Into the Wild Dialectical Journal

Not sure what to write for your commentary? Here are some tips:

Jenee Gossard of the UCLA Writing Project (1997) suggests the following sentence starters for students who
struggle with right-hand column responses:
I wonder I noticed
I began to think of I was surprised
I like the idea If I had been
I know the feeling I was reminded of

Common reader responses include:

Feelings (boring, sad, exciting, confusing, strange)
Questions (I wonder why the author wrote these boring parts?)
Images (pictures in the mind, with full sensory response)
Favorite (or detested) words and phrases
Echoes (of other books, movies, television shows, headlines, songs, or poems)
Reaction to characters or events (That Raskolnikov is so self-absorbed!)
Memories (people, events, places youve known)
Connections (to other ideas, people, feelings, books)

Chapter Page # Quotation Commentary

1 4 He intended to walk deep into the bush Why? Where is his family? He is so young
and live off the land for a few months and is planning to be by himself in the
middle of nowhere.

1 6 He had an answer for everything I Why is he so determined to go into the

threw at him woods? What is he trying to do?

2 14 The authorities didn't know who he was, Is this the same guy we met earlier? Why go
where he was from, or why he was out in the woods alone, so scary?
there

4 26 A garbage bag full of old clothes, a I was surprised that Chris actually did bring
fishing rod and tackle, a new electric things and wasn't as unprepared as i
razor thought he was.

4 28 There would be thickets or red tape to
negotiate and fines to pay
I feel now that he wanted to ask for help and
wasn't trying to die, but he couldn't because
of the issues of his car and not paying for
registration, insurance, and having a
license.

4 32 Chris was very much of the school that I have picked up on this throughout the book
you should own nothing except what you
can carry on your back at a dead run

5 44 He did a lot of socializing This surprised me because he is always by

himself, and i thought he liked keeping to
himself instead of being around people.

5 46 He acted real offended Alex never accepted anything anybody

offered to him, and was very generous with
the things he had.

4 31 Chris had given away his college fund Chris was very giving with what he had, and
 Into the Wild Dialectical Journal
to OXFAM never wanting to have anything.

5 39 He was living a surprisingly This shocked me because i thought this was

conventional existence what chris was trying to escape.

6 51 Unearth a Mexican serape and some Alex saves things in certain spots and
other possessions hed buried for comes to retrieve them when he leaves
safekeeping a year earlier again.

6 57 In reality nothing is more damaging to Alex choses to be homeless and live life
the adventurous spirit within a man than freely.
a secure future

7 64 Im going to divorce them as my Alex thought that his parents didn't treat him
parents once and for all well and they never took him seriously, and
so he rebelled.

7 66 McCandlesss sights were fixed Alex is a very determined man, and will do
unflinchingly on Alaska. whatever he puts his mind to.

7 68 He intended to take some big risks This shocked me that his friends noticed
him crying, which was uncommon for him,
and no one was able to stop him.

7 69 This is the last communication you shall Alex said his goodbyes, and planned to not
receive from him see these people ever again.

8 85 McCandless was a seeker and had an Alex was a very devoted man to nature and
impractical fascination with the harsh was never expecting anything.
side of nature

8 70 Many people concluded that the boy This is shocking to me that people thought
must have been mentally disturbed he was mental for living out in the land when
he really wasnt.

9 91 No one who really understands why i Everett and Chris both explore the land, and
am here or what I do similarly they know that no one will ever
understand what they do.

9 92 The freedom and simple beauty of it is Chris loves his loves his life when he is out
just too good to pass it up on his own exploring.

9 96 We like companionship, see, but we Chris and Everett are both very social, but
cant stand to be around people for very only like it in moderation.
long

11 107 He wasnt antisocial- he always had Chris is a very independent man, but also
friends, and everybody liked him- but he could use company at times.
could go off and entertain himself for
hours.

11 109 Chris was fearless even when he was Chris grew up in a family that always went
little out, and traveled through mountains.

11 111 He resisted instruction of any kind Chris is very naturally talented and didn't
like being told what to do by anyone.

12 122 If something bothered him, he wouldnt This led to the out fall with his family,
 Into the Wild Dialectical Journal
come right out and say it. Hed keep it to because he was upset with his father's
himself, harboring his resentment, letting decisions.
the bad feelings build and build

12 125 He donated the balance of his bank Chris no longer liked his family, and
account to OXFAM, loaded up his car, continued his life by himself.
and vanished from their lives

13 128 Chris didnt think twice about risking his Chris is very caring for others, and would
own life, but he never would have pu never want anything to go wrong with them.
Buckley in any kind of danger

14 139 For the better part of the day, I groped Alaska is very hard to travel through during
blindly through the labyrinth in the winter on foot, especially by yourself.
whiteout, retracing my steps from one
dead end to another

16 159 He wanted to prove to himself that he Alex is challenging himself and is doing this
could make it on his own, without for himself.
anybody elses help

16 167 When I had caught and cleaned and
cooked and eaten my fish, they seemed
not to have fed me essentially. It was
insignificant and unnecessary, and cost
more than it came to.
Alex feels bad about killing the moose
because he didn't know how to properly
store it and he says it is his biggest regret.

17 182 A challenge in which a successful Alex always pushed himself to do things

outcome is assured isnt a challenge at most people will never do in there life.
all

18 199 Chris Mccandless was at peace, serene He was very content with his life, and did
as a monk gone to god the one thing he wanted to do in life.