Into the wild by Jon Krakauer book Final Post

Finally, I have finished the book. Over the course of this reading this book, I thought that this book did not meet my standards but I continue to find that it was interesting. I was able to skip a lot of pages and still continue reading without skipping the main objective of the book written. I guess I can say that this book contains a lot of clutter. In the last section, I felt that Jon Krakauer had just continued talking about his journey rather than relating much about McCandless's death. He brags about how he managed to climb a mountain and journey the wilderness.

In the last section of the book, the author goes on his own trip to Fairbanks, Alaska to try and find out what caused Chris "Alex Supertramp" McCandless's death. I felt that Jon Krakauer could not have understood Chris's death at all unless Krakauer was in Alex's point of view. In order for the author to feel what Alex felt, he should have entered the Alaskan forest with little gear and little food. He should have also had a gun in order to hunt for food just like what McCandless did.  Then, would he fully understand? It would be close though.

In chapter 13, Chris's sister, Carine, said that if he had taken his handicapped dog, Buck with him, he would not have gone to Alaska since Buck was very close to Alex. I thought that this would be true since Alex would never hurt Buck. I think that if he had taken Buck to his adventures, he would have came back and gone to university to study. If Buck had died during any of his travels, I think that he would have been shocked enough to turn back and start a family and continue life. I think that he would have become very successful and resolved his issues with his parents just like what Carine did two years after Chris McCandless went missing. I also thought that Chris could have carried on with his father's work in NASA after him.

I am so glad that this is done.

To everyone: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Do God Bless Alameda!

Which is better? Alameda or Oakland. There are so many arguments in which people say that Alameda is way better than Oakland. They say that because of the media explaining the constant murders found in Oakland and the bare amount of murders in Alameda. I found a response post by Rokhsor Yusufi that I thought would explain my opinion. She says:

"I am shocked. If anything, Alameda is the coolest place to be and just because you do not like it here, does not make it dumb or stupid or anything like that. I am tired of people calling Alameda bad names. ... Just because people live in Oakland and it’s where all the “cool people” live, does not make everywhere else dumb ... (My dad works in Oakland and he has seen people get shot but he loves it there and he says he would not want to work anywhere in the world but in Oakland but you do not see him talking trash about Alameda.)"

Before I moved into Alameda, I lived in Downtown Oakland for about 10 years. In my mind, there isn't much of a difference between both cities but Alameda ends up to be better if you think about it. To me, Alameda is a much safer place to live and people are much more peaceful here. When I lived in Oakland, I got robbed and there were so many places in which people were hurt or raped. Oakland is much dirtier where I live and there are a lot of homeless people there. In Alameda, the streets are much cleaner and I don't see any homeless people around here. There are much more events in the city of Alameda compared to Oakland. 


There doesn't seem to be any difference on other areas. In both cities, the people are nice. In my school, there are many people that come from Oakland and I don't have a problem with them. They are actually pretty cool people to be with. Both educational environments are similar. There are those that drop out and those that continue to become successful. 

Into the wild by Jon Krakauer book 2nd response/ review

I continue to enjoy reading this book even though many of my group mates begin to lose interest. After reaching to the second paper clip, I thought that Chris (Alex Supertramp) McCandless lived an abnormal life but it seemed reasonable that happened to him. In the beginning of the section, Krakauer reported on a couple of other people that had also ended up similar to Alex; they arrive in Alaska to start a new life in the wild but ends in death.

I believed that Chris had lived an abnormal life because he didn't want to be successful in college but rather explore nature. He ran away from home. He enjoyed being by himself much more that hanging out with the friends that he makes. He donated all his money instead of using it on his trips. On the other hand, I also thought that it was reasonable because he had many family problems. The parents constantly yelled at each other so only his sister was close to him. If his sister wasn't there, then he would be by himself. He was also influenced by a writer named Jack London that expressed the fantasies of living in Alaska.

In our lit circle discussion, we also discussed about what would have happen if he had survived and was rescued by the Alaska state troopers. We said that he could have been traumatized by the course of events and would not go back into the wild again or at least Alaska. We believe that Chris McCandless would have settled down in Carthage and make a family. He would continue to work for Wayne Westernberg in the mills or become someone popular like his father, Walt. He might have become the veteran's adopted son and live with him for the rest of his life.

Throughout this book, our group thought that Alex actually wanted to come back and that his death was something unexpected to him even though he had entered with very little gear. He had promised many things to other people in his letters to them that he would survive and come back to meet them.

Sleep by Carly Cheung response post

Sleep, one of the most essential things to life. It is a way in which animals regain their energy from a long day. Even after a long day of school, we go home and do our homework. In ASTI, there are loads of homework to be done in a day. Many of us tend to work on it until midnight or later. On Carly's response post to Ruby's post, she discusses how she is working until late at night doing homework due on later days because she knows that she probably doesn't have time on other days.

"I am doing my post wayyy earlier than I am supposed to because I know I won't have time tomorrow or Friday. So, I found this post especially appealing because it is about sleep. Right now it is eleven something and I yearn to sleep early, at least once" - Carly Cheung

I can relate to her in so many ways. Typically on a school night, I would work until I finish the homework that is due the next day. If it is still early before or a little after at ten o'clock or so, I would continue working on homework that isn't due yet like blog posts or projects. Typically, my max amount of time that I usually end at is at 12 midnight. If I past that time, then I would not get the minimum requirements of sleep of 7 hours. If I do past that time limit if doing homework, I would feel sleepy all morning long. I don't really pay attention in class and always find myself daydreaming, but I never sleep. Until PE, I don't really feel excited. So what's the point of homework if it causes the lack of sleep. It would serve no purpose and instead become something negative. In a way, homework is steering students off to the wrong path in which it guides us that life has too many obstacles and too little time to get across them.

I did a post similar to this a while back, it consisted much more things that I said about sleep and homework.

Into the wild by Jon Krakauer book response/ review

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is such an amazing book to read for me. It is about a college graduate named Chris McCandless that drove away from his family from Atlanta. When he leaves he changes his name to Alex Supertramp. He traveled all around the United States and even traveled to parts of Mexico along his adventure. Throughout his journey, he encounters many people and made bonds with them. He kept a diary and camera to take pictures of his journey. He enjoyed reading books especially books by Jack London, a writer from Alaska. These fictional stories written by Jack London inspired Chris to go to Alaska where he ends his life. This book is similar to a news report in which the author travels around to question those that knew McCandless and what they had done together.

Many of these stories were interesting but the last one that I have read so far was inspiring to me. It was about a veteran who had lost his family. He began to drink but was able to control himself. He then met Alex, in which he grew attached to him. It states: "McCandless made an indelible impression on a number of people... Nobody, however, was affected more powerfully by his or her brief contact with the boy than Ronald Franz..."(Krakauer 81). When they both met, Franz treated Chris as if he was his own son. He would drive him everywhere he needed to be and when he was hungry, he would buy him food and provide him with provisions as he traveled. Franz was always there. It seemed as if Franz was waiting by the phone all the time to help him out. This story reminded of my friends and family. Whenever I need help, they always seem to be there where I can reach out to them. Franz was like that to McCandless. What stood out from the other stories was that, he actually wanted to adopt McCandless in the end but Alex had said no. That was shocking but it was not surprising. The story builds up to Franz saying that. McCandless was filling up that hole that Franz had have since his family died. When Alex died, he began drinking once more because even a deeper hole was dug out.

Even though, the main plot of the book has already been given. I still wonder what there is next to come. I want to hear further stories about the adventures. I am amazed that McCandless was able to survive such a long time. I wonder why he left his family in the first place and how that hired investigator was not able to find him since he had exposed himself with a job.