My Tree

The screaming sound of a chainsaw 

rips through the spring air 

I stand by the window 

and watch my tree

The tree that I grew up with 

who grew older with me 

The tree that sat in my backyard 

since the day we had moved into the house

The tree whose dead leaves we raked up in the fall 

and whose green buds we admired in the spring 

The first tree I ever climbed to the top of 

and the first tree I ever fell out of 

The tree that held my swing and me 

through summer, spring, and fall 

The tree whose roots were intwined 

with a graveyard of past pets 

The tree that housed a dove’s nest for three years straight 

and sent six little doves out into the world 

The tree my cat found his way up into 

and who I had to rescue 

The tree that gently swayed in the ocean breeze 

which sent a rustle through the leaves

The tree for squirrel meetings 

and evening owl perches 

The tree whose shade sheltered me

on those sunny sumer days 

The tree that was such a part of my life 

that I couldn’t ever imagine not having it in my yard

So as I watched it fall to the ground with a sickening thud

I knew a part of my life would be forever missing 

Into the Wild: Movie vs. Book

Though I did not so much enjoy the book version of Into the Wild, I did enjoy the movie. The movie was more from the perspective of Chris (played by Emile Hirsch) and from his point of view as he went on his journey. The film was narrated by both Chris himself and by his little sister Carine (played by Jena Malone). Though it was based on the real life of Chris McCandless, there was some fictional elements to this story. A whole romance between one of the girls that he meets along his journey that was probably added to the movie for a more dramatic effect when Chris leaves. It held pretty true to what was known about Chris’s life and travels, just a little bit of drama added to make the movie more exciting for the viewer. I really liked the way that the film cut back and forth between Chris’s travel life and his life before it left. This was another thing that I think held the viewer engaged and really helped the movie from getting too boring, or from dragging too much. The film itself had great cinematography and was beautifully shot. I think had I not read the book before seeing the movie, I would have enjoyed the movie much more because I wouldn’t have associated how much I didn’t enjoy the book, with the movie. Overall though, I really did appreciate the movie much more than the book. 

Review of Into the Wild by Jon Krakeuer

Chris had been described as a smart guy who lived by what he believed in and did the things he wanted to do, so how did he end up dead in the Alaskan wilderness? This is Into the Wild, a true story of the life of Chris McCandless as researched and written by Jon Krakeuer. Chris grew up with his parents and his little sister Carine in a small town. He went to college at Emory and after graduation he decided to pack up and hit the road. He gave all of his savings to charity and burned what remaining cash he had. He told no one his plans of leaving or where he planned to go. He left with the intentions of going into the ultimate wilderness, America’s frontier; Alaska. He wanted to be alone in the wilderness, and to live off the land, and what better place to do that, than Alaska. Chris took up the altar-ego of Alexander Supertramp which would be the name he would carve into the many locations he would visit. He worked and hitchhiked his way throughout the states, making many friends, seeing the country, and spreading his story and plans. But it wasn’t long before he decided it was time to make his way up to Alaska. He hiked into Alaska with a rifle, a bag of rice, a book about edible plants, and only a few other things to keep him going through the time he would be in the wild. But had he forgotten about where he was, about what life he had left behind? Had Chris missed some key elements about living in the wild?

Sadly I did not enjoy this book as much as I hoped. I found it to be more like a very long magazine article. I was however, very impressed with the amount of research that went into this book. Krakeuer obviously spent a lot of time piecing together the elements of Chris’s life and ultimately figured out what killed Chris. I have a high amount of respect for Krakeuer’s efforts.  Initially, before I had began reading the book I had thought it was a work of fiction and was a little taken aback by the seemingly fiction-like elements of this novel. I also found that Krakeuer seemed to glamorize what Chris had done, something I daresay did not agree with. To me, Chris had a sort of arrogance and ignorance, which in the end led to his untimely death. I feel Chris’s story should have been presented a little differently. 

I would give this book a 6 out of 10. I really had very high hopes for this book, but I was a bit let down. I feel that the book was dragged out and that after a while I didn’t feel like I was learning anything new. But I know that some people really like this type of story. I recommend it for those who enjoy the likes of My Everest Story or other true-life adventure stories. Sadly, these kind of stories are not my cup of tea. 

Self Reflection

When I signed up for this class, I had so many great ideas about what I was going to accomplish and how I was going to expand my writing and reading. I had high hopes that I would use this class as an excuse to actually be able to write down the ideas and stories that had been floating around in my head. To be honest though, I am a little disappointed with how little I have accomplished for this class. I had really hoped to really get the creative writing juices flowing, but I have lost my creative writing spark a bit. I had really hoped to be writing lots of short stories and expanding all of the little ideas I have. Yet I haven’t really done to much of that. 

I have however, completed three books; Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and Into the Wild by Jon Krakeuer. And I am almost done reading Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, with The Virgin Suicides the next stop on my list. This class has given me a real reason to read and explore these books, as well as delve into their film adaptations. I keep a notebook when reading and after every section of reading I reflect on and summarize what I have read and write down quotes I find interesting. I use this notebook as reference when I write the book reviews and when I write about the quotes. 

I have written a few short stories in the course of this class. But they are pretty dark and aren’t really the kind of writing that I would really want to share with many others. But I am happy with the little bit of writing I have done. I have a little notebook that I got for this class and I find myself writing in it  lot. Bits and pieces of stories, little snippets of dialogue I hear, random ideas, the writing prompts, and poems. I have been writing a lot more little poems, or just verse style writing. Not something I did too much of in the past. I am also very pleased with what I have filled this little notebook with. 

With the last month and a half remaining, I really hope to get myself together and just get things done. I really hope to stop using this class as a time to finish work, and more of a time to start work and create work. I want to end the year with a substantial amount of work accomplished. I really want to be able to have a folder full of the work that I have done and to be proud of what I have done. 

Quotes from Into the Wild

“‘[S]eemed like a kid who was looking for something, looking for something, just didn’t know what is was’” (Krakeuer 42). 

“Unlike most of us, he was the sort of person who insisted on living out his beliefs” (Krakeuer 67).

“‘There was always a wanderlust in the family, and it was clear early on that Chris had inherited it” (Krakeuer 108). 

“The whole idea was to lose out bearings, to push ourselves into unknown territory. Then we’d run at a slightly slower pace until we found a road we recognized and race home again at full speed. In a sense that’s how Chris lived his entire life” (Krakeuer 112).

These were my favorite quotes from the book because I felt that they really captured the essence of Chris as others saw him. They are all from different people as well, his family, his friends, and  mere acquaintances. Because Into the Wild is the story of Chris’s life as told by others, we never really here what he has to say about all this, and we never get his own description of himself. However, I thought these were the best descriptions because they really connected with the actions and decisions that Chris made on his journey to Alaska. It is interesting to me the way the author tried to delve so deeply into Chris’s life without ever having the chance to talk to Chris. And interesting the way the people he affected chose to describe him. From reading the book, I saw Chris as a go-getter, and as someone who made a decision and went with it and whatever else got thrown at him along that adventure. These four quotes seemed really accurate to me from what I took away from the book about Chris.