Similarities and Differences Between H.D. Thoreau and Chris McCandless

Chris McCandless, prior to and during his journey through the American frontier, was heavily inspired by writers like Jack London and H.D. Thoreau. His favorite being Jack London, but I would compare him with Thoreau.

The passage that I read, an excerpt from "Walden" on pages 9-25 of American Earth, is an insightful look at the writer's thoughts of the world he lives in. The premise of the excerpt takes place while he is building himself a home in the woods overlooking Walden Pond. He talks quite passionately of the naturalness of building his home from his hands and feels that the architects and carpenters and people of the time are too disillusioned and don't appreciate the back to the basics quality of living with the land they sew. I find this interesting because that is exactly how McCandless viewed society. He never thought that people appreciated the fine nature of things and set out on his own to "live off the land" so to speak.

I found that Thoreau's life in the woods away from civilization and minimal interaction with neighbors bared resemblance to McCandless' journey as well as contrasted from McCandless' final stop. With Thoreau, he made acquaintance with the sparse group of people living in the woods and wasn't too afraid to ask for their help or tools to help him along his way. McCandless did somewhat the same thing with the people he met through his trek of the United States but took the hospitality they provided him for granted and never utilized their help for his Alaskan adventure which more or less added to his untimely death. I think both Thoreau and McCandless were proud of what they did and appreciated everything that the Earth had to offer.

Blood Dazzler Poem

Tilt your head up to the night sky

Feel the wind carry its breath through the gaps between your fingers

Smile as it tickles your skin

Look at your hands

Your Left: A bottle rocket.

Your Right: a tiny bag holding the remains of your loved one.

You put that bag inside the bottle rocket as if it were going to the moon.

Light that wick with your trembling hands.

It rises and rises until the noise of a crack echoes the night sky.

"He's free", you say, "He's free."

Reading Like a Writer: Blood Dazzler

Question: What specific details stay in your mind? Why? How do these small details lead to larger ideas?

Answer: I thought the personification of the storm was quite detailed and vivid in my mind. Especially on page 5 when it describes the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in Florida. Patricia Smith gives off the idea that the storm is compared to a drug addict, hungering and festering, forcing itself to want more than tolerable and leaving destruction in its wake. I think the whole use of the storm being set as a person really brings about a sort of pity and even more fear towards something that is already terrifying. The storm might not say that it relates itself to a drug addict, but its actions and choice of words reflect such a person. I also liked the word arrangements in the poem, almost as if the storm too had ripped up and tore through the poem as it hurls on a path of destruction.

Entry 01: Terry Tempest Williams Response

Question: What are the major themes of this piece? Are there any minor themes as well? Is there any kind of "subtext" in this essay? What kind of murmurs run below the surface?

Answer: A constant theme that I'm finding has a lot to do with the connectivity between everything and nature. In the beginning, Williams describes the rising and sinking water levels of The Great Salt Lake with such minute detail that it is almost as if I were sitting in a science lecture describing the effects of salt's process on the evaporation of water.
This all leads up to the main portion of the entry which deals much with a refuge just outside of Great Salt Lake. Williams is often fond of the birds that dwell here especially the Burrowing Owls, who live in mounds that give off the impression of fists aiming for the sky. Some minor themes include Williams' Mormon religion and how it influences her affinity to the wildlife. Another one explained is the constant struggle with breast cancer in her family and how she too is a survivor of the disease.