Flying into the Harlem Renaissance

Background Information on the Harlem Renaissance

1. This period was part of the African American cultural movement in the 1920s and early 1930s.
2. It was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City and started in 1918, the ending of World War I.
3. This time period marked the first time that any publisher or writer actually took African American literature seriously and with a lot of interest. 
4. With many educated blacks living down South in the mid 1800s during the time of the Civil War, many of them migrated up North to the neighborhood of Harlem, making this spot the center for all African American culture. 
5. The Harlem Renaissance was mainly a time for literary movement, but it was also a move for African American art and politics. 
6. A characteristic very important to the Harlem Renaissance was the diversity of this time period, with over 50 books written along with scripts for theater.
7. The Harlem Renaissance was also a time to appreciate what the African American people did with their hard work to make all kinds of things for white viewers to see.
8. This period was also an important beginning for black musicians to come about, where they flourished in this period.
9. The Harlem Renaissance was an important time period to recognize the African American people and what they could do, which paved the way for other famous African Americans.
10. The Harlem Renaissance declined in the mid 1930s and eventually ended in 1935.

Langston Hughes

• Langston Hughes was born in 1902 and is remembered for portraying black life in America in his poems.
• His main goal was to display black culture based on their own experiences, not to portray other cultures.
• Hughes's first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published in 1926, when he was 24. 
• Hughes was extremely important in shaping the artistic contributions, like poetry, during the time of the Harlem Renaissance.
• Hughes also wrote eleven plays during his lifetime, paving the way for theater in the Harlem Renaissance for all African Americans.
• Hughes died in 1967 from prostrate cancer, but his work will never be forgotten in the time of the Harlem Renaissance.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ld56bnWeNG1qca238.jpg 

Zora Neale Hurston

• Zora Neale Hurston was born in 1891 and she and she graduated from Morgan Academy in 1918.
• She was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist during the time of the Harlem Renaissance.
• She helped start the movement of the arts in the 1920s, where many black people came about in the arts.
• Hurston never included racism in her works and writings, which was a major issue during her lifetime.
• In 1937, she wrote probably her best novel in Their Eyes Watching God. This book got many great reviews from even a white audience.
• Hurston died in 1960, but her artistic abilities were greatly proven during the Harlem Renaissance.

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcREdiBwfiuMe-rB5htvSmrNsNq4CPtk1dIllIa1KPl0IzdZDBlh

Claude McKay

• Claude McKay was born in Jamaica in 1889 and was educated by his brother, who was very talented at literature.
• At age 20, McKay published a book of verse called the Songs of Jamaica that depicted black life in Jamaica.
• McKay's poems and sonnets greatly depict the injustices of black life in America, important in the Time of the Harlem Renaissance.
• McKay eventually went to Russia and France in the mid 1920s where he was interested in communism.
• But McKay returned back to America and lived in Harlem, New York, where he gained interest in the political leaders of Harlem and what they talked about in black culture.
• McKay's poems will be remembered for depicting the life of black culture and he was one of the few people who gained the most attention from the white audience during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. 

https://connections-jazzage.wikispaces.com/file/view/Langston_Hughes.jpg/54992832/Langston_Hughes.jpg

List of Sources for Information

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/25

http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/hurs-zor.htm

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83

Into the Wild Final Assessment Project

This is a map of where Fairbanks is in relation to the rest of Alaska.

This is the weather for Fairbanks year round. January is the coldest, and July is the warmest, like our climate. It gets very cold in the winter, where it is reasonably pleasant in the summer. 

There are many animals you can find in Fairbanks including mountain goats and the popular Alaskan brown bear. 

There are many plant in Fairbanks, with spruce all over the place along with conifers, evergreens, and Western hemlocks. 

There are many things to do in Fairbanks like going to numerous parks and going to different unique shops in downtown Fairbanks. You can also look at the beautiful scenery in Fairbanks. There are also many animals to see and good campsites to camp at. 

These are good pictures of the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights.

To get to Fairbanks, you have to use plane because it is too far of a drive.

There are Italian, Mexican, and American restaurants in Fairbanks. You can find wild Alaskan salmon and even reindeer sausage there. The cabins are very cozy and comfy places to stay at if you are there for a short time.

These are the sources I used for my PowerPoint. 

Characterization Notes on Chris McCandless

Direct and Indirect Characterization Notes on Christopher McCandless

(Alex Supertramp)

Chapter and page #	Description/quote from novel	What impression you get about Chris with this character trait or description?
Chapter 1, page 4	“Five feet seven or eight with a wiry build, he claimed to be 24 years old and said he was from South Dakota.  He explained that he wanted a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he intended to walk deep into the bush and ‘live off the land for a few month.’”	Chris is not physically fit for walking into such a dangerous environment.  He seems a little crazy.
Chapter 1, page 6	“There was just no talking the guy out of it. He was determined. Real gung ho. The word that comes to mind is excited. He couldn’t wait to head out there and get started.”	Chris was very excited to go out and start a new life in the wilderness of Alaska. He was so confident that he knew he could survive there by himself. Chris knew that this was a good decision.
Chapter 1, page 7	“I figured he’d be OK. I thought he’d probably get hungry pretty quick and just walk out to the highway. That’s what any normal person would do.”	This statement by Jim Gallien is ironic because he was the last person to ever see Chris McCandless before he went into the Alaskan wilderness. Chris had a goal to survive there without any human contact whatsoever.
Chapter 2, page 13	“I gave the bag a shake. There was definitely something in it, but whatever it was didn’t weigh much. It wasn’t until I walked to the other side and saw a head sticking out that I knew for certain what it was.”	The bag inside the bus that Chris was living in contained his dead body. His head stuck out and he was dead for a while now. These people found Chris’s dead body first.
Chapter 2, page 14	“But because he had been carrying no identification, the authorities didn’t know who he was, where he was from, or why he was there.”	Chris had no ID that he carried with him, so authorities didn’t know who he was or where he was from. No ID made it hard to know why Chris was in Alaska.
Chapter 3, pages 17-18	“Most of them weren’t much good, didn’t really want to work. It was a different story with Alex. He was the hardest worker I’ve ever seen. Didn’t matter what it was, he’d do it.”	Chris can work really hard and he would do any job that he was told to do. He would even do the dirty jobs along with the normal jobs.
Chapter 3, page 18	“A couple of times I tried to tell him it was a mistake to get too deep into that kind of stuff, but Alex got stuck on things. He always had to know the absolute right answer before he could go on to the next thing.”	This tells me that Chris always wants the truth from every situation and he thinks a little too much. When he gets stuck on something, he wants to know the correct things.
Chapter 4, pages 30-31	“He was a really good kid. We thought the world of him. When he left, we never expected to hear from him again, but he made a point of staying in touch.”	Chris was very important in the life of Jan Burres and he was an all-around special boy. He is even nice enough to keep in contact with other people when he is worrying about the Alaskan wilderness.
Chapter 4, page 35	“All hopes collapse! The canal does not reach the ocean but merely peters out into a vast swamp. Alex is utterly confused. Alex becomes progressively lost to the point where he must push canoe through reeds and drags it through mud. All is in despair.”	This made me start to think that the end was near for Chris and he was going to turn himself in. But deep down, I knew he would find a solution to get out of this great confusion. Chris was strong and he would find a way out of this.
Chapter 5, page 40	“He just didn’t make the connection. It was like he was off in his own universe.”	Chris is off in his own world and he does not care about anything around him. He didn’t connect with other people and he was in a world of himself.
Chapter 5, page 44	“He had a good time when he was around people, a real good time.”	Chris actually enjoyed talking to other people and had a good time doing it. This is the first time in the book that said Chris liked being around other people and socializing with them, too.
Chapter 5, page 46	“He was smart. He’d figure out how to paddle a canoe down to Mexico, how to hop freight trains, how to score a bed at inner-city mansions. He figured all of that out on his own, and I felt sure he’d figure out Alaska, too.”	Chris is physically and mentally fit to survive in the Alaskan wilderness and he has learned from his past experiences. He would be fine in Alaska I think from his past experiences, because he is Chris McCandless.
Chapter 6, page 51	“He was extremely intelligent. I thought he was too nice of a kid to be living by that hot springs with those nudists and drunks and dope smokers.”	Chris is a very smart and intelligent boy who deserved to be living with the normal people in society, not with the smokers and drunks.
Chapter 6, page 57	“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences.”	Chris says that the main point of living is to live with adventure and with a changing spirit, like him. He encourages Ron Frantz to go out in life and encounter new experiences.
Chapter 6, page 60	“I prayed. I asked God to keep his finger on the shoulder of that one; I told him that boy was special. But he let Alex die.”	Chris was a very special friend to Frantz and he was very important in his life. Chris was the person that God needed to watch over at all times.
Chapter 7, page 63	“He was a big eater. Never left any food on his plate. Never. He was a good cook, too. Sometimes he’d have me over to Wayne’s place and fix supper for everyone.”	Since Chris was living in the wild, he could finish a big plate of food in no time. Chris ate a lot and he shows good cooking skills. Cooking was a strong suit for Chris.
Chapter 7, page 67	“He went on and on about Mark Twain. Gosh, he was fun to visit with; I didn’t want the night to end. I can’t get him out of my mind.”	Chris made a normal conversation into a really fun time with different people. He had so much fun with others that they wished the days would never end with him.
Chapter 9, page 96	“But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.”	Chris was unique because he was determined to accomplish his dream in life, which was to live in the wild. Chris actually tried a daring task that only a few people would actually attempt.
Chapter 10, page 99	“From the newspaper article, what little information there was, it sounded like the same person, so I called the state troopers and said, ‘Hey, I think I gave that guy a ride.’”	Chris was driven by Jim Gallien and Chris did accept the ride from him. Chris drove with Gallien, and Gallien knew this, so he called the troopers.
Chapter 11, page 107	“Even when he was little, he could go off and entertain himself for hours. He didn’t seem to need toys or friends. He could be alone without being lonely.”	Even at a young age, Chris showed that he was independent and had the skills to entertain himself. Chris had fun with only himself.
Chapter 11, page 109	“Chris was fearless was fearless even when he was little. He didn’t think the odds applied to him. We were always trying to pull him back from the edge.”	Chris was a daring boy who had no thoughts of holding back from something. When he wanted to do something, he went straight for it. It was almost impossible to hold Chris back from something he wanted to do,
Chapter 11, page 111	“Chris had so much natural talent, but if you tried to coach him, to polish his skill, to bring out that final ten percent, a wall went up. He resisted instruction of any kind.”	Chris had all of the skills for different things, but he didn’t like to be teached. Chris did not like someone telling him to do something. He is better off on his own trying to teach himself.
Chapter 12, page 118	“He was so thin. He looked like those paintings of Jesus on the cross. Mom started cooking like mad to try and put some meat back on his bones.”	Chris did not eat well on his trip by himself and he became so thin. This tells me that Chris is not fit to survive by himself.
Chapter 12, page 120	“It was obvious that he had changed. He seemed introverted, almost cold. It was hard to get him to open up. His studies were the only thing he was interested in talking about.”	Chris is now becoming more quiet and reserved. He is now starting to become more independent where it is hard to talk to him. Chris is also starting to become less social.
Chapter 12, page 122	“If something bothered him, he wouldn’t come right out and say it. He’d keep it to himself, harboring his resentment, letting the bad feelings build and build.”	Chris kept all of the emotions on the inside and didn’t express his feelings well at all. He just let the bad thoughts build until he had to say something. It was hard to know what was going on with Chris.
Chapter 13, page 130	“No, Chris isn’t dead.” Then she began to scream. Her keening was so loud and continuous that Fish worried the neighbors were going to think he was harming her and call the policeHhHDHDNHNJDVNHJCF,JDXDMC CC L KFC	Chris was very important to Carine and she cared deeply about the safety of Chris. Chris’s death made Carine cry for hours since she was so close to Chris. Chris’s loss was huge for Carine.
Chapter 13, page 131	“His name was printed wrong. His middle initial is really J. I was mad. Then I thought, Chris wouldn’t care. He’d think it was funny.”	Chris’s middle initial was printed wrong on the box with his remains. This made Carine mad. But deep down, she knew Chris would find it funny because that is part of his character. So it was okay for her.
Chapter 16, page 159	“He was a dandy kid. Real courteous, and he didn’t cuss or use a lot of that there slang. You could tell he came from a nice family. Said he hadn’t seen his parents in a couple of years, since his college graduation.”	Chris is very friendly with other people and he showed good behavior when he was around others. But he did not get along with his parents well, so he does not want to see them.
Chapter 16, page 160	“I hoped to find Alex and spend another day with him, take him sightseeing or something. I looked for a couple of hours, drove all over the place, but didn’t see hide or hair of him. He was already gone.”	Chris was extremely quick to start his Alaskan adventure and he did not want to see any civilization for now on. Chris was so excited to start his new life on his own.
Chapter 17, page 177	“The scope of his self-styled adventure was so small as to ring pathetic—squatting in a wrecked bus for a few miles out of Healy, potting blue jays and squirrels, mistaking a caribou for a mouse…. Only one word for this guy: Incompetent.”	This quote says that Chris didn’t have enough skills to survive in the wild by himself. He was not skilled enough to be in the wild. It was as if this quote says that he is ‘pathetic’.
Chapter 17, page 185	“Sure, he screwed up, but I admire what he tried to do. Living completely off the land like that, month after month, is incredibly difficult. I’ve never done it.”	Chris may have made a few mistakes, but he did something that only the bravest of people would do. Chris lived out a life that only the daring and confident people would actually attempt to do.
Chapter 17, pages 185-186	“I guess I just can’t help identifying with the guy. When I first started coming to Alaska, I think I was probably a lot like McCandless: just as green, just as eager. Maybe McCandless reminds other people a little too much of their former selves.”	Chris was eager and looked forward to going to Alaska just like other travelers who have lived in or stayed in Alaska. This might have led to Chris leading his own life in Alaska, because he was so excited to be living off the beautiful land.
Chapter 18, page 197	“It’s just intuition, but I get the feeling he was the kind of guy who might want to ‘set the wilderness free.’ Destroying the cabins would be a way of doing that. Or maybe it was his intense dislike of the government.”	Chris may have been linked to the destruction of the cabins about two miles from the bus. Chris may have done this to promote the wilderness by throwing out all the food there. He also might have done it because the Park Service Cabin identified the cabin as such.
Chapter 18, page 195	“BUT IN WEAKEST CONDITION OF LIFE. DEATH LOOMS AS SERIOUS THREAT. TOO WEAK TO WALK OUT, HAVE LITERALLY BECOME TRAPPED IN THE WILD.—NO GAME.”	Chris is very emaciated and is now in the worst condition of his life. He is weak, he is having trouble finding food, and he can barely walk. Death has become near to Chris.
Epilogue, page 202	“It’s smaller than I thought it would be. I mean the bus. What a pretty place. I can’t believe how much this reminds me of where I grew up. Chris must have loved being here.	Chris was living in a harsh setting, a small bus. The scenery though was beautiful where Chris lived and this is why Chris wanted to be here, to live in the wild of which he dreamed about.
Epilogue, page 203	“Many people have told me that they admire Chris for what he was trying to do. If he’d lived, I would agree with them. But he didn’t, and there’s no way to bring him back. You can’t fix that.”	Chris is admired by many people in his life but the fact that he did not survive makes it hard to agree with admiring him. It is an extremely hard loss for all people who new Chris, even though he accomplished so much in his life.

At the conclusion of the novel, I think Chris McCandless did impact the people around him and he was a brave man who was smart enough to know what would happen to him in the wild. He had a lot of courage and with his smart tactics and knowledge about wildlife, he was able to survive in the Alaskan wilderness for over 100 days. Many people could never accomplish this feat, which made Chris McCandless special in many people's eyes.