11. Chris left his old yellow Datson, without license plates in Lake Mead National Recreation Area because a flash flood wet his engine and he tried to start the car, but his engine wouldn't catch. He drained the battery and the car would not start. Chris took off his license plate and buried it so that no one could trace it back to his name. He left his car there and continued his "Odyssey" by foot.
12. Chris being described as "riding a giddy Emersonian high" means that he was ignoring posted warnings that said strictly forbidden area. Chris admired and followed the beliefs of Emerson which included moral enthusiasm and individual freedom. Chris is applying the concepts of Trancendentalism to his style of living by moving away form society and really focusing on individualism. Chris is also seen to have a great capacity of moral enthusiasm throughout his style of living.
13. Chris valued Thoreau's essay as "Gospel" because he felt highly that government should be more lax and they should let everyone enjoy their individual freedom that they have been given. He believed that there should be no government or at least a better government. A quote describing Chris states "-the first thing he'd do is peel those socks off. I mean the very first thing. Kind of like a statement, to let us know we didn't own him, I guess." This showed that Chris did not like to be confined or constricted and he definitely had moral enthusiasm and individualism. Moral enthusiasm is the element of Transcendentalism that was seen in the essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience."
14. Krakauer believed that Chris burning his money would have "done Thoreau proud" because that is something that Thoreau would do to prove his independence and individualism. A quote from the Duty of Civil Disobedience states,"Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe — "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have." Chris idols Thoreau and his beliefs about having freedom and no government. Chris' act of burning his money goes to show that Chris feels strongly about providing for himself and not having to rely on the government for support.
15. The significance of Chris' new last name, Supertramp, is that Chris enjoyed tramping around the country and society. The word "tramp" in the context of this reading, applies to Chris because he described his moving from country to country as "tramping." Also the significance of "super" shows that Chris is of high stature and importance.
16. Krakauer is able to tell us, the readers, about the events which happened during Chris' travels because Chris documented these events in a journal-snapshot album. Chris saved this journal and later left it with Wayne Westerberg for safekeeping before he departed for Alaska.
17. Throughout the course of Chapter 4, Chris was tramping around the West and hiking through mountains to prepare himself for his Alaskan "Odyssey". Chris used this as a test run to see if he could endure the reality of living like that, before he actually went out to explore nature.
18. In this chapter, we learn that Chris' parents were terribly concerned over the disappearance of their son. Walt, Chris' father, already contacted the Annandale police, who did not help. Once Chris' parents received the ticket from California, they became frantic. Walt went to a private investigator named Peter Kalitka, who had done work for both the DIA and the CIA. Chris' parents were very worried about their son to say the least and they would try everything possible to find out his whereabouts.
19. October 1990-Bud Walsh was sent into the backcountry of Lake Mead National Recreational Area to tally bear-paw poppies to inform the federal government to know how scarce the plants were.
End of July-Chris accepted a ride from Crazy Ernie and he offered McCandless a job on a ranch in northern California.
October28-Chris caught a ride with a long-haul trucker into Needles, California.
End of November-Chris paddled through Yuma, where he stopped and sent a postcard to Wayne Westerberg.
December 2,1990-Chris reached the Morelos Dam and the Mexican border.
December 14- Chris hauled the canoe far up the beach and set up camp on the edge of a desolate plateau.He stayed there for ten days.
January 11,1991-Chris writes in his journal this day and says it was a "A very fateful day." Chris set the canoe on the sandbar and a violent storm came rushing in.
January 16-McCandless left the metal boat on a dune grass southeast of El Golfo de Santa Clara and started walking north up the deserted beach.
January 18-Chris was back at the United States border. He was caught by immigration authorities trying to slip into the country without any ID, he spent a night in custody before coming up with a story that got him out.
February 3-According to Chris'journal, he went to Los Angeles to get an ID and a job.
February 24-This is seven and a half months after Chris abandoned the Datsun. Chris returned to Detrital Wash.20. Chris' writing style is "written in third person in a stilted, self-consciousness voice-often veers toward melodrama..telling the truth was a credo he took seriously."(pg.29)
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