Notes - Chapter Five, Call of the Wild

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Reading Notes – Chapter Five

Call of the Wild by Jack London

Chapter Five: The Toil of Trace and Trail

Having made the mail run to Dawson in thirty days, the

dog team is exhausted. In the last five months the dogs

have travelled 2,500 miles, with only five days‟ rest. The

dogs are sold when very weak and tired to two men, Hal and Charles, who are accompanied by

Charles‟s wife, Mercedes. These three are there, like many people at that time, in the hope of

finding riches, but they are inexperienced in the ways of the North and they do not know how

to look after dogs properly. Their journey further north is beset with problems of lost time,

inadequate food supplies and the results of mistreatment of the animals. Buck has to learn how

to survive in the company of owners who are not competent.

At one point Hal is beating buck for refusing to go further when another man, a camp learder

called John Thornton, threatens to kill |Hal if he continues to punish Buck. Buck becomes

Thorton‟s dog.

Focus

How does Buck adapt to owners who do not know what they are doing?

Questions

1. When you read London‟s first description of Hal and Charles, what did you think would

happen to them in this chapter?

2. “If you strike that dog again, I‟ll kill you.” How does John Thorton differ from the other main

characters in the novel? Why does he so strongly want to defend Buck?

3. How are animals and people compared and contrasted in this chapter?

4. What is John Thorton‟s attitude toward the three travelers, Hal, Charles, and Mercedes? Why

do you think he does not try to help them?

5. Give three adjectives to describe Mercedes‟s behavior with her husband and brother. Is she

helpful to their enterprise?

6. Write a short summary (approximately 50 words) of the last scene of this chapter.

7. Why did Buck refuse to rise and lead the team? What did he have that his owners‟ lacked?

Vocabulary

feigned: pretended.

down grades: downhill slopes.

congested: extremely crowded and

blocked up

Alpine: mountainous.

salient: noticeable; prominent.

callowness: inexperience; immaturity.

chaffering: haggling; bargaining.

Notes - Chapter Five, Call of the Wild

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slipshod: careless without care or

thoroughness.

slovenly: careless; untidy.

remonstrance: protest; forceful

argument.

abide: remain.

tote: carry (dialect word).

mite: somewhat; to a small extent or

degree.

lashings: ropes used to tie one thing

to another.

contraption: a machine or device that

looks slightly odd or strange.

plum tuckered out: extremely tired;

exhausted (dialect expression).

be blanked: an expression used to

add force to what is being said

without the use of swear words.

clannish: tending to remain attached

to your family or a particular group,

and acting in an unfriendly way

towards outsiders.

woah: a command used to make

animals stop.

quoth: an old fashioned word that

means „said‟.

Pullman: an extremely comfortable

and luxurious train.

superfluous: things that are not

necessary.

averred: said firmly.

apparel: clothing.

short-haired pointers: a pointer is a

breed of dog that is used in hunting

small animals and birds.

mongrels: dogs that are a mixture of

different breeds.

Q.E.D. : an abbreviation of the Latin

phrase, quod erat demonstrandum,

which means “that which was to be

proved”.

jaded: tired and unenthusiastic.

chronic famine: a severe and

continual shortage of food.

voracious: greedy, indicating

extgreme hunger.

orthodox: usual; generally accepted.

cajole: persuade by flattering.

seconded: expressed in agreement

with something or someone.

sore: greatly.

inkling: vague idea.

wrangled: argued noisily.

lugged in: brought into the argument

or discussion (dialect expression).

copious: large amounts.

traits: particular tendencies,

characteristics or qualities.

chivalrously: act in a polite, kind and

unselfish fashion, especially towards

women.

impeachment: the act of calling

something into question; speaking

about someone or something to show

that you do not have a good opinion of

them or it.

squaw: a native American woman,

used only in historical contexts.

galvanized iron: iron that has been

coated with zinc in order to protect it

from rust or other damage.

perambulating: an old fashioned

word for walking.

malignant: cruel or harmful.

loom: vague appearance.

fraught: filled.

garbs: outer coverings.

wedges: this refers to the wedge or

„V‟ shaped formation of geese or

ducks when they are in flight.

fissures: deep cracks.

innocuously: uncontroversially;

inoffensively.

whittling: carving a piece of wood

with a sharp knife by cutting off small

pieces.

carcass: a body, usually dead.

evinced: showed; indicated.

yawning: gaping; open wide.

Notes - Chapter Five, Call of the Wild

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Adapted from From:

Cope, Jim & Cope, W, A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Edition of the Call of the Wild (Pengin).

Carter, Ronald (ed), The Call of the Wild, Penguin Student Edition (Penguin, 1999).