The Chris McCandless Project

Your task for the following project is to create a Google Presentation that answers the following question: Who is Chris McCandless?

To do this we must study how Krakauer builds the character of McCandless. In your presentation you need to include a quotation and a close reading from the following elements:

Setting--How a place affects McCandless/How it shows us something about him/How he interacts with his setting/Why setting is important to McCandless/Why does he want to go to the places he does? (3 examples)
Points of View--We get many different opinions on Chris: readers, friends, family members, people who knew him and people who didn’t. What perspective do these points of view add? Be sure to discuss the source’s credibility or lack of credibility. (2 examples)
Writings--What McCandless’ actual words and reflections tell us about him. (2 examples)
Actions--What McCandless’ actions tell us about him. (2 examples)
Inspirations--How the books/ideas/theories shaped McCandless’ life. (1 example)
Influences--How McCandless shapes and influences the people around him/what his friendships, and lack of friendships, tell us about him. (1 example)
Family--How McCandless’ family life, especially his relationship with his sister, mother, and father, formed him. (1 example)



As a summation, include a final slide that draws on evidence from the previous slides, and attempts to answer the question: Why does Chris McCandless travel to Alaska?




Grading: 150 points

For a slide to earn full credit (10 points), it must meet the following criteria:
1. Quote and cite the text (5-10 words)
2. Analyze details in the text and explain how it demonstrates a clear characteristic or a group of characteristics about Chris. About 3 to 4 quality sentences of your own per slide. Be specific, argue something.
3. Be grammatically correct and stylistically effective.
4. Be written with an analytical and persuasive “voice.” (No 1st person, tone)
5. Be presented effectively.

The summation (30 points) should be a longer (7 or 8 sentence) paragraph with a clear thesis. It should draw on at least two examples from previous slides.