Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Chris McCandless
I haven't been here for long but I can already tell this is not the place for me. I sit on the bench outside Roberts Theatre and watch the students going about their mindless and dull daily routine. Students of all ages walk across the campus with their eyes glued to their phones yet none seem to take notice of the beauty of their surroundings. Every blade of grass shines in the warm sun and birds fly through the trees on the green. These kids don't notice the simple beauties of the world because they are too wrapped up in this ridiculous waste of time called school. They don't need a classroom and textbooks to learn about the world, they should be going out and experiencing it first hand. What's the use of learning about the Grand Canyon if you can't experience its true magnificence? Being able to experience the joys of the world will educate you more than any textbook ever could. Being trapped in this stuffy uniform is also unbearable. Why must I be forced to wear these tight dress shoes and this choking tie? But I'm getting itchy feat again and want to travel and further explore as much as I can. How can you find true happiness being stuck here spending all your time in a classroom? I will never understand this system and I don't wish to be here any longer than I have to.
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I really like the tone of this writing. These feel like thoughts that Chris would actually have felt. Especially the bit about experiencing something in a textbook v. firsthand - that's something that we all take for granted, without realizing what we're missing. Your sentence structure was good, though several of the sentences seemed rather long for Chris's style of writing (in ITW). I think mentioning the dress code was interesting - perhaps you could have written a bit more about that. Also, it's a trivial little thing, but "feet" was misspelled "feat" (maybe it was Autocorrect?).
ReplyDeleteHi Jake,
ReplyDeleteI agree with David that you do a great job revealing Chris' beliefs in getting a first-hand education from experience rather than simply sitting in a classroom. Try to be even more descriptive as you show Chris' fascination with the natural world around him. Perhaps you can have him contrast KO/West Hartford with Alaska. You can also develop the part where he looks with disdain on those who are glued to their phones. This is a technology that he wouldn't be familiar with.