Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Many Alaskans feel that McCandless brought about his own death due to his ignorance.

• After reading Into the Wild, do you agree with them? (topic sentence)
• Identify at least two reasons you agree or disagree with these Alaskans and explain why you hold that opinion.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, summarize your position while acknowledging why others may feel differently than you do.

2. McCandless mentioned that he would have liked to write a book on his own travels.

• How might this story be different if McCandless had lived to tell his story in the first person? (topic sentence)
• Identify at least two ways in which the story could be different in McCandless were writing it from his perspective.