Student Metaphors

The article written by James C. McDonald called, "Student Metaphors of Themselves as Writers," is about an assignment an English Professor has his students complete.  They must provide a metaphor that reflects how they view themselves as writers.  Students took different approaches to it from the processes they wrote it to the overall products of their papers.

The article is broke into 5 different section: the introduction, four categories of metaphors, and the conclusion.  The main idea of the first section is to introduce the assignment and give a quick overview of the varieties of metaphors. The following section topics include; metaphors of process and speed, metaphors of fear and courage, metaphors of control, and metaphors of silence.  Each section reflects back to the assignment.  He explains the creative metaphors that students come up with.  Some view writing as "dangerous and fearful," while others describe it as them being "a business executive running a large corporation."  This gave he professor an excellent idea as to how each student perceived their writing abilities and writing in general.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia poses many problems when it comes to using it for a credible site.  Middlebury College established a policy saying that Wikipedia could no longer be used as a proper source of information.  Some students' work was incorrect because they got their facts from this website.  I agree withe the colleges decision.  Even though Wikipedia is convenient, you can never be sure what is right or wrong.  I only use it to get a basic understanding of something then I move onto a better website.  Some of the policies were lenient in this manner.  They aloud students to look at it but encouraged them to not cite it as their main resource.  One of the teachers also saw it as a great teaching opportunity when students made the mistakes of using it.

I think there is only so much you can do to prevent students from accessing Wikipedia.  Within the schools network, they could block it so that you can not even access it at school.  This would help filter out most of the problems in high school students.  If teachers warn children about it early enough, then they will not use it.  I was told all through high school to never use information from it and to not cite it.  After being told so many times I never think twice about Wikipedia.  Faculty should remind students that it is not a credible source for information and it should be avoided.

Book to Film

The film does Justice to Chris.  It depicts him as being free-spirited and going after his main goal in life.  You can still see some of the family issues in the movie that were seen in the book.  Just as the book, you can see the flashbacks. You know Chris is in Alaska but it also shows most of his background and where he comes from.  Although you can see most of the similiarities, the movie shows him as a much more normal person.  In the book I feel as though he is not always connected with reality and would stand out to most people.  The movie shows him as a normal college student who is full of energy.  He lets his sister drive his car and is somewhat of a rebel.  Also, he yells and celebrates in Alaska which is not illustrated as much in the book.

The cinemas are always more dramatic and paint a better picture of what is really going on.  The book is more factual so you do not see the little bits that the filmmakers had to improvise.  You can actually see what they think Chris might have been doing or what he might have said while he was on his own.  The scenes and music really add to the whole effect.  I enjoy the movie because it brings him to life!  

Perceptions of Chris McCandless

My initial perceptions of Chris were that he was a young, adventurous boy with a good head on his shoulders.  He knew what he wanted to do and did it.  Most people have crazy dreams of doing crazy things but never actually follow through with them.  It was inspiring to see someone go through all of this schooling and still do something that could seem so foolish.

Towards the middle of the book I start to feel that Chris McCandless is just like all the other explorers.  The reactions to the first article written about him were disturbing.  I started to see him as an unknowlegable person that had no chance of surviving.  He seemed to be just like all the others that people wrote about.  It was common for some people to come across travelers that want to "live in the wild" like Chris.

My perception of Chris was quickly switched back when Krakauer explained how he was different from the rest.  He had impacted many lives and was much more levelheaded than all the others.  He did not have a death wish nor was he a recovery addict that needed to get away.  I returned to my originial thoughts of Christ being an incredible person that actually followed through with wanted he wanted to do ever since he was a little boy.

Once his family visits the bus you can sense the calmness.  They came to terms with where he spent the last few months of his life.  They understood what he was doing and were taking back by the landscape.  It had reminded them of some previous trips they took.  It made me like his parents more than before because they finally respected his decision in a way.  His mom and dad were calm and did what they had to do to put themselves at ease when visiting the site.

Outcasts & Names

At first, Krakauer criticizes his own work.  He talks about the different responses he got back from his original article about McCandless.  Many responses came in and said that Chris was just like every other person that tried to live in the woods.  People said that he was not anything special and there were many nut cases just like him.  However, Krakauer does not come back and directly "bash" these people that put down his writing.  He goes on to say how crazy these other explorers were.  Many of them were crazy and did not stand out.  They went into the expedition with even less tools and less knowledge.  These people did not make an impact on as many lives as Chris McCandless did.  You can see Krakauer talk about the emotions that Chris brought out in people.  He had an eighty-year old man nearly in tears when he heard about the tragic death.  The author discretely says, "You're wrong about Alex Supertramp," by giving examples of all "other" explorers that were not near as important.  Alex was different and an important notable figure.

As you can see, Chris McCandless had changed his name to Alex Supertramp.  There are many different theories on why he did this.  I think the most obvious was to hide is identity.  Another idea is that he wanted to become something else.  This was his temporary self before he could return home and to his true identity.  Many people have gone through phases and changed their name.  My one friend in high school always went by "Mikey."  As we got older, he put an end to it.  He wanted to be referred to as Mike.  He felt that it was more mature and it was time for change (although he never did mature or change).  Some people may change their name in hopes of changing their personalities or way of life.  I feel as though "Alex" had returned to his true identity "Chris McCandless" and found himself through this journey because that is the name he signed on his last note.

Chapter 3 Epigraphs

The first epigraphs is very exciting.  It makes you want to get up and do something to with your life.  It has a lot of energy to it and pretty much tells you that you are living a boring life.  I agree slightly but I feel as though I already have a lot of excitement in my life.  I think this influenced Chris in that it compels you to get up and move around.  It talks about sacrificing yourself for love which is something he lacked. Chris also used his "superabundance of energy" to escape the "quiet life" he was leading.

The second epigraph is similar in that it tells you to step out of your comfort zone and escape this world full of rules and obligations.  To me, it says that living on the edge and doing the unknown is the right thing to do.  This correlates with the attitude of Chris McCandless.  Wallace Stegner points out irksome obligations and escaping to the west.  Chris felt obligated at times to live up to his families expectations which could tend to be "irksome."  He left this all behind and just traveled west to be "footloose."