Wilderness and the American Experience Exam Questions

Friday’s wilderness exam for AP will cover all of the readings we’ve discussed from the packet, our notes and discussion, Into the Wild, and for, Period 4, A River Runs Through It.

On the test, you’ll be expected to thoroughly answer five paragraph-long questions and identify the author of quotes from the readings.

Period 4 has some additional questions; be sure to click “Read More” to view them.

Potential Questions for the Test: All Classes

1. A number of the environmental pieces refer to an instinctual connection/attraction to nature. Using at least two examples, discuss the ways in which our authors suggest that we connect to nature on an instinctual level.
2. In “Man’s Place in the Universe,” John Muir articulates a vision for how human beings should view their place in nature. What does he believe? Use example from the text.
3. Using at least three sources, make an argument for what should be done to the national parks.
4. Defend, refute, or qualify Rachel Carson’s call for the elimination of DDT.
5. Chief Seattle asked, “what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night?” and Emerson argues that the solitude of nature is essential for the soul. Using these and at least one more source, discuss the argument that nature is necessary for a healthy soul.
6. Explain what Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic argues and apply it to a contemporary environmental dispute.
7. A number of the pieces refer to the concept of time and its relationship to environmentalism. Analyze this argument, using at least three pieces.
8. Use at least three pieces to demonstrate how satire can be effectively used to advance the argument for the environment.
9. Using at least three authors, one of whom should be Emerson, discuss how the power of nature serves to put human life and troubles in perspective.
10. Which of the philosophers and authors that we studied were best embodied by the life of Alexander Super Tramp. Use at least two and explain in detail how these philosophers inspired him.
11. One of the major critiques of environmentalists is that we have redefined progress/success in a damaging way. Using at least three authors, discuss this critique of “progress.”
12. Compare and contrast Henry David Thoreau and Wallace Stegner’s arguments for the preservation of wild spaces.

Period 4 Specific Questions

1. Is the piece by William Cronon a critique of environmentalism or a call to improve it? Defend your answer.
2. How does the film A River Runs Through It argue that we are shaped by the environment we are raised in?