Into The Wild/chapter 3 & 4

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Chapter 3:

In Chapter 3, we meet Wayne Westerberg, a man who knew Chris McCandless as “Alex” before his death. Alex was hitchhiking one day. Westerberg suggested him to stay on with him for a while because the weather was bad and Alex was ill equipped. Alex spent three days with Westerberg; before parting ways, Alex was told by Westerberg to find him if he ever needed work. A few weeks later, Alex found Westerberg and began working for him. Westerberg says that Alex was very intelligent and a hard worker. Alex moved on when Westerberg had to serve time for involvement with “black boxes.” Alex stayed in touch with Westerberg and as he traveled on, claimed he was from South Dakota.

Alex, or Chris, was really from Annandale, Virginia-the son of successful parents and a graduate of Emory University. Following his college graduation, Chris headed west in his second-hand Datsun. His family, not even his favorite sister Carine, had any idea he had gone.(Monkeynotes)

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Chapter 4:

In October 1990, more than three months after McCandless left Atlanta, his Datsun was found abandoned at Lake Mead National Recreation Area by Park Ranger, Bud Walsh. Without license plates, Walsh could not trace the car to McCandless. The rangers kept the car for driving around the park. Krakauer learns through his research that McCandless got caught in a flash flood with the car, which caused the battery to die. Instead of having to explain why his driver’s license and registration had expired, why he did not have insurance, and why he was driving on a prohibited road in the first place, McCandless chose to abandon the car. McCandless shed unnecessary baggage and burned all of his money, one hundred twenty-three dollars, as a symbolic gesture. After spending some time hiking around the lake, McCandless hitchhiked out West and found work on Crazy Ernie’s farm. When McCandless realized Ernie had no intention of paying him, he stole a bicycle and left.

Soon after, McCandless met Jan Burres and her boyfriend, Bob. He spent a week with Jan and Bob and kept in touch through postcards thereafter. After receiving a ticket McCandless got for hitchhiking (he’d given his Annandale address to police), his parents contacted a private investigator. The investigator learned only that Chris had given his entire savings to charity, which really worried his parents.

McCandless spent time in Colorado and Mexico, where he had some difficulty navigating the canals. He spent a night in jail after being caught coming back into the US with no ID. McCandless was able to spring himself from jail but had to leave his beloved handgun behind.(Monkeynotes)

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I used References to help me to understand this story!

Into The Wild /chapter 1 & 2

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Chapter 1:

The date was April 28, 1992.

Chapter one, which opens with Jim Gallien driving through Alaska, when he sees a hitchhiker who looks as though he is eighteen years old. The hitchhiker is actually twenty-four years old and he claims to be named Alex and to come from South Dakota. Alex seems to be carrying a light pack for someone planning to live off the land for a few months, as he says he will do in Denali National Park.

Gallien tries to make Alex change his mind as he elaborates on his plan. Gallien is certain that Alex is not prepared for life in the Alaskan outdoors. Jim even offers to buy him some decent gear, but Alex refuses. Gallien insists that Alex take his boots and his lunch for the day, Jim gives Alex his phone number and telling him to call if he makes it out alive.

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Chapter 2:

Chapter two Opens on September 6, 1992, at a broken down bus in Denali National Park. Ken Thompson, Gordon Samel, and Ferdie Swanson visit the park to drive their ATVs. There is a couple from Anchorage that looks spooked when they arrive at the bus. A bad smell comes from the bus. A note is taped to the bus, begging for help.

"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. IN THE NAME OF GOD, PLEASE REMAIN TO SAVE ME. I AM OUT COLLECTING BERRIES CLOSE BY AND SHALL RETURN THINS EVENING. THANK YOU, CHRIS MACCANDLESS, AUGUST?"

Samel finds a dead body inside the bus, wrapped in a sleeping bag. No one has room in his vehicle to remove the dead body. Another man, Butch Killian, arrives on the scene. Butch drives back toward the highway and alerts the authorities on his two-way radio. The next day, a police helicopter removes the body of Chris McCandless, five rolls of exposed film, the SOS note, and a diary with 113 entries. An autopsy reveals that McCandless starved to death; his corpse weighed only sixty-seven pounds.

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Note: The way Krakauer begins the story: at the end. In this way we already know what happens to Chris McCandless and must wonder how someone with so much going for him could end up so sadly. This move generates suspense and is on purpose to keep the reader interested in the story through enticement.

Next, it will be also a summary of chapter Three and Four.

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{ Jon Krakauer }

Well, we start reading a famous book that called " Into The Wild " by Jon Krakauer, so it is better to read about the author first and find a little bit information about his achievement. Let's begin.

 

Jon Krakauer, he was born April 12, 1954, in Brookline. When he was 2 years old, his family moved to Oregon. He graduated from Hampshire College with a degree in Environmental Studies In 1976.

Jon, as he describes himself in this book, is accomplished and an experienced mountain climber. He began writing regularly for Outside magazine. His work has been published in Architectural Digest, Rolling Stone, GEO, The New York Times, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post.

Jon has won various awards for his writing, including a National Magazine Award and an Academy Award in Literature. He was also one of three finalists for the 1998 Pulitzer in General Non-Fiction.

Chosen Works:

Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains (1990) 

Into the Wild (1996) 

Into Thin Air (1997) 

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (2003)

Next post we will look at a brief summary of chapter 1 and 2.

An Angel's Absence

Today, 9 \ 9 \ 1431 (Arabic Calendar), the ninth of Ramadan, is the third remembrance of my beloved aunt’s death. I do not know what to do. Yesterday I could not do anything than lie on my bed all the day. All her memories and scenes pass in front of my eyes one after the other. And then my eyes started to shed tears. I lost my appetite; as I had no desire to do something except to cry. Moreover, what makes it more complicated? Where is my family?

There is no one to wipe my tears away. I went through all kinds of emotions, sadness, worry, fear, guilt and exhaustion. From time to time, my emotions are mixed together in ways I have never experienced once before.

Should I tell my mother? No, I can’t. Why? Of course because she is her younger sister. It would be more difficult for her. I may hold back my own grief and avoid talking about my aunt, because I am worried that it would make my parents and other family members sad. So who can listen to me? Each person has sad memories.

Therefore, all I'm thinking now is to sleep until the end of this day and also to pray for my aunt, for mercy. May Allah rest her soul in peace .


Elaine, Gareth, Holly, Sam and all my classmates I hope you understand. So, would you please forgive my absence yesterday and today?

Time Travel

We studied and made research with sam about different themes of travel literature. There are many themes such as Contemporary Nature Writing, Urban travel writing, Time travel and Road trips.


I'm interested in Time Travel, so I made a small research about it, with regard to its definition, names of famous books and theirs authors and finally a small brief on the film (Total Recall).

Firstly, Time travel's definition which is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space, either sending objects backwards in time to some moment before the present, or sending objects forward from the present to the future without the need to experience the intervening period.


Secondly, there are several famous books, but I choose the bestseller of them (I'll mention just the name of book and its author), which are:


DarkFever





It was written by Karen Marie Moning.

Outlander

It was written by Diana Gabaldon.

Dragonfly in Amber

It was written also by Diana Gabaldon.

Finally, (Total Recall) it's a science fiction film that based on a book, which was written by Philip K. Dick. The film was directed by Paul Verhoeven. It's When a man goes for virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real, or does he?

What is reality when you can't trust your memory? An Earthbound construction worker keeps having dreams about Mars. A trip to a false memory transplant service for an imaginary trip to Mars goes terribly wrong and another personality surfaces. When his old self returns, he finds groups of his friends and several strangers seem to have orders to kill him. He finds records his other self left him that tell him to get to Mars to join up with the underground. The reality of the situation is constantly in question. Who is he? Which personality is correct? Which version of reality is true?


This film was Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 13 nominations.

It seems that I made a link between what I learnt in Media Class and Literature Class lols. (^o^)

A Special picnic With...! (Part2)

Part Two

Note: this happened a few months ago!

Finally, the taxi arrives, but look at your watch! It's already 9:00!! The taxi driver wants to park on the pavement, nevertheless, Norah stops him on the middle of a road and then we run to get on and tell him to drive quickly as possible, yet there is traffic jam! What will happen there? Will we arrive and catch the AT's bus or miss it?

" Norah, do you think we will make it on the right time? "

" Insha'allah, hopefully. "

The Indian driver drives speedily. I'm still laughing, because I feel we will miss AT's bus. Now, we arrive at the station buses.

" Norah! Look! The bus is still there! Let's run."

I'm very, very happy that we can catch the bus. We can see Ameerah and Layla in the bus. Norah and I stand at a queue waiting for our turn to get into the bus, but what is going on!! NO! WAIT!!

The bus closes its door and moves. I can see Ameerah and Layla are waving their hands. (T_T) 

" Misho, let's ask that man there. Maybe he could help us. "

Till now, I'm still laughing. 

We ask him, but do you know what does he say?

" Excuse me, do you know if there is another bus goes to AT today? "

" No, Sorry I don't know. "

" We thought that you may know, because you are working at National Express. "

" Are you working? "

" No, we are student! " Norah says.

" Ok, do you know ASDA? "

" Yes, " Norah replies.

" What would you accept if you ask one of the stuff there about furniture's shop? "

" I don't understand, what do you mean? "

" Norah, he means that he don't know anything and he is not the right person to ask! he is making fun of you! "

" What! " Laughing Norah! "

After that, we take a bus to ours home, wondering and thinking of anything we could do to go to AT. We get off the bus, walking and then, we stop in front of a small Fruits and Vegetables shop.

" Misho, look at that watermelon, it looks yummy! "

" Yeah! I have an idea! Let's take one and go to the small park near my house? "

" Okay, sounds good! " 

" Hi, could you please give us a watermelon, and cut it into four pieces? "

" Sure, "

We go to the small park, eating then playing and having a lot of fun. I won't forget about that day. It's true we missed the bus, but with our imagination we build our small Alton Towers!  

See, This is OUR small Alton Towers! And this is MY Special picnic With Norah!

TO BE UPDATED...