Mark Stormrider Analysis

Through reading my novel Raw for the last 3 weeks, I have struggled to make a personal connection to the reading material. I couldn't say that my life has involved me robing a liquor store or being sent to a rehab farm in the middle of a rural countryside in Sydney. In fact, my life is quite different from Brett’s. Brett is the main character in Raw. He is a troubled 16 year old that dropped out of school not too long ago. Because of this, I would classify Brett as a rebel. The character of Brett relates to a person in my life that grew up a reckless teenager, and has now evolved into a kind gentlemen and a proud father. This man that he reminds me of is my uncle. They are quite similar because as the story goes, Brett was a wild teenager that made out to be untameable but Sam (the warden of the farm), saw deep down that he is a good kid. In the end he pulled his head into line and picked up a lot of essential life skills from the rehab farm.

Jon Krakauer had the same experience as McCandless with his family and travel to Alaska, but Krakauer knew more about survival and had company in case of any danger. Krakauer compares, “as a young man, I was unlike Mccandless in many important regard… And I suspect we had a similar intensity, a similar heedlessness, a similar agitation of the soul” (55). Acknowledging McCandless’s background, Chris left society because, in Krakauer’s point of view, of the “agitation of the soul” and the “similar heedless” of society. McCandless didn’t agree with society’s standards that being successful meant having a well paid occupation, especially when McCandless’s parents enforced it onto him. McCandless truly did not want to uphold the wishes of his parents, for Chris to go to college and get high paying career, but it wasn’t what Chris really wanted, so he left all of his conflicts with his parents and his values or “agitation of the soul” to create a new identity as Alex Supertramp and live in the wild. In today’s modern world, humanity lives in an environment where people are controlled and dependent on others. Chris’s father is someone he despises because of his characteristic of being controlling. Walter becomes controlling over Chris, who pressured him into college. As a result, Chris has an “agitation of the soul” to become independent, and a “heedlessness” for society and had an “intensity” for

In the novel That Was Then,This is Now, we encounter two main characters. Bryon Douglas and Mark Jennings are two teenage boys from the same hometown with totally unique views on how to live life. Bryon Douglas is a 16-year-old boy, tall and strong with dark hair and dark eyes to match. He has a baby face that makes him look like a “St. Bernard puppy” that catches all the girls. Mark Jennings is 15 years old and lives with Bryon. He is short and compact with golden-brown hair and eyes. He has a sympathetic smile that gives him the look of a “friendly lion”. Although Mark and Bryon are best friends, you would never guess they were so close due to their opposite personalities.

The author skillfully uses literary techniques to convey his purpose of giving life to a man on an extraordinary path that led to his eventual demise and truthfully telling the somber story of Christopher McCandless. Krakauer enhances the story by using irony to establish Chris’s unique personality. The author also uses Characterization the give details about Chris’s lifestyle and his choices that affect his journey. Another literary element Krakauer uses is theme. The many themes in the story attract a diverse audience. Krakauer’s telling is world famous for being the truest, and most heart-felt account of Christopher McCandless’s life. The use of literary techniques including irony, characterization and theme help convey the authors

The book That was Then, This Is Now is about to really good friends Bryon and Mark starting to go their separate ways. Bryon was a 16 year old hustler who lived in a hood. His mother was poor and she had adopted his best friend Mark. Mark was an illegitimate who was adopted by new parents that got in a drunken fight and killed each other. Mark was a thief, and he always got away with everything that he possibly could do. Teen kids in there element who thought they could rule the world, everything was theirs and that nothing could possibly go wrong. They did everything bad together smoke, drink, jump kids for their money, steal, skip school, take drugs and get into gang brawls.

In Namatjira by Scott Rankin, with Trevor Jamieson and Derik Lynch Published with Ngapartji Ngapartji Namatjira was Australia’s most famous Indigenous, watercolour artist and the first to achieve commercial success, but his story is hardly known.

Robert is a sportswriter and a broadcast journalist who is also known for his young adult novels. He was born in 1938 in the Bronx. Throughout his childhood, he would’ve described himself as a “puke.” He was bullied and felt like an outcast. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in English from Columbia University at only 19 years of age. He also received his Master’s degree in journalism. When Lipsyte was a reporter and writer for The New

Although Chris McCandless’ controlling and toxic family environment was a major motive for his escape, his deep-seated internal battle was simply an irresistible impulse for discovery and liberty. Chris’ journey shows a new level of freedom; what true independence holds. He set out into nature alone without support of family or friends, searching for a path unlike those of most, and running from a barred cage of conventional living. Unsatisfied and somewhat angry with himself and his life of abundance in money, opportunity, and security, his preceding experiences and determined character lead him to an inevitable flee into no-mans land. Throughout the novel, Krakauer wants the reader to understand that there is more to Chris than his habit of criticising authority and defying society’s pressures. He needed more from himself, and more from life. He wasn’t an ordinary man, therefore could not live with an ordinary life. Krakauer demonstrates this by creating a complex persona for Chris that draws you in from the beginning.

A father is a son’s first hero. No love is greater than that of a son to his father. A son grows up aspiring to be everything his father is, but what happened when you discover that your father isn’t half the man you thought he was? In Jon Krakauer’s novel entitled, Into the Wild the protagonist Chris McCandless discovers that his father was once living and secret life. One in which his father and mother hid from him, and upon discovery of this dark knowledge he slowly began to denounce himself as a “McCandless”.

Growing up, Mark was mostly on the run from the government because his parents were one of the leaders of the rebellion. Right now Mark is eleven years old, this is the day everything had changed. The government had found where the rebels had been hiding and launched an attack. Many people had been taken including Mark’s parents. Mark himself barely escaped the capture of the government. But Mark remembered the last thing his mother told him “You must be brave son, as you are everyone's last hope.”

An Exeter, New Hampshire native, Jack Storms was born on September 25, 1970. He is 45 years old and currently resides in Valencia, California with his wife, Vivian Storms, and their son, Owen. Vivian and Jack met when he was working out of his studio and she walked in; from there a romance had blossomed. He was 30 when he attended Plymouth State University and earned a BA art degree with a minor in art history. It wasn't until his junior year in college that Storms was inspired by a glass studio near by, which led to his current profession.

Alison Bechdel uses her graphic memoir, Fun home, to explore her relationship with her father. She uses the book as a tool to reflect on her life and the affect her father had on her. She discovers how her fathers closeted sexuality affected her childhood and her transition into adulthood. His death left a powerful mark and left her searching for answers. She clearly states this when she says, “it’s true that he didn’t kill himself until I was nearly twenty. But his absence resonated retroactively, echoing back through all the time I knew him.” (23). This feeling drove her to look back on their relationship and find what binds her so strongly to a man she never understood. She discovered how her fathers closeted sexuality affected her childhood, her sexuality, and her relationship with literature.

In the aftermath of his accident, Mark is left to sort through reality versus what he believes to be the truth. In his eyes, parts of his world had been changed for good, replaced by something or someone foreign. This reversal of trust in his own mind or in his own world, causes him to often lash out in anger at Karin and others closest to him. “Some days his rage was so bad that even lying still infuriated him. Then the therapists asked her to leave.

Chris McCandless died doing what he loved, but was it worth all of the pain and uncertainty he caused his family? Chris embarked on a journey through the Alaskan wilderness, which resulted in his demise. He cut ties with his family due to personal differences in opinion and travelled all around the country living off of the land for the most part. People have formed many different opinions of Chris McCandless, but its up to you to decide whether his actions were selfish or purposeful. In this Journal, I will be questioning the motives of McCandless, connecting with him, as well as evaluating the author.

This is the story of Marcus Scagliety, a fairly recognized American novelist. Marcus was born and raised in New York, but once he became of age, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of becoming a writer. By the time he was 25, Marcus had published his first bestseller, love is life, a romantic novel. This early success, along with Marcus’ good looks and erotic mojo led him to become the absolute definition of a man living in the Aesthetic stage. Marcus used the earnings from his first novel to purchase a beach house in Malibu, and a Porsche so that he could prove to the world, what a cool and accomplished father he was.