(Noun) The quality or state of being mild or gentle, as toward others. “Like many people, Chris apparently judged artists and close friends by their work, not their life, yet he was temperamentally incapable of extending such lenity to his father.”

(Noun) The quality or state of being mild or gentle, as toward others. “Like many people, Chris apparently judged artists and close friends by their work, not their life, yet he was temperamentally incapable of extending such lenity to his father.”

 

Vocabulary

Add your vocn bnnbknknbabulary word and definition here:

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Insertion setup:

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• #. (Word) -(part of speech)Author's Note:transcendent-definition of word goes here

 

- " example goes in qoutations (the word is in italic)." (pg. #)

• make sure that your word is in numerical order!!

 

• a good example of this is setup is # 3 & 21

 

 

 

1.

• - (v.) going beyond ordinary limits; surpassing; exceeding.

- "...wandering across N. America in search for a raw, transcendent experience." [pg. 1 author's note]

 

 

3. taigadispassionate- (adj.) free from or unaffected by passion; devoid of personal feeling or bias; impartial; calm idealism- noun. emulating- (v.,n.)-asceticism-(n.)-the doctrine that a person can attain a high spiritual and moral state by practicing self-denial, self-mortification, and the like. Adversity– (n,pl) [pg, 2 (in author note)]renunciation

• - N.

- Def: the coniferous evergreen forests of subartic lands, covering vast areas of N. America & Eurasia.

- author's notes page 2 "... I spent more than a year retracing the...path that lead to his death in the Alaska taiga.

 

4.

"McCandless's strange tale struck a personal note that made a dispassionate rendering of the tragedy impossible."

[Author's note pg.2]

 

5.

The cherishing or pursuit of high or noble principles, purposes, goals..etc.

Authors Note- 2nd Page- He was an extremely intense young man and possessed a streak of stubborn Idealism that did notmesh readily with modern existense.

 

6. to try to equal or excel; imitate with effort to equal or surpass

 

Pg.2 of the Author’s Note

 

“In college McCandless began emulating Toltoy’s ascetism and moral rigor to a degree that first astonished, and then alarmed, those who were close to him.”

 

 

7.

p.2 of the Author's Note-In college Mc Candless began emulating Tolstoy's asceticism and moral rigor to a degree that first astonished and then alarmed, those who were close to him.

 

 

8.

- Is fortune or fate; a condition marked by misfortune, calamity, or distress:

- "When the boy headed off into the Alaska bush, he entertained no illusions that he was trekking into a land of milk and honey; peril, adversity and Tolstoyan renunciation were precisely what he was seeking.

 

 

9.

• - (n.)

- an act or instance of relinquishing, abandoning, repudiating, or sacrificing something, as a right, title, person, or ambition

-When the boy headed off into the Alaska bush, he entertained no illusions that he was trucking into a land of milk and honey; peril, adversity, and Tolstoyan renunciation were precisely what he was seeking. Authors Notes

 

10. fulminated-(v) - to utter angry critism or condemnation

 

• last paragraph from the Author's Note- Some readers admired the boy immensely for his courage and the noble ideals; others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko who perished out of arrogance and stupidity

 

Chapter One: The Alaska Interior

 

11. unsullied- (adj.)

-spotlessly clean and fresh.

-Alaska has long been a magnet for dreamers and misfits, people who think the unsullied enormity of the last frontier will patch all the holes in their lives. (pg 4)

12.Foolhardy

1. Definition- recklessly or thoughtlessly bold; foolishly rash or venturesome.
2. Part of speech- Adjective
3. Page number- 5
4. Sentence when used- “Gallien thought the hitchhiker’s scheme was foolhardy and tried repeatedly to dissuade him."

 

13. dissuade- (v.)

-To deter (a person) from a course of action or a purpose by persuasion or exhortation

-Gallien thought the hitchhiker's scheme was foolhardy and tried repeatedly to dissuade him (Pg.5)

 

14. alders"... carpeted in a boggy amaglasm of muskeg, alder thickets, and viens fo scrawny spruce."Chapter Two: The Stampede Trailhulkingboggy

• - (n.)

- Any of various deciduous shrubs or trees of the genus Alnus, native chiefly to northern temperate regions and having alternate simple toothed leaves and tiny fruits in woody, conelike catkins.

-

Pg. 10

 

 

15. - (adj.) bulky; massive

"On the northern margin of the Alaska Range, just before the hulking ramparts of Mt. McKinley and its satellites surrender to the low Kantishan plain..." (pg. 9)

 

 

16. ramparts- noun- a fortification consisting of an embankment, often with a parapet built on top

“On the northern margin of the Alaska Range, just before the hulking ramparts of Mt. McKinley and its satellites surrender to the low Kantishan plain…" (pg.

 

17.

• - (adj.)

- containing or full of bogs;wet and spongy.

"Between the flinty crests of the two outermost escarpment of the outer range runs an east-west trough,maybe five miles across, carpeted in a boggy amalgam of muskeg, alder thickets and vein of scrawny spruce" (pg.10)

 

18. amalgam- (n.) a mixture or combination

 

"Between the flinty crests of the two outermost escarpments of the Outer Range runs an east-west trough, maybe five miles across, carpeted in a boggy amalgam of muskeg, alder thickets, and veins of scrawny spruce." (pg. 10)

 

 

19. muskegAntimony-incongruously

• - (n.)

- a bog of northern North America, commonly having sphagnum mosses, sedge, and sometimes stunted black spruce and tamarack trees.

- "... Between the flinty crests of the two outermost escarpments of the Outer Range runs an east-west trough, maybe five miles across, carpeted in a boggy amalgam of muskeg, alder thickets, and veins of scrawny spruce." (pg. 10)

 

20. A metallic element having four allotropic forms, the most common of which is a hard, extremely brittle, lustrous, silver-white, crystalline material.

"The trail was blazed in the 1930s by a legendary Alaska miner named Earl Pilgrim; it led to antimony claims he’d staked on Stampede Creek, above the Clearwater Fork of the Toklat River." (pg. 10)

 

21.

• - (adj.)

- 1) out of keeping or place; inappropriate; unbecoming

2) not harmonious in character; inconsonant; lacking harmony of parts

3) inconsistent

"A vintage International Harvester from the 1940s, the derelict vehicle is located twenty-five miles west of Healy as the raven flies, rusting incongruously in the fireweed beside the Stampede Trail, just beyond the boundary of Denali National Park." Pg.10

 

22. anomaly- (N.)

-Deviation or departure from the normal or common order, form, rule.

-"...Because this seven-by-twenty tract is surrounded on three sides by the protected acreage of the national park, its harbors more than its share of wolf, bear, caribou, moose, and other game, a local secret that’s jealousy guarded by those hunters and trappers who are aware of the anomaly."(pg. 11)

 

24. contumacious- (Adj.)

-stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient:

"Thompson, Samuel, and Swanson, however, are contumacious Alaskans with a special fondness for driving motor vehicles where motor vehicles aren’t really designed to be driven." (pg.11)

 

 

25. terse

• - (adj.)

- neatly or effectively concise; brief and pithy, as language.

-p.13 That recorded the young man’s final weeks in 113erse, enigmatic entries -Tom Vance

• t

 

26. enigmatic- (adj.) resembling an enigma; perplexing; mysterious.

Ex-prophetic texts so enigmatic that their meaning has been disputed for centuries" (pg.13)

 

27. subcutaneous- (adj.) Situated or lying under the skin, as tissue. Pg. 14- Virtually no subcutaneous fat, remained on the body, and the muscles had withered significantly in the days or weeks prior to death.

 

28. posited - (tr.v.)

- 1) To assume the existence of; postulate: syn. presume

2) To put forward, as for consideration or study; suggest

3) To place firmly in position.

Starvation was posited as the most probable cause of death – pg 14

 

 

Chapter Three: Carthage

 

29. Mawkish-(Adj.)- Sickly, Nauseated

Page #- 16

"The Caberet's plywood-paneled walls are hung with derr antlers, old Milwaukee beer promos, and mawkisk paintings of game birds taking flight."

 

30. TendrilsFickle- (Adj.) Hyperkinetic- (adj.) (pg. 16)Emotivevagabonds-A person without a permanent home who moves from place to place. Noun Page 17 McCandless had told Westerberg that his destination was Saco Hot Springs, 204 miles to the east on U.S. Highway 2, a place he’d heard about from some “rubber tramps” (i.e. vagabonds who owned a vehicle; as distinguished from “leather tramps,” who lacked personal transportation and were thus forced to hitchhike or walk). ethical- adjectivestasis- (n) plebeianeddyjetsamRenaissance man- contrite (ADJ)onerous -- ****verb) to free from restraint, influence, or the like.mancipated: unencumbered- (adj.) not burdened with cares or responsibilities s(adjective) Of or resembling a specter; ghostly. pectral: Chapter Four: Detrital Washtamarisk

 

• – (n.)

- Something, such as a ringlet of hair, that is long, slender, and curling.

- p. 16

- “Tendrils of cigarette smoke rise from clumps of farmers in overalls and dusty feed caps, their tired faces as grimy as coal miners’.”

 

31.

 

-Likely to change, especially in affections, intentions, loyalties, or preferences:

 

"Speaking in short, matter-of-fact phrases, they worry aloud over the fickle weather and fields of sunflowers still too wet to cut, while above their heads Ross Perot’s sneering visage flickers across a silent television screen." (pg.16)

 

 

 

32.

1. Having or exhibiting hyperkinesia or hyperactivity.

39.

• --

1. A current, as of water or air, moving contrary to the direction of the main current, especially in a circular motion.
2. A drift or tendency that is counter to or separate from a main current, as of opinion, tradition, or history. Tessa Cohen

 

40.

• (n) Jetsam
• "The place was a back eddy, a pool of jetsam beyond the pull of the main current, and that suited him just fine.
• goods cast overboard diliberatley, as to lighten a vessel or improve its stability in an emergency
• -- p. 18 Alicia A.

 

42.

 

1. caused by or showing sincere remorse.
2. filled with a sense of guilt and the desire for atonement; penitent: a contrite sinner.

 

43. p. 22 Faustino

 

 

Pg # 22. At ling last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parent and peers……

 

55.

• of, containing, or resembling common table salt; salty or saltlike.

 

• -- p. 32 Roni

 

 

 

 

58.a person who zealously advocates an ideology.

• -

 

Noun

 

Page 39

 

“…..an ideologue who expressed nothing but contempt for the bourgeois trappings of the mainstream America.”

 

 

59.

• – ( n.,a.) (boor-zhwah)

-A member of the middle class.

-Belonging to, characteristic of, or consisting of the middle class.

 

 

 

(Page 39) An ideologue who expressed nothing but contempt for the bourgeois trappings of mainstream America.

 

60. affinity -relationship by marriage p. 39 Graham H.

 

 

61.

• – (adj.) of or pertaining to disfranchised and uprooted individuals or groups, esp. those who have lost status.

 

-“Maybe it was his affinity for the lumpen, who were well represented in the community’s trailer parks and camp grounds and laundromats . . .”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 43-“The Slabs functions as the seasonal capital of a teeming itinerant society—a tolerant, rubber-tired culture comprising the retired, the exiled, the destitute, the perpetually unemployed.”

 

63. -- p. 43 Brett J

 

64.

 

Its constituents are men and women and children of all ages, folks on the dodge from collection agencies, relationships gone sour, the law or the IRS, Ohio winters, the middleclass grind.

 

 

65.

 

66. recluse -- -- p. 44 Rachael L

 

 

 

 

 

McClandless spoke frequently to the denizens of the Slabs about his plans for Alaska.

 

An inhabitant; a resident - denizens of Kansas

 

 

68. Rigors--Strictness or severity, as in temperament, action, or judgment. p. 45 Bryce M

 

69.

• hi-jahy-ruh: (n.) A flight to escape danger

 

“McCandless made an indelible impression on a number of people during the course of his hegira, most of whom spent only a few days in his company, a week or two at most.” (p.48)

 

 

 

70.

• -- an oily liquid having a burning taste and a penetrating odor, obtained by the distillation of coal and wood tar, used mainly as a preservative for wood and as an antiseptic.(Noun)

page 48 --“After McCandless bid farewell to Jan Burres at the Salton City Post Office, he hiked into the desert and set up camp in a brake of creosote at the edge of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.”

 

71).

Acronym

Pg.48. Hard to the east is the Salton Sea, a Placid Ocean in miniature, its surface more than two hundred feet below Sea level, created in 1905 by a monumental engineering snafu: Not long after a canal was dug from the Colorado River to irrigate rich farmland in the Imperial Valley, the river breached its banks during a series of major floods, carved a new channel, and began to gush unabated into the Imperial Valley Canal.

 

72. -- p. 49 Felipe O

 

73. --Adjective -Pg.49

 

-extraordinary in size, amount, extent, degree, force, ect. A prodigious research grant

 

For more than two years the canal inadvertently diverted virtually all of the rivers prodigious flow into the Salton Sink

 

74.)

 

-Def. to flood; cover or overspread with water; deluge.

 

-chapter 6 page 49 Water surged across the once-dry-floor of the sink, inundating farms and settlements, eventually drowning four hundred square miles of desert and giving birth to a landlocked ocean.

 

 

 

75.

 

Chapter 5, page 49, paragraph 2, sentence 7, word 2

 

A

 

• in the window of the Salton Sea Realty and Development Company declares CLOSED/CERRADO.

 

76. -- p. 49 Only fifty miles away from the limousines and exclusive tennis clubs and lush green fairways of Palm Springs, the west shore of the salton sea had once been the site of intense real estate speculation.

 

77. --Desiccated-Dehydrated or Powdered. Adjective. "Away from the lakeshore the land rises gently and then abruptly to form the desiccated, phantasmal badlands of AnzaBorrego." P. 49 Jon Owen

 

78. Phantasmal

Pertaining to or of the nature of a phantasm; unreal; illusory; spectral Adjective. Pg 49.

 

Away from the lakeshore the land rises gently and then abruptly to form the desiccated, phantasmal badlands of Anza-Borrego.

 

 

 

(chiefly in southwest U.S.) a small steep-sided watercourse or gulch with a nearly flat floor: usually dry except after heavy rains.

 

Chapter 6, Page 49

 

 

 

81.

Noun, Plural. Any of several spiny treelike cacti.

Pg#49

Sentence: Here, on a low sun-scorched rise dotted with chollas and indigo bushes and twelve-foot octillo stems, McCandless slept on the sand under a tarp hung from a creosote branch.

 

82.

NOUN. A spiny, woody shrub, Fouqueria splendens, of arid regions of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, having a tight cluster of red flowers at the tip of each branch. Page. 49

 

Here, on a low, sun-scorched rise dotted with chollas and indigobushes and twelve-foot ocotillo stems, McCandless slept on the sand under a tarp hung from a creosote branch.

 

 

83. salve --

Salve- anything that soothes, mollifies, or relieves. Noun. “To salve his loneliness in the years after the accident, the started unofficially ‘adopting’ indigent Okinawan boys and girls…” pg. 50

 

 

84. brogue --(n) An Irish accent in the pronunciation of English.

 

Any strong regional accent.

 

Pg. 51- “He seemed extremely intelligent,” Franz state in an exotic brogue that sounds like a blend of Scottish, Pennsylvanian Dutch, and Carolina drawl.

 

 

85. serape --

Serape- (noun) a blanket like shawl or wrap, often of brightly colored wool, as worn in Latin America.

 

At the bottom of which McCandless stopped to unearth a Mexican serape and some other possessions he’d buried for safekeeping a year earlier

 

86. sedentary -- (Adj.) Characterized by or requiring a sitting; accustomed to sit or rest a great deal or to take little exercise. “He also turned the tables and started lecturing the grandfatherly figure about the shortcomings of his

 

 

87. harangues -- noun--A long pompous speech, especially one delievered before a gathering

Page 51- Franz took the Harangues in stride and in the fact delighted in the boy's company

 

 

88. surfeit -- (n) excess; an excessive amount

 

pg.62

 

“Nor was McCandless endowed with a of common sense.”

89. immoderation --

(noun ) lack of moderation.

 

p. 64 Eventuallty Chris rebelled-and when he finnaly did, it was with characteristics

 

 

–verb (used with object),

 

to excite or arouse agreeably: we Americans areby sex, obsessed by it, horrified by it!!!!

 

 

 

91. opprobrium --

A cause or object of such disgrace or reproach.

 

Noun

The article about McCandless n Outside generated a large volume of mail, and not a few of the letters heaped opprobrium on McCandless—and on me, as well, the author of the story, for glorifying what some thought was a foolish, pointless death.

 

Pg. 70

92. opined --

(v). to have an opinion; to judge; to think; to suppose.

 

Pg. 71. “Krauker is a kook if he doesn’t think that Chris McCandless was a kook,” opined a man from North Pole, Alaska

 

 

93. Burlesque- an artistic composition, esp. literary or dramatic, that, for the sake of laughter, vulgarizes lofty material or treats ordinary material with mock dignity. (noun) Pg. 72 : “McCandless is, finally, just a pale 20^th-century

 

 

94.) Hubris- excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance. PG. 72

 

…who freezes because he ignores advice and commits big-time hubris.

 

95. asceticism -- (noun)

the doctrine that through renunciation of worldly pleasures it is possible to achieve a high spiritual or intellectual state

McCandless’s contrived

 

 

96. pseudoliterary -- p. 72 Cody P

 

97. eremitic - adj. - relating to or befitting eremites or their practices of hermitic living; characterized by ascetic solitude

 

98. seine --(Noun) 1. Fishing net that hangs vertically in the water, having floats at the upper edge and sinkers at the bottom.

Verb (with object) 2.to fish for or catch with a seine. 3. To use a seine in (water)

Verb (without object) 4. To fish with a seine.

Page 73. I was cramped in the woods outside Cordova, Alaska, trying in vein to find work as a deckhand on a seine boat.

 

 

99. banalities --The condition or quality of being banal

Ex.After a few minutes spent exchanging earnest banalities, we went our separate ways.

 

Noun, Page 73, A reference to a bight of tidewater north of town that was a magnet for a long-haired transients, near which the Mayor had had been living for some years.

 

 

100. transients --

(Adj.)- Passing with time

 

101. academia --(n.) The academic community; academe. By and by Rosellini left academia, departed Seatttel, and drifteded north up the coast through British Columbia and the Alaska panhandle.

 

 

102. devolved --V to transfer or delegate (a duty, responsibility, etc.) to or upon another; pass on. " he became convinced that humans had devolved into progressively imferior begings", Mikenly explains

 

103. alpinists -(noun) Mountain climber, esp. in the Alps. A downhill skier. “By the time he enrolled in the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, in 1973, Waterman had established a reputation as one of the most promising young

 

104. posit -- to assume or affirm the existence of

 

pg. 77 “It’s not much of a stretch to that such a rash or misfortune dealt a serious blow to Waterman’s young psyche.”

 

 

105. copious -- (adj.)

large in quantity or number; abundant; plentiful: copious amounts of food.

2.	having or yielding an abundant supply: a copious larder; a copious harvest.

3.	exhibiting abundance or fullness, as of thoughts or words.

"he'd take copious notes, taking a complete record of everything he did during the course of each day." (pg. 78)

 

106. unhelmed -- Divested or deprived of the helm or helmet. (verb)

Page 79 – “Waterman was completely unhelmed by the loss.”

 

107. entailed --To have, impose, or require as a necessary accompaniment or consequence

 

“…which entailed walking 160 hard, circuitous miles from the shore.” P.78- Tom Vance

 

 

108. posthumously --adj. Occurring or continuing after one's death. Ex-a posthumous award. pg. 81

 

109. incompetent -- adj. lacking ability and or unable; pg-85: Although he was rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry, and incautious to the point of foolhardiness, he wasn't -he would have lasted 113 days if he were.

 

110. sociopath -- (n.) -One who is affected with a personality disorder marked by antisocial behavior

 

pg 85 “And he wasn’t a nutcase, he wasn’t a sociopath, he wasn’t an outcast.”

 

 

111. pilgrim -- (n) A person who journeys, esp. a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

112. obsure -- (adj.) not clear or plain; ambiguous, vague, or uncertain

Pg 87 - I prefer the saddle to the streetcar and star-sprinkled sky to a roof, the obscure and difficult trail, leading into the unknown

 

 

113. discontent --(Adj) make dissatisfied. Pg 87 “deep peace of the wild to the discontent bred by cities”.

 

114. scant --

 

115. esthetics -- (noun)(art) the branch of phylosophy dealing with beauty and taste PG 87 "Esthetics as a parlor affectation is ludicrous and sometimes a little obscene; as a way of life it sometimes attains dignity."

 

116. petroglyphs -- Petroglyphs – a carving or line on a rock, especially one made by prehistoric people. (noun) (chap. 9, pg 88)

Eerie nine-hundred-year-old petroglyphs and pictographs decorate its sheer walls.

 

 

117. pictographs --

noun. A pictorial sign or symbol.

 

Pg.88 “….pictographs decorate its sheer walls.”

 

 

118. potsherds -- (N) A fragment of broken pottery, especially one found in an archaeological excavation.
“Ancient Anasazi potsherds mingle in the sand with rusty tin cans discarded by turning-of-the-century stockmen."

 

119. ephemeral --(Adj) lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory: the ephemeral joys of childhood.

 

The ephemeral bloom of a sego lily peeks from the toe of a ninety-foot stone arch, and canyon wrens call back and forth in plaintive tones from a thatch of scrub oak. PG. 88

 

120. nom de plume --(n) A false name used by a writer, Twenty year old Everett Ruesscarved his non de plume into the canyon wall below a panel of Anasazi pictographs. pg 89

 

121. bohemian --–noun, –adjectivepg 85 "A pilgrim, perhaps."

 

A person, as an artist or writer, who lives and acts free of regard for conventional rules and practices.

(Page 89)

“Stella was a headstrong women with bohemian tastes and driving artistic ambitions, for both herself and her kin; she self-published a literary journal, the Ruess Quarette, the cover which was emblazoned with family maxim: “glorify the hour.””

 

 

122. maxim -- n. A succinct formulation of a fundamental principle, general truth, or rule of conduct. Page 89 Stella was headstrong woman with bohemia tastes and driving artistic ambitions for both herself and her kin; she self-published a literary journal, the Ruess Quartette, the cover of which was emblazoned with the family maxim:” Glorify the hour.”

 

123. eminent -- (Adj.) high in station, rank, or repute; prominent; distinguished

“Over the next two months the eminent photographer encouraged the boy’s uneven but promising efforts at painting and block printing…” (P. 90)

 

 

124. esthete --

One who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature.

 

Chapter 9 pg. 90

Ruess was, in the words Wallace Stegner,” a callow romantic, an adolescent esthete, an atavistic wanderer of the wastelands”

 

 

125. atavistic -- (Adj.) of, pertaining to, or characterized by atavism; reverting to or suggesting the characteristics of a remote ancestor or primitive type.

 

Pg. 90 “Ruess was, in the words of Walace Stegner, (A callow romantic, adolescent esthete, and atavistic wondered of the wastelands.)

 

 

126. talus -- (noun)

page 90. "He tackled cliffs that more than once left him dangling halfway between Talus and rim..."

 

 

127. incendiary -- (Adj.) Used for setting or adapting a property on fire. (pg. 91) "Ruess's craving for connection with the natural world and by his almost incendiary passoin for the country through which he walked."

 

128. vermilion -- noun, a brilliant scarlet red (pg. 92) “…blue mountains rearing upward from the vermilion sands of the desert…”

 

129. incommunicado -- p. 93 Kati R

 

130. stratum -- a layer of material, naturally or artificially formed, often one of a number of parallel layers one upon another p. 94 Jordan Rideout

 

131. precipice -- p. 94 Marissa R

 

132. Penchant- (Noun) A strong liking, taste, or tendency for something. (pg. 94) “…bulging precipices and Ruess’s penchant for dangerous climbing, this is a credible scenario."

 

133. mythographers --

 

134.

 

135. picaresque -- p. 95 of or pertaining to

 

136. despot -- n.- a king or other ruler with absolute, unlimited power; autocrat.

 

The papar risked their lives- and lost them in the untold droves- not in the pursuit of wealth or personal glory or to claim new lands in the name of any despot. Pg. 97

 

 

137. Anchorites A person who has retired into seclusion for religious reasons.

 

• adjective

 

• 97

 

• As the great artic explorer and Nobel laureate Fridtjof Nansen points out, " these remarkable voyages were .. undetaken chiefly from the wish to find lonely were these anchorties places where these anchorites might dwell in peace, undisturbed by the turmoil and temptations of the world."

 

 

 

 

138. flora -- p. 99 Montana S- Noun, the plants of a particular region or period, listed by species and considered as a whole. Many of the entries in the brief, perplexing diary covered with the body were tense observations of flora and fuana.

 

139. fauna --(noun)

-The animals of a given region or period considered as a whole.

-A treatise on the given animals of a given region or period.

Ex: “Many of the entries in the brief, perplexing diary recovered with the body were terse observations of flora and fauna, which fueled speculations that McCandless was a field biologist.” (pg.99)

 

 

140. congenial --(adj.)

-agreeable, suitable, or pleasing in nature or character

-99

-Gallien still held a picture in his mind of the odd,

• youth striding down the trail in boots two sizes too big for him-Gallien's own boots, the old brown Xtratufs he'd persuaded the kid to take.

 

141. gaunt -- Extremely thin and bony; haggard and drawn, as from great hunger, weariness, or torture; emaciated.

And the face in the picture was extremely

• Page 102.

 

 

 

 

142. taciturn --adjective.

 

Page 103- "Samuel Walter McCandless, Jr., fifty-six years old, is a bearded, taciturn man with longish salt-and-pepper hair combed straight back from a high forehead."

143. mercurial -- (adj.)

 

According to members of the extended family, his moods can be dark and mercurial, although they say his famous temper has lost much of its volatility in recent years. (pg. 105)

144. chastened --(Noun)

To correct by punishment or reproof; take to task.

His son’s disappearance scared and chastened him. (Page. 105)

 

145.

Verb

 

146. Trajectory- (noun)

A chosen or taken course.

“

 

147. vagaries -- an unpredictable or erratic action, occurrence, course, or instance

 

148. loath-- Adj. Unwilling; reluctant; disinclined; averse: to be loath to admit a mistake. JIMMY GETNRY

 

 

149. rancor -- Bitter, long- lasting resentment; deep-seated ill will. Feeling empty Tess Cohen

 

150.

• (adv.) to all outward appearances

 

Ch 11, p.108, paragraph 2, sentence 3, word 5

 

Loren Johnson, Billie’s father, ostensibly worked as a truck driver, “but he never held any job for long,” she says.

 

151. rapport --

-noun:
-A relation, especially one characterized by sympathetic understanding, emotional affinity, or mutual trust.

 

-Around Iron Mountain his rapport with the creatures of the forest was legendary

 

-Pg. 108

 

 

152. entrepreneurial --

 

 

Page 108- To support his family, Loren tried a series of entrepreneurials ventures, none of them very successful

 

153. affinity-a natural like or an attraction to a person idea thing etc

-noun

page 109 ---- The old man's backwoods savvy, his affinity for the wilderness, left a deep impression on the boy.

 

 

154. panache --(noun) - Dash; verve. Page 110 “ ‘Summers by the sea/Sailboats in Capri’ with impressive panache, crooning like a professional lounge singer.”

 

155. crooning -- p. 110 Jack S (Verb)To hum or sing softly

"I was crooning a lullaby as I walked along the trail."

 

156. nuance -- p. 111 Derek T

 

157. rudimentaries -- (adj.) defintion 1. consisting in first principles, defintion 2. of a primitive kind, defintion 3. very imperfectly deveolped or represented only by a vestige. "Naunce, strategy, and anything beyond the rudiementaries of technique were wasted on Chris." (pg 111)

 

158. finesse -- p. 111 Brittany W (Noun) Definition: extreme delicacy or subtlety in action, performance, skill, discrimination, taste, etc.

"It wasn't until he took up running, an activity that rewards will and determination more than finesse or cunning, that running competition, a ten-kilometeer road race.

 

159. cunning -- p. 111 David W (noun)- being very good at something using great skill. " It wasnt until he took up a sport like running that rewards speed instead of skill and cunning.

 

160. inequities -- p. 113 Alec W Noun- the lack of fairness or justice. " McCandless took life's inequities to heart."

 

161. apartheid -- p. 113 Luke W (n.)- any system or practice that separates people according to race, caste, etc.

        He spoke seriously to his friends about smuggling weapons into that country and joining the struggle to end apartheid.

 

162. seedier -- p. 113 Mady A. ADJ; having many seeds; "McCandless would wander the seedier quarters of Washington"

 

163. vagrant -- p. 113 Margie B

 

164. liability -- p. 114 Ryan C-(Noun) Money owed;dpts or pecuniary obligation; "Chris answered that careers were demeantry twentieth-century inventions, more of a liabilty......"

 

165. asset -- p. 114 Brad C

 

166. convivial -- p. 115 Tyler C (Adjective) friendly; agreeable "He was intensely private but could be convivial and gregarious in the extreme.

 

167. gregarious -- p. 115 Monica F (Adjective) Social, companionable. "He was intensely private but could be convival adn gregarious in the extreme.

 

168. morass -- p. 116 Jeff G (noun) any confusing or troublesome situation "...drawing chris and those who loved him into a morass of anger..."

 

 

 

169. obsequious -- p. 117 Lindsay J (Adjective) Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawing. " I sat at a table when were rich food and wine in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not."

 

170. machete -- p. 119 Alli J (noun) Large or heavy knife with a broad blade."Chris had aquired a machete knife and a .30-06 riffle."

 

171. monomania -- p. 120 Homer K (Noun) a psychosis characterized by thoughts confined to one idea or group of ideas.

", but he had a darker side as well, characterized by monomania,imaptience, and unwavering self absorption."

 

171. queries -- p. 121 Jenna M (noun) a question, inquiry. "he called a number of old family friends who still lived there, and from their answers to his quieries, Chris pieced together the facts of his fathers previous marriage and subsequent divorce- facts to which he hadn't been privy.

 

172. privy -- p. 121 Daniel M (Adjective) made a participant in knowledge of something private or secret.

"...facts to which he hadn't been privy."

 

173. clemency -- p. 122 Ryan M

 

174. lenity -- p. 122 Jordan Roscoe (Noun) The quality or state of being mild or gentle, as toward others. “Like many people, Chris apparently judged artists and close friends by their work, not their life, yet he was temperamentally incapable of extending such lenity to his father.”

 

 

175. denounce -- p. 122 Jordan S

 

176. sanctimonious -- p. 122 Patrick Williams (Noun)making a hypocritical show of religious devotion, piety, righteousness, etc.

 Chirs would fixate on his father's own less than sterling behavior many years ealier and silently denounce him as a sactimonious hyporcrite.

177. choler -- p. 122 Diamond W (noun) anger, one of the four humors of the body thought in the middle ages to cause anger and bad temper when present in ecess. "And over time he worked himself into a choler of self-righteous indignation that was impossible to keep bottled up.

 

178. oblique(ly) -- p. 123 Susha B He choose instead to make a secret  of his dark knowledge and express his rage obliquely, in silence and sullen withdrawal. adverb to, toward or at one side,"darting eyes looking sidelong out of a wizened face".

 

179. anomalous -- (adj.)- devitaing from or inconsistent with the common order, rule, or form; irregular; abnormal

Chris's seemingly anmalous political positions were perhaps best summed up by Thoreau's declaration in "Civil Disobedience" Page 123 Luke Bizal

 

180. confreres -- (N.) p. 123 Taran B -- a calling or something that somebody thinks they need to do, or accomplish: an inner urge.

"To his dwindling number of confreres, McCandless appeared to grow more intense with each passing month." (p. 123) - Taran B

 

181. pellucid -- p. 124 Alycia C - (adj.) allowing the maximum passage of light, as glass; translucent; clear in meaning, expression, or style

"It was an abbreviated trip--he spent a shot time around Fairbanks, then he hurried south to get back to Atlanta in time for the satrt of fall classes--but he had been smitten by the vastness of the land, by the ghostly hue of the glaciers, by the subarctic sky."

 

182. spartan -- Cara D (adj.) 1. of ancient sparta, its people, or their culture 2. like the spartans, warlike hardy, disciplined, etc.

"During his senior year at Emory, Chris lived off campus in his bare, spartan room furnished with milk crates abd a mattress on the floor." (p. 124)

 

 

183. purportedly -- p. 125 Kelsey D! :-)    (adj.) reputed or claimed; alleged

                                                                  SENTENCE: From then on he scrupulously avoided contacting

                                                                  either his parents or Carine, the sister for whom he purportedly cared immensly.

 

 

 

184. pensive -- p. 128 Garrett F Adj. Engaged in deep thought. "She's right: In both photos Chris stares at the lense with the same pensive, realcitrant squintm, as if he'd been interupted in the middle of an important thought and was annoyed to be wasting time in front of the camera.

 

185. recalcitrant -- p. 128 Cameron G- (adj.) stubbornly resistant to authority, domination, or guidance

"She's right: In both photos Chris stares at the lense with the same pensive, realcitrant squintm, as if he'd been interupted in the middle of an important thought and was annoyed to be wasting time in front of the camera.

 

186. exuberant -- p. 128 Justin H

 

187. zeal -- Mike H- (Noun) The fervor or tireless devotion for a person, cause, or ideal and determination in its furtherance; diligent enthusiasm; powerful interest.

"Chris, she confesses, used to poke fun at her capitalist zeal by calling her the duchess of York, Ivana Trump McCandeless,and "a rising sucesser to Leona Helmsley." (p. 129)

 

188. delineating -- (Verb) to draw or trace the outline of,sketch out

In a letter delineating his quarrels with Walt and Billie, Chris once wrote to her, "Anyway, I like to talk to you about this because you are the only person in the world who could possibly understand what I'm saying."p. 129 Danny H

183. Keening- Andrea J (adj.) Sharp, shrill, especially of a sound.

noun. 1. Exaggerated mournful wailing at a funeral or wake

2.(by extension) An unpleasant sound.

The keening sound of a dentist's drill sets my teeth on edge

I will be keening at the funeral this Sunday.

Pg 130- Her keening was so loud and continuous that Fish worried the neighbors were going to think he was harming her and call the police.

 

 

190. anorectic -- Jacob L Not found in the Dictionary? p. 131 Jacob L

 

191. apologia -- p. 132 Megan L (n.) an apology or defense of a belief or idea

"Such bereavement, witnessed at close range, makes even the most eloquent apologia for high-risk activities right fatuous and hollow."

 

192. fatuous -- p. 132 Suzi P (adj.) insanely foolish and unintelligent; stupid

"Such bereavement, witnessed at close range, makes even the most eloquent apologia for high-risk activities ring fatuous and hollow."

 

 

 

193. unhandselled -- noun. a gift or token for good luck or as an expression of good wishes, as at the beginning of the new year or when entering upon a new situation or enterprise  What distinguishes that summit above the earthy line, is that it is unhandselled, awful, grand. p. 133 Kelly P

 

194. lichens -- p. 134 Emilio R

 

195. existential -- p. 134 Taylor S

 

Existential- Pertaining to existance. Adjective. In 1977, while brooding on a Colorado picking unhappily at my extistential scabs.

 

196. diorite -- p. 134 Jani T

 

197. exfoliated -- p. 135 Kendra U

verb

1.	to throw off in scales, splinters, etc.

2.	to remove the surface of (a bone, the skin, etc.) in scales or laminae.

 

198. dunning -- p. 135 Patrick Whisler- (Verb) to make repeated and insistent demands upon, esp. for the payment of a debt. "How would it feel, I wondered, to be balanced on that bladelike summit ridge, worrying over the storm clouds building in the distance, hunched against the wind and dunning cold, contemplating the drop on either side."

 

199. demarcates -- p. 136 Audrey Y

 

200. inveigled -- p. 136 Alex P to entice, lure, or ensnare by flattery or artful talk or inducements (usually fol. by into) . So I drove as far as Gig Harbor, Washington, abandoned the car, and inveigled a ride on a northbound salmon seiner.

 

201. seiner -- p. 136 Alicia A

 

202. labyrinthine -- p. 137 Faustino C

 

203. carapace -- p. 137 Roni G

 

204. terminus --final goal: finishing point p. 138 Graham H

 

205. crampons -- p. 138 Brett J

 

206. phantasmagoria -- p. 139 Seth L

 

207. crevasses -- p. 139 Rachael L (n.) A deep fissure, as in a glacier;a chasm.

"The icefall was crisscrossed with crevasses and tottering seracs."

 

 

208. seracs -- p. 139 Bryce M

 

210. cul-de-sac -- p. 139 Felipe O

 

211. madrigal -- p. 139 Paul O- A madrigal of creaks and sharp reports-the sort of protest a large fir limb makes when its slowly bent to the breaking point- serval as a reminder that it is the nature of glanciers to move, the habit of seracs to toople.

212. extricated -- p. 139 Jon O- Freed from a constraint or difficulty, Verb."... the poles kept me out of the hundred-foot crevasse, but after I extricated myself, I bent double with dry heaves, ...".

 

213. recumbent -- p. 140 Lying Down, learning

 

214. catwalk -- p. 141 Kati R

 

215. prominent -- p. 141 Jordan Ri

 

216. dearth -- p. 142 Marissa R

 

217.   abyss- a deep, immeasurable space

 

 

218. tentative -- p. 142 Montana S - Adjective, of the nature of or made or done as a trial, experiment, or attempt; experimental...i couldnt find the word tentative on page 142

 

219. chutzpah -- p. 143 Jack S (Noun)unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall

"Has the chutzpah to claim a lock on God and morality"

 

220. rime -- p. 143 Derek T (Noun) an opaque coating of tiny, white, granular ice particles, caused by the rapid freezing of supercooled water droplets on impact with an object.

 

221. strata -- p. 144 Katherine W

 

222. escapade -- p. 146 Brittany W

 

223. brash -- p. 147 David W (adj.)-Hasty, rash impulsive. "He possessed a brash demenor."

 

224. autocratic -- p. 147 Alec W Adjective- of or relation to a ruler that has absolute power. Taking no account of other people's wishes or opinions. "Lewis Krakauer loved his five children deeply, in the autocratic way of fathers." (i hate ku)

 

225. stratagems -- p. 147 Luke W (n.) A clever, often underhanded scheme for achieving an objective.

He read and reread the works of StephenPotter-the English writer who coined the terms one-upmanship and gamesmanship-not as social satire but as a manual of practical stratagems.

 

226. aspirations -- p. 147 Madi A

 

227. progeny -- p. 147 Margie B

 

228. hectored -- p. 148 Ryan C (verb) To bully or tourment "From elementry school through high school, my siblings and I were hectored to excel in every class, to win medals in science fairs."

 

229. clone -- p. 148 Brad C

 

230. veered -- p. 148 Tyler C (verb) To turn aside from a course, direction, or purpose; swerve. "During my teens, as I came to this realization, I veered gradually from the plotted course, and then sharply."

 

231. rhetorically -- p. 148 Monica F (adjective) to ask merely for effect with no answer expected.

 

232. deity -- p. 148 Jeff G (noun( a god or goddess "...when i noticed that this deity who asked only for perfection was himself less than perfect..."

 

233. trestle -- p. 149 Lindsay J (noun) A horizonal beam or bar held up by two pairs of divergent legs and used as a support. " He'd built a bridge of priviledge for me, a hand-paved trestle to the good life, and I repaid him by chopping it down and crapping on the wreckage. "

 

234. epiphany -- p. 149 Alli J (noun) Christian Festival held on January 6th in celebration of the manifestation of the devine nature of Christ to the Genitiles. "But this epiphany occored only after the intervention of time and misfortune."

 

235. polio -- p. 149 Homer K (Noun) an acute viral disease marked by inflammation of nerve cells of the brain stem and spinal cord

"Thirty years after a bout with polio, the symptoms mysteriously flawed anew."

 

236. synapses -- p. 149 Jenna M (noun) to form a point at which a nerve impulse passes from an axon of one neuron to the dendrite. " Crippled muscles withered further, synapses wouldn't fire, wasted legs refused to ambulate.

 

237. ambulate -- p. 149 Daniel M (Verb) to walk from place to place.

", wasted legs refuse to ambulate."

 

238. ampoules -- p. 149 Ryan M

 

239. pharmacopoeia -- p. 149 Jordan Ro (Noun) A book containing an official list of medicinal drugs together with articles on their preparation and use. “To a greater and greater degree his life resolved around a self-administered pharmacopoeia of steroids, amphetamines, mood elevators, and painkillers, and the drugs addled his once formidable mind.”

 

240. addled -- p. 149 Jordan S

 

241. metastasized -- p. 150 Patrick Wil (Verb) to spread injuriously. By late afternoon the squall had metsastized into another major storm.

 

242. bivouac -- p. 150 Diamond W (noun) a closed bag used for camping. "As i crouched inside my bivoac sack under the lip of the bergschrund........

 

243. inundate -- p. 150 Susha B I took about twenty minutes for the spindrift to inudate my bivvy sack. (verb) to flood; cover or overspread with water; deluge.

 

244. thwart -- p. 151 Luke B (Verb)- to use successfully; prevent from accomplishing a porpuse- Because I wanted to climb the mountain so badly, because i had thought about the Thumb so intensely for so long, it seemed beyond the realm of possibility that some minor obstacle like the weather or crevasses or rime-covered rock might ultimately thwart my will.

 

245. volition -- (N.) p. 151 Taran B -- The act of willing, choosing, or resolving; exercise of willing 2.) a choice or decision made by the will. 3.) the power of willing; will.

I was forced to acnowledge that volition alone, however powerful, was not going to get me up the north wall.

 

246. reconnaissance -- p. 152 Alycia C (Noun) - An inspection or exploration of an area, especially one made to gather military information

"During my reconnaissance, I'd noticed an obvioous unclimbed line to the left of the Becky route--a patchy network of ice angling across the the southeast face--that struck me as a relatively easy way to achieve the summit."

 

247. calamitous -- p. 152 Cara D (adj.) a great misfortune; disater.

"Now, on the rebound from my calamitous entanglement with the nordwanr, I was prepared to lower my sights."

 

248. abated -- p. 152 Kelsey D

 

249. patina -- p. 153 Garrett F- Noun. A think layer of corrosion, usually brown or green, that appears on copper or copper alloys, such as bronze, as a result of natural or artificial otdation.

"Again I looked lown at the long drop to the glacier, then up, then scraped away the patina of ice above my head.

 

250. surreal -- p. 153 Cameron G (adj.) having quialities attributed to surrealism

"Fittingly, the summit was a surreal, malevolent place, an improbably slender wedge of rock and rime no wider than a file cabinet."

 

251. malevolent -- p. 153 Justin H (Adj.) having or exhibiting ill will, having an evil influence.

"Fittingly, the summit was a surreal, malevolent place, an improbably slender wedge of rock and rime no wider than a file cabinet."

 

252. loitering -- Michael H- (Verb) To stand idly, to stop numerous times, or to delay and procrastinate.

"It did not encourage loitering." (p. 153)

 

253. skiff -- (Noun) A flat-bottomed open boat of shallow draft,having a pointed bow and a sqaure stern and propelled by oars, sail, or motor

"By and by a small skiff motored into Thomas Bay and pulled up on the beach not far from my tent." p. 154 Danny H

 

254. euphoria -- p. 154 Andrea J

 

255. hubris -- Jacob L (Noun) Excessive pride or self confidence; ignorence p. 155

 

256. abstract -- p. 155 Megan L

 

257. havoc -- p. 155 Suzi P (Verb) Great destruction or devastion; runious damage.

"I didn't yet appreciate its terrible finality or the havoc it could wreak on those who'd entrused the deceased with their hearts."

 

258. candid -- adjective free from reservation, disguise, or subterfuge; straightforward: a candid opinion. p. 159 Kelly PMcCandless was candid with stuckey about his intent to spend the summer alone in the bush, living off the land.

 

259. ethnobotany -- p. 160 Emilio R ( noun) the study relationships that exist between people and plants.

Tanaina Plantore/dena'ina K'et'una: An Ethnobotany of the Dena'ina indians of southcentral alaska.

 

260. terminus -- p. 162 Taylor S

 

261. Rubican -- p. 163 Jani T

 

262. reverie -- p. 164 Kendra U

 

263. perambulation -- p. 164 Patrick Wh(Noun) To walk through, esp. so as to inspect. "On may 5, after pausing for four days at the bus, he resumed his perambulation.

 

264. counterintuitive -- p. 165 Audrey Y

 

265. axioms -- p. 165 Alex P A self-evident or universally recognized truth; a maxim. ...and McCandless belatedly came to appreciate one of the fundamental axioms of the north...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.  

   Into the Wild

 

 

 

 

 

• -- noun, a drama from that does not observe the laws of cause and effect and that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization. (pg. 29) "Although the tone of the journal-written in third person in a stilted, self-consciousness voice- often veers toward melodrama, the avalible evidence indicates that McCandless did not misrepresent the facts; telling the truth was a credo he took seriously."