Ruess

The journeys McCandless and Ruess partook in was a result of their infatuation with the wild. Unfourtunately they were fatal. They both had family trouble so it makes sense that they felt a need to escape from their oppressing reality. They set out to make new lives for themselves. McCandless' family issues, in my opinion, were not exaggerated. I in fact can kind of relate. Upper middle class family pressure to succeed in life and make lots of money can be overwhelming at times and I wish I could just go out and travel the world and not have a care in the world. I don't hate my family but I do hate some of their rules. Curfew wouldn't make me want to abandon the family that provided for me for 20 years though.

Rhetoric promt

"In writing Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer has obvious opinions about the subject and employs rhetoric to show this. If you were writing the story of Christopher McCandless, how would your rhetoric differ from that of Krakauer? Would it? What types of rhetoric would you use, and why? What might this story be called?"

If I was writing the story I think I would use the same balance as Krakauer. He does a pretty good job of logically commenting on the actions that Chris does even though they are not always the best. He shows both sides of the argument most of the time. He is more towards the pathos side in this book but this is a really deep book. He doesn't really have to set up his credibility as the narrator just because the reader doesn't really care about him, they care about Chris. If I were to write this book I would incorporate a lot of pathos to get the reader involved on an emotional level while letting them know the logical and practical information that goes along with what Chris does. I would call my book, "Nature vs. Nurture, Nature Always Wins."

Response to blog

This is honestly a hard question to answer. I have no idea what I would do because I can't imagine leaving my family. Even if I wasn't particular fond of them they still have supported me for so many years that I feel like I would owe it to them to stay "in the family." I could just go hang out with the second family. It would be extremely selfish to leave you mother, father, siblings, aunts, uncles and other relatives because you didn't like them. My friend's families are cool but I wouldn't abandon my own to be with them. I would be flattered if someone asked to adopt me but after knowing someone for a couple weeks I wouldn't naively just go stay with them. Family is something more than just liking each other. Chris probably didn't want to because of that reason in addition that he wanted to go to Alaska. He gave up on his family to pursue his dream of living off the wild! I don't think Chris even considered finding a new family.

In what ways were you inspired during the last presidential campaign? Do you recall any specific moments where you felt a shift in your attitude towards politics, life, the world? How did those feelings translate into actions? Or, did you find the whole campaign season so overwhelming that you just tuned out? If so, what do you think could be changed to improve the election process?

I actually didn't pay that much attention to the last election. I don't really like politics. My friends were about half and half on McCain and Obama. When I heard that Obama won I was happy to see the first black president but from my lack of political knowledge I couldn't have told you that he was the better candidate. After a while I did just tune out because I was so tired of hearing "Obama this..." and "Obama that..."