Prime Time 7, Coursebook plus Semester Self-checks

forsaken a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute. In college McCandless began imitating Tolstoy’s asceticism and moral strictness to a degree that first astonished, and then alarmed, those who were close to him. When the boy headed off into the Alaska bush, he entertained no illusions that he was trekking into a land of milk and honey; peril, adversity, and Tolstoyan rejection were precisely what he was seeking. And that is what he found, in abundance. For most of the sixteen-week ordeal, nevertheless, McCandless more than held his own. Indeed, were it not for one or two seemingly insignificant blunders, he would have walked out of the woods in August 1992 as anonymously as he had walked into them in April. Instead, his innocent mistakes turned out to be crucial and irreversible, his name became the stuff of tabloid headlines, and his bewildered family was left clutching the shards of a fierce and painful love. A surprising number of people have been affected by the story of Chris McCandless’s life and death. In the weeks and months following the publication of the article in Outside , it generated more mail than any other article in the magazine’s history. This correspondence, as one might expect, reflected sharply divergent points of view. Some readers admired the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals; others criticised that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity – and was undeserving of the considerable media attention he received. My convictions should be apparent soon enough, but I will leave it to the reader to form his or her own opinion of Chris McCandless. (From: Jon Krakauer, Into the wild ) 65 70 75 80 85 90 Statements T F First four words 0 Christopher McCandless was from a wealthy family, but he was not good at school. ✘ Immediately after graduating, with 1 John Krakauer, who had written a nine-thousand-word article about McCandless, did not lose interest in this case. 2 He was interested in Christopher’s life because it was so different from his own. 3 McCandless admired Tolstoy because he was rich and privileged. 4 For most of his journey Christopher coped quite well. 5 Whereas some people thought Christopher was stupid to start his journey, others regarded him as a fascinating person. b) What is your view of Christopher McCandless? • Was he doing the right thing? • Why do you think things went terribly wrong? • Which precautions could he have taken? c) What is your view of the author John Krakauer? • Explain why he was so interested in the story. • How did he want to tell the story of Christopher’s life? • What do you think of his approach? 75 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv