no connection in the books he read and his life. Graff’s family was educated, supportive and pushed him for success in his education. Although their experiences were very different, they both found the love of reading and success in both worlds.