“The Alaska Interior” Talking Notes

            The beginning of this book starts off with Alex in transit on a journey to find himself and get away. When people struggle or have tough times it is just instinct or something similar that make us jump upon the idea to drop all our obligations and get away. Alex is a hitchhiker who is about to leave the South and travel up north to live in the wild; away from time, people, and anything that comes from society. Gallien, who seems to have lived up North all his life tries to dissuade him. In the end leaves Alex to fulfill his desires of getting away and has faith he will find his way on his own even though Gallien feels “’People from the outside’…’well it isn’t what the magazines make it out to be’”(Krakauer 6). It is interesting how sometimes when we think something or we are some sort of expert on a subject we can judge another person’s ways of going about things.

Another interesting point to the story was the way it was written by Krakauer. The beginning was written as a post card as Alex is leaving for his journey, and for a final farewell to a friend it seems somewhat short, to the point, and to some extent impersonal. Alex’s character seems to be fairly detached as he wants to break away from the world and will give Gallien short responses as to who he is and his personal life. The story also seems to be broken away in parts where Gallien is being interviewed.

Question: Why did Alex accept the books when he seemed so inclined to get rid of his stuff and he was so sure he could make it without help?

“The Stampede Trail” Talking Notes

            This story seemed seemed to take a different tone as it recounts a hostile situation. A few different parties stumble upon this bus with a body rotting away. It is ironic that the body is not found until he is long gone. This presents the idea that if he were found sooner, he may have remained alive. He was also looking for peace and a get away or escape from the world, yet all he met was struggle and death. This connects to what happened in “The Alaska Interior” where Gallien discusses how man travelers just see a pretty picture and presume that’s what they want when in reality when they get there they want nothing more than to get away from it.

The hiker did not have much on him, so people could no really recognize who he was. He had not ID so it is intriguing that his last items would be “McCandless’s signature had been at the bottom, and the photos, when developed, included many self portraits (Krakauer 12).

Question: Can we ever find our own peace without having to fully encompass ourselves with solitude?