HP ENGLISH III: Survey of American Literature
Summer Reading Assignment for the 2014-2015 School Year
Part I: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Instructions:
• Read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• As you read, complete the following assignment.
• DO NOT plagiarize information from Cliff Notes, Spark Notes, or any other such source.
• DO NOT COPY another student’s work or share your own work with another student.
• Responses are due to your English teacher the first day of school in August. You need to have a hard
copy of your assignment ready to turn into your teachers. E-mailing them will not be acceptable.
There will also be an exam on Into the Wild the first week of school.
Assignment:
As you read Into the Wild, consider your impressions of Chris McCandless’s character. What kind of
person was he? What character traits did he possess? What motivated him? What conflicts did he
experience in his life? What kind of relationships did he encounter? What outlook on life did he
possess?
Next, complete the graphic organizer below. You must list five impressions that you gathered about
Chris, overall, while you read, and explain why you arrived at those conclusions about him. Then, you
will cite two-three separate passages/quotes from the novel that would support your analysis of Chris’s
character. Finally, you will include the number of the chapter from which it came.
An example has been done for you. You may not use this example yourself, even if it is a thought you
had about him.
Again, do not copy work from another student or claim that work that is not yours is yours!
Remember, the more effort you put into your work, the better the grade you will receive. 
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Name:
Date:
Period:
List an impression that you
gathered about Chris, overall,
and explain why you arrived at
those conclusions about him.
Cite two-three separate
passages/quotes from the novel
that would support your
analysis of Chris’s character.
Number of the chapter from
which your quote(s) came.
Example:
Example:
Example:
Chris McCandless was a very hard
worker. He was reliable, detailoriented, and motivated. His exemployers and family commented
on this at different times in the
novel.
“It was a different story with Alex.
He was the hardest-worker I’ve ever
seen. Didn’t matter what it was,
he’d do it: hard physical labor,
mucking rotten grain and dead rats
out of the bottom of the hole—jobs
where you’d get so damn dirty you
couldn’t even tell what you looked
like at the end of the day. And he
never quit in the middle of
something. If he started a job, he’d
finish it. It was almost like a moral
thing for him.”
Chapter 3
“He was reliable, though, a body
that showed up every day, so they
didn’t dare fire him.”
Chapter 5
“As an eight-year-old, he grew
vegetables behind the house in
Annadale and then sold them doorto-door around the neighborhood….
When Chris was twelve, he printed
up a stack of flyers and started a
neighborhood copy business, Chris’s
Fast Copies, offering free pickup and
delivery…. In 1985, following his
junior year at Woodson, Chris was
hired by a local building contractor
to canvass neighborhoods for sales,
drumming up siding jobs and
kitchen remodeling. And he was
astonishingly successful, a salesman
without peer.”
Chapter 11
1) Impression #1
2) Impression #2
3) Impression #3
Quote #1
Chapter #
Quote #2
Chapter #
Quote #3
Chapter #
Quote #1
Chapter #
Quote #2
Chapter #
Quote #3
Chapter #
Quote #3
Chapter #
Quote #3
Chapter #
Quote #3
Chapter #
4) Impression #4
5) Impression #5
Quote #1
Chapter #
Quote #2
Chapter #
Quote #3
Chapter #
Quote #1
Chapter #
Quote #2
Chapter #
Quote #3
Chapter #
There will also be an exam on Into the Wild the first week of school.
Please use the following study guide to help you prepare for this exam. The study guide is for
your benefit only; it will not be collected for a grade.
Study Guide: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
I.
Character Identification: Be able to identify description of the following people.
Jan Burres
Ronald Franz
Jim Gallien
Loren Johnson
Jon Krakauer
Billie McCandless
Carnie McCandless
Chris McCandeless
Walt McCandeless
Carl McCunn
Everett Reuss
Gene Rosellini
Gaylord Stuckey
John Waterman
Wayne Westerberg
II.
Identification of Location: Be able to identify descriptions of the following locations.
 What is the name of the national park in which the Stampede Trail can be located
and where McCandelss planned to live in the world?
 What is the name of the trail McCandeless follows into the wild and site of Bus 142?
 In what city and state did McCandless’s car die?
 Where was McCandless born and raised?
 What location did McCandless claim as a permanent address after leaving home and
where did he have all of his mail forwarded to?
 What is the name of the old navy air base that functions as a seasonal home to the
destitute and where McCandless met back up with Jan Burres and her boyfriend,
Bob?
 Where did McCandless meet Ronald Franz?
 Where did McCandless work at McDonald’s for a while?
 What was the name of the peak that Jon Krakauer hoped to climb?
 What is the name of the river that McCandless cannot cross in order to reach safety
at the end of the novel?
III.
True or False
 Chris McCandless envied people who were wealthy. True or False.
 Most of the people who met Chris McCandless were very impressed by his
character. True or False.
IV.
Multiple Choice
What could have saved McCandless’s life?
a. A proper map b. bird feathers c. a heater
d. money
Part II: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Instructions:
• Read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• As you read, complete the following assignment.
• DO NOT plagiarize information from Cliff Notes, Spark Notes, or any other such source.
• DO NOT COPY another student’s work or share your own work with another student.
• Responses are due to your English teacher the first day of school in August. You need to have a hard
copy of your assignment ready to turn into your teachers. E-mailing them will not be acceptable.
There will also be an exam on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the first week of school.
Assignment:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain takes place in the pre-Civil War south. It is a coming
of age story about a thirteen year old white boy, Huckleberry Finn, who embarks on a journey down the
Mississippi River with a runaway slave named, Jim. The novel contains several examples of humor,
irony, conflict, adventure, and more.
Your assignment is to note Huck’s growing conscience as you read the novel. Huck will tell the reader
that he was not brought up “right”, that he isn’t courageous, and that he doesn’t really know the
difference between right and wrong. He perceives that he does not have morals or values and he
usually feels like he has done the “wrong” thing.
However, evidence of Huck’s conscience is obvious. He does act courageously throughout the novel,
and, more often than not, does the correct thing.
Identify seven instances in the novel where Huck’s conscience is evident—times where he struggles
between doing right and doing wrong, times where he feels bad about something he is doing, times
when he feels bad about what other people are doing, or times when he feels compassion or sympathy
for something he has witnessed.
Next, write a sentence summarizing the instance of conscience.
Then, cite a passage/quote that represents the instance. Include the number of the chapter from
which it came at the end of your quote.
An example has been done for you. You may not use this example yourself, even if it is a thought that
occurred to you. Set up your papers so it looks like the example below.
Example:
1)
Example of Conscience: Huck is worried about the robbers aboard the sinking Walter Scott. Even though
he knows they are not good people, it makes him feel bad to think that they might drown and die.
Passage/Quote: “Now was the first time I begun to worry about the men—I reckon I hadn’t had time to
before. I begun to think how dreadful it was, even for murderers, to be in such a fix. I says to myself,
there ain’t no telling but I might come to be a murderer myself, yet, and then how would I like it?”
(Chapter 13)
Again, do not copy work from another student or claim that work that is not yours is yours!
There will also be an exam on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the first week of school.
Please use the following study guide to help you prepare for this exam. The study guide is for
your benefit only; it will not be collected for a grade.
Study Guide: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I.
Character Identification: Be able to identify description of the following people.
Huckleberry Finn
Tom Sawyer
Judge Thatcher
Buck Grangerford
The duke
Boggs
Joanna Wilks
Sally Phelps
Widow Douglass
Jim
Judith Loftus
Sophia Grangerford
The king/dauphin
Mary Jane Wilks
Dr. Robinson
Aunt Polly
Miss Watson
Pap
Colonel Grangerford
Harney Shepherdson
Colonel Sherburn
Susan Wilks
Silas Phelps
II.
True/False
Huck is conflicted over helping Jim, a runaway slave, to escape because he considers it
stealing from Miss Watson to help Jim, but a betrayal of Jim’s trust not to.
III.
Identification of Locations
 Where Huck spends a month without Jim enjoying life, until his friend is murdered.
 Where the “duke” and the “king” perform “The Royal Nonesuch” for the first time.
IV.
Multiple Choice
Shooting a cannon over water:
a. warns people on the opposite shore of danger.
b. is done in an effort to make a dead body float to the surface of the water.
c. announces the arrival of a ferry boat.
d. is done in celebration of a slave obtaining his freedom.