Seseske - Into The Wild CPA Summer Reading Test
- 1.Chris McCandless
- A.
Was an explorer in Alaska.
- B.
Was a highly trained mountain climber.
- C.
Died of starvation in Alaska.
- D.
Survived his Alaska adventure and wrote Into the Wild.
- E.
Died from injuries sustained in a fall from Mt. McKinley.
- 2.True or False:McCandless's solo trip to Alaska was the first time he set off on a trip by himself.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 3.Chris McCandless referred to himself as
- A.
Alexander Supertramp.
- B.
A leather tramp.
- C.
A rubber tramp.
- D.
King of the Hill.
- E.
Tolstoy the Great
- 4.McCandless's old yellow Datsun was
- A.
Taken by troopers and sold at auction.
- B.
Later used in drug raids in Arizona.
- C.
Abandoned in Alaska.
- D.
Wrecked when he tried to cross a river in it.
- E.
Stolen by thugs when he traveled in Mexico.
- 5.Which of the following is NOT a personality trait of Chris McCandless?
- A.
Stubborn
- B.
Educated
- C.
Hard-working
- D.
Strong ethics
- E.
Respect for authority
- 6.Which of the following describes McCandless's view of money?
- A.
He valued it. He had a savings account of $24,000 and he was planning to use it to pay for law school after returning from Alaska.
- B.
He understood its importance. He had various jobs and understood the need for money in society.
- C.
He was irresponsible with it. He spent more money than he made, usually on foolish things.
- D.
He has no attachment to it. He refused gifts, would not let his parents pay for law school, and he gave away his entire savings ($24,000) to charity.
- E.
He never had enough of it. He was bitter that others were wealthier and better off than he would ever be.
- 7.Which of the following describes McCandless's early life?
- A.
He grew up in a poor family in Middle America as an only child and did not have more than an 8th grade education.
- B.
He was raised in a wealthy family with one sister (and had several step-siblings) on the Eastern Coast of America. He graduated from Emory University with high honors.
- C.
He was born on the West Coast and moved from state to state because his father was in the military. He had plans of joining the army after high school.
- D.
He lived with his mother, father, and six siblings in New England. He refused to go to Harvard College and left for the West, claiming nature could teach him more than professors could.
- E.
He was raised in a middle class Southern family and achieved a scholarship to the University of Fairbanks for football. This began his love of the wild.
- 8.Ron Franz
- A.
Urged McCandless to go back to school.
- B.
Offered to pay for McCandless to enter law school.
- C.
Thought McCandless was mentally ill and tried to avoid him.
- D.
Taught McCandless the craft of leatherworking.
- E.
Drove McCandless into Canada.
- 9.What request did Ron Franz ask of McCandless?
- A.
He asked if he could go with McCandless to Alaska.
- B.
He pleaded with McCandless to return home to his worried family.
- C.
He asked McCandless to work for him on his ranch.
- D.
He asked if he could adopt McCandless as a grandson.
- E.
He wanted McCandless to sprinkle his ashes in the Alaskan frontier after Franz's death.
- 10.What did McCandless say about life, and what did he advise Franz to do?
- A.
Life is a blessing from God. He urged Franz to make a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain and give thanks for the gift of life.
- B.
People are basically lonely and this loneliness causes life's miseries. He advised Franz to remarry and spend the rest of his life with someone.
- C.
You only live once, and there is no such thing as the afterlife. He told Franz that he should live in the present moment and do things now that would give him happiness.
- D.
People are afraid to make changes that would lead to their freedom and happiness in life. He urged Franz to leave behind his secure lifestyle and adopt a freer, more adventurous way of life.
- E.
People need to be on their own and make their own rules. He advised Franz to leave his job and his family and come with him to Alaska.
- 11.Wayne Westerberg
- A.
Reported that McCandless was a slacker as an employee.
- B.
Paid McCandless to work at his grain elevator.
- C.
Had just been released from jail when McCandless met him.
- D.
Knew Ron Franz and met McCandless through him.
- E.
Was a much older man who tried to give McCandless advice.
- 12.Jon Krakauer suggests that McCandless considered Westerberg a friend; this conclusion is based in part on the fact that
- A.
Westerberg told the author this in an interview.
- B.
McCandless repeatedly used Westerberg's address as his own when filling out various paperwork.
- C.
McCandless continued to send Westerberg postcards and letters after leaving Carthage.
- D.
McCandless asked Ron Franz to take him to see Westerberg.
- E.
McCandless named Westerberg on a list of friends in his journal.
- 13.Why did Jan Burres have an attachment to McCandless?
- A.
She was romantically interested in him.
- B.
She admired him for his courage because she had also gone on her own personal adventure in the wilderness when she was young.
- C.
Her own son, about the same age as McCandless, had gone off on his own many years before, and being with McCandless made her feel closer to her son hoping that she would see him again.
- D.
She had been hired as a private detective by McCandless's parents, so she formed an attachment in order to find out information about his real identity to send to his parents.
- E.
She had given up a son to adoption, and she believed McCandless might be her long-lost son.
- 14.The journal McCandless kept in Mexico
- A.
Did not include dates so no one could reconstruct his trip there.
- B.
Was written in the third person, as if he was observing the action from a distance.
- C.
Revealed heavy drug use.
- D.
Showed that he was unsure about going to Alaska.
- E.
Was mostly about what kind of Mexican food he preferred.
- 15.Krakauer talks about McCandless’s love of books, especially the work of Jack London. What attracted McCandless to Jack London’s work?
- A.
London's focus on the belief in the afterlife.
- B.
London's emphasis on the greatness of the American government.
- C.
London's ideas about getting rich quick.
- D.
London's portrayal of outsiders and the power of the wilderness.
- E.
London's main characters are usually successful businessmen, like McCandless wished to be one day.
- 16.Krakauer inserts stories of several people who went to the wilderness because he wants to show that
- A.
Many people behave irresponsibly.
- B.
McCandless was not alone in feeling the call of the wilderness.
- C.
People who go into the wilderness ultimately die.
- D.
So many people are in the wilderness that loneliness is not a factor.
- E.
Only the mentally ill embark on wilderness adventures.
- 17.What was McCandless's shelter in the Alaskan wild?
- A.
An empty cabin
- B.
A makeshift shelter he made out of fallen trees
- C.
A tent he had bought in Fairbanks
- D.
An overturned canoe
- E.
An abandoned bus
- 18.When the newspapers ran stories about the dead hiker in Alaska
- A.
The police already knew that it was McCandless.
- B.
The detective hired by McCandless's parents provided police with the hiker's name.
- C.
Ron Franz gave the police the hiker's name.
- D.
He was identified from pictures in his personnel file at McDonald's.
- E.
Wayne Westerberg convinced the police that the hiker had worked for him and he knew his identity.
- 19.Walt McCandless
- A.
Is a college dropout who invented a new kind of radar.
- B.
Is a high-achieving and very demanding person.
- C.
Fathered only two children.
- D.
Held political office for twenty years.
- E.
Is a hippie who spends months at a time in the wilderness.
- 20.Krakauer recounts his own quest to
- A.
Hike from Fairbanks to Anchorage.
- B.
Climb Mt. McKinley.
- C.
Climb the Devil's Thumb.
- D.
Ride the rails from Seattle to Anchorage.
- E.
Photograph the Devil's Thumb each month for a year.
- 21.Krakauer's father
- A.
Was more understanding than Walt McCandless.
- B.
Was a doctor who abused prescription drugs.
- C.
Demanded so much of his children that they turned to drugs.
- D.
Developed radar systems for the government.
- E.
Knew Walt McCandless in college.
- 22.The author talks about Walt McCandless and his own father to
- A.
Suggest that divorce hurts young children.
- B.
Illustrate how poverty destroys family relationships.
- C.
Show how difficult father and son relationships can be.
- D.
Challenge readers to strengthen their own relationships with their fathers.
- E.
Add some content that does not relate to the wilderness.
- 23.Krakauer and some friends reconstructed McCandless's trip
- A.
For the publicity.
- B.
To write a report for the Alaska State Troopers.
- C.
To test camping equipment for a local outfitter.
- D.
To gain a first-hand experience of the dangers and realities of the trip.
- E.
As a favor to Chris McCandless's parents.
- 24.McCandless was trapped at his campsite
- A.
By his resolution to stay there for 150 days.
- B.
By his broken leg.
- C.
By the flooding river and his lack of a good map with alternate routes.
- D.
Because he could not start his yellow Datsun.
- E.
Because he had failed to arrange for the helicopter to return to him
- 25.Krakauer believes that all young men
- A.
Should take a wilderness survival course.
- B.
Show poor judgement and planning skills.
- C.
Experience difficult relationships with their fathers.
- D.
Would benefit from required national service in parks and wilderness settings.
- E.
Seek out high-risk activities as a rite of passage.
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