Father-Son Relationships: Self-Reflection Assignment

1. Into the Wild Self-Reflection Assignment 3

2. In the time that you have remaining in class, you may write as much or as little as you like. However, I will be collecting these and evaluating them based on your depth of thought.   • I expect a well-developed thought process and complete ideas expressed in your writing. I also expect an attempt at an organized process of writing down your thoughts; however, it is your thoughts that I am most interested in. Self-Reflection Assignment 3

3. Krakauer writes, “I thought climbing the Devils’s Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing…. As a young man, I was unlike McCandless in many important regards.... But I believe we were similarly affected by the skewed relationships we had with our fathers” (155). • What does Krakauer mean? • What does a healthy relationship look like between a father and his son or daughter? • What are some of the consequences of an unhealthy father-son or father-daughter relationship?

4. Pastor Robert Lewis, in Raising a Modern Day Knight, writes that modern society does not have a “rite of passage” for boys to know when they transition from boys to men. As a result, many “men” remain boys well beyond the age of 18. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the father to lead his son into manhood. • Do you agree? Why or why not? • If a father does not lead his son into manhood, who fills this void? Is it filled at all? Can a boy become a man all by himself?Explain your answer. • Could the “adventures” of McCandless, Krakauer and so many others be an effort to prove to themselves that they are men and no longer boys? Explain your answer.