Epigrams Helps focus the reader on the author’s intent or purpose for a passage Every chapter in the book begins with an epigram

Epigram Assignment Each student will sign up for an epigram from Into the Wild to present to the class Before we begin reading, you will be responsible for providing the class with a brief overview of the epigram (see following examples) – Identify key words, phrases, concepts – Author background – Text background – Questions or predictions you have based on the epigram for the chapter

Chapter One: The Alaska Interior April 27 th, 1992 Greetings from Fairbanks! This is the last you shall hear from me Wayne. Arrived here 2 days ago. It was very difficult to catch rides in the Yukon Territory. But I finally got here. Please return all mail I receive to the sender. It might be a very long time before I return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t every her from me again I want you to know you’re a great man. I now walk into the wild. Alex. --Postcard received by Wayne Westerberg in Carthage, South Dakota

Epigram Analysis Key Words, Phrases, Concepts: – Finally arrived at destination (Fairbanks) – No intentions of returning soon (Return mail to sender) – May prove to be fatal (could die) – Removing himself from civilization (into the wild) Author: – Christopher McCandless to Wayne, an individual he met during his travels Text: – Postcard; personal reflection from McCandless Questions/Predictions: – Q: Why is he writing to Wayne instead of his parents? Who is Wayne, specifically? Why did he hitchhike the whole way? Why does he plan to be gone for so long? Why does he sign his name “Alex?” – P: McCandless will venture into the wild and not return. Wayne may go looking for McCandless if he doesn’t hear from him.

Chapter Two: The Stampede Trail Dark spruce forest frowned on either side the frozen waterway. The trees had been stripped by a recent wind of their white covering of frost, and they seemed to lean toward each other, black and ominous, in the fading light. A vast silence reigned over the land. The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so long and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness. There was a hint in it of laughter, but a laughter more terrible than any sadness—a laughter that was mirthless as the smile of the Sphinx, a laughter cold as the frost and partaking of the grimness of infallibility. It was the masterful and incommunicable wisdom of eternity laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life. It was the Wild, the savage, frozen hearted Northland Wild. --Jack London, White Fang

Epigram Analysis Key words, phrases, concepts: – The trees […] seemed to lean toward each other, black and ominous, in the fading light. – silence reigned over the land – land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement – Mirthless: lacking amusement – Infallibility: inability to be wrong – Futility: pointlessness, uselessness Author background: Jack London – Most successful writer in American in the 20 th century – Stories of men and animals against the environment, survival against hardships, mainly drawn from his own life – Childhood of poverty – 30 day imprisonment led him to pursue education and writing – Novels: The Call of the Wild, White Fang, Sea-Wolf

Epigram Analysis: Continued Text Background: White Fang – Story takes place in Yukon Territory (Canada—borders Alaska) – Details a Wild Wolf-dog’s domestication – Companion novel to The Call of the Wild—kidnapped, domesticated dog trying to survive and thrive in the wild – Viewpoint of the dog—shows how animals view their world and humans (violent world of animals and humans) – Follows a wolf-pack through the wild and interactions with humans—White Fang is eventually tamed by a human Questions/Predictions: – Q: Why is this description so focused on the land and the desolate state of the frozen area? If the novel is from the viewpoint of the dog, does the dog perceive all land to have “evil” tendencies? – P: Because of the desolate, grim description of the land, I predict that the chapter ahead will also include a description of the land and how it relates to McCandless’ adventure in Alaska