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The Call of the Wild
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
François and Perrault give way to Buck because he has beaten them, and the team leaps as one dog; when the mail-train drivers give way to Dave, "sick unto death", and harness him again, is that the mercy they call it?
The tension Two sets of men give way to a dog's refusal. Buck circles the camp for an hour while Perrault looks at his watch, "Time was flying", until François grins sheepishly and Perrault shrugs "in sign that they were beaten" and the club is thrown down at Perrault's command; Buck trots in, the team leaps as one dog, and the run is a record. Later, on the mail trail, Dave, "sick unto death", bites through Sol-leks's traces to stand in his own place, and the Scotch half-breed, who "had not the heart to strike harder", harnesses him again because the mail-train drivers "held it a mercy" that he should "die in the traces, heart-easy and content". He pulls proudly and cries out from his inward hurt, and the next morning he is too weak to travel and a revolver shot rings out behind the river timber. The chapter sets the way Dave actually died against the drivers' hope for him, and leaves the word mercy to the reader.
Notice the two times in this chapter when men give way to a dog, once for Buck and once for Dave, and ask what moved the men each time and what followed.
Buck takes the lead from Sol-leks by dodging clubs until François throws his down, and the team makes a record run to Skaguay. François and Perrault leave his life, and a Scotch half-breed drives the mail train back to Dawson. Dave sickens, is taken out, bites through Sol-leks's traces to get back, is harnessed again, and a revolver shot rings out behind the river timber.
Start with Buck circling the camp for an hour. Ask why the men finally give in, then go to Dave biting through Sol-leks's traces and ask who gives way there, and why.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order, keeping the men straight: François and Perrault with Buck, the Scotch half-breed and the other drivers with Dave.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences about someone being made to stop work: a long sentence of what they do, then a short one that gives the reason.
Debate Take sides: was putting Dave back in harness a mercy? Each side must use one line from the chapter, and say whether the shot changes its case.
Purpose Close by asking what the drivers hoped, what happened, and whether the word mercy fits both.
Easier Read the scene where Dave bites through the traces aloud and talk through discussion questions 4 and 5 only.
On level Talk through all five discussion questions, then have the student write one critical-thinking answer with two pieces of evidence.
Harder Ask the student to set Buck's standoff beside Dave's and say what is different about why the men give way.
1. Buck dodges clubs and circles the camp for an hour, until François throws down the club. Why do the men give in?Inference
What it asks It asks what finally beats François and Perrault: the clock, the dog, or something they see in him.
They give in because they must. The team is waiting and Buck has left them no other way.
Time was flying, and they should have been on the trail an hour gone.
There was no place for Buck save at the front.
They give in because Buck shows he will not be moved, and he makes his terms plain.
advertising plainly that when his desire was met, he would come in and be good
shrugged his shoulders in sign that they were beaten
A strong answer Buck stays just out of the club's reach, dodging what is thrown, and he never runs away; he goes around and around the camp, making it plain that once he has what he wants he will come in and be good. Meanwhile Perrault looks at his watch, and the team stands harnessed with no place for Buck save at the front. So the men are beaten by the clock and by a dog who will not be moved. A strong answer says which weighs more and what in the scene shows it.
2. Buck shakes Pike for loafing, and he smothers and cuts up Joe, and the team "recovered its old-time solidarity." Is Buck a better leader than Spitz, or only a rougher one?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to weigh the results Buck gets against the way he gets them.
He is better. He thinks and acts quickly, and the whole team pulls as one.
where judgment was required, and quick thinking and quick acting, he showed himself the superior even of Spitz
The general tone of the team picked up immediately.
He is rougher. He gets order by force, and Joe is cut up until he whines.
Buck simply smothered him by virtue of superior weight, and cut him up till he ceased snapping and began to whine for mercy
Pike, who pulled at Buck’s heels, and who never put an ounce more of his weight against the breast-band than he was compelled to do, was swiftly and repeatedly shaken for loafing
A strong answer The results are clear: Pike pulls harder than ever, the team leaps as one dog in the traces again, and the chapter says Buck's judgment and quick acting surpassed even Spitz's. But the methods are just as clear: Pike is shaken repeatedly, and Joe is smothered and cut up until he whines for mercy. A strong answer decides whether results can make up for rough methods, and says what it would need to see in the scene to be sure.
3. By the fire Buck remembers the man in the red sweater more than Judge Miller's house, then dreams of a hairy man in the dark. Why might London stop the trail story for this?Author's choice
What it asks It asks why the author pauses the journey for a dream, and what the dream adds to what the reader already knows of Buck.
It shows how far from home Buck has gone. Old instincts now matter more to him than comfort.
He was not homesick. The Sunland was very dim and distant, and such memories had no power over him.
Far more potent were the memories of his heredity
It shows the old life was a frightened one. The hairy man lives in fear of the dark.
seemed very much afraid of the darkness, into which he peered continually
a quick alertness as of one who lived in perpetual fear of things seen and unseen
A strong answer London stops the story because Buck is changing, and the dream shows it from the inside. The chapter says Buck is not homesick; the memories of his heredity are far more potent. The hairy man, afraid of the dark, with the eyes of great beasts of prey shining beyond the fire, also shows that the old world was a frightened one. A strong answer says what the dream adds to the picture of Buck and points to the words that show it.
4. Dave is taken out of the traces and bites through Sol-leks's traces to get back in. What does the work mean to him?Theme
What it asks It asks why a sick dog chooses hard work over a free ride, and what the work gives him.
The work is his pride and his place. He cannot bear another dog in it.
For the pride of trace and trail was his, and, sick unto death, he could not bear that another dog should do his work.
whimpering broken-heartedly when he saw Sol-leks in the position he had held and served so long
The work is worth more to him than comfort or safety. He will take pain to keep it.
Dave refused to run quietly on the trail behind the sled, where the going was easy, but continued to flounder alongside in the soft snow, where the going was most difficult
He pleaded with his eyes to remain there.
A strong answer For Dave the work is pride and place. The chapter says the pride of trace and trail was his, that he could not bear another dog doing his work, and that he whimpers broken-heartedly at seeing Sol-leks in the position he had held so long. He also chooses the harder snow over the easy trail and bites through Sol-leks's traces to stand in front of the sled. A strong answer says what the work gives Dave and what he puts up with to keep it.
5. The Scotch half-breed "had not the heart to strike harder" at Dave. What moves him and the other drivers to put Dave back in harness?Character
What it asks It asks what lies behind the drivers' decision: feeling for Dave, or their own reasoning about what happens to dogs like him.
They are moved by Dave himself. They cannot bring themselves to force him.
the man had not the heart to strike harder
He pleaded with his eyes to remain there. The driver was perplexed.
They are moved by what they have seen happen to other dogs, and they think it over together.
recalled instances they had known, where dogs, too old for the toil, or injured, had died because they were cut out of the traces
since Dave was to die anyway, that he should die in the traces, heart-easy and content
A strong answer Two things are in the scene. The half-breed has not the heart to strike harder, and Dave pleads with his eyes, which points to feeling. The comrades also talk of dogs that broke their hearts when cut out of the traces, and they hold that Dave should die "heart-easy and content", which points to reasoning. A strong answer gives each a place, says which moved the men most, and stays with what the men say and do without yet judging them.
1. The chapter says the drivers "were fair through it all." Using two pieces of evidence, explain how well the mail-train drivers look after their dogs.
What it asks It asks the student to weigh the drivers' care for the dogs against the work they demand, and to back the judgment with two pieces of evidence.
They look after the dogs well. The dogs come first every night.
Each night the dogs were attended to first. They ate before the drivers ate
no man sought his sleeping-robe till he had seen to the feet of the dogs he drove
They ask too much of the dogs, who are not given the rest they need.
should have had a ten days’ or a week’s rest at least
eighteen hundred miles will tell upon life of the toughest
A strong answer The chapter supports both. The drivers feed the dogs before themselves and see to their feet each night. But the dogs reach Dawson short of weight and in poor condition, are sent back out in two days when they should have had a week's rest, and have run eighteen hundred miles since the winter began. A strong answer says how well the drivers look after the dogs, gives two different pieces of evidence, and says what the other side adds.
2. François and Perrault make the fourteen-day run to Skaguay at forty miles a day. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what mostly made that record possible.
What it asks It asks the student to decide whether the record came from Buck's leading or from the conditions, and to back the choice with two pieces of evidence.
Buck's leading made it possible: the team pulled as one.
It recovered its old-time solidarity, and once more the dogs leaped as one dog in the traces.
the celerity with which Buck broke them in took away François’s breath
The trail and the way the men ran it made it possible.
The trail was in excellent condition, well packed and hard, and there was no new-fallen snow with which to contend.
The men rode and ran by turn, and the dogs were kept on the jump, with but infrequent stoppages.
A strong answer Both matter. The team recovers its solidarity under Buck and the dogs leap as one in the traces, and Buck breaks in the new huskies so fast it takes François's breath away. But the trail is well packed and hard with no new snow, and the men ride and run by turns so the dogs keep moving with few stops. A strong answer picks one as the main cause, gives two different pieces of evidence, and says what the other adds.
3. After the shot, "the bells tinkled merrily" and the sleds churn on. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what the last paragraph shows about life on this trail.
What it asks It asks what the plain, quick ending shows about the trail and about the team, and to back the answer with two pieces of evidence.
The trail goes on as if nothing has happened. The work does not stop.
The whips snapped, the bells tinkled merrily, the sleds churned along the trail
The man came back hurriedly.
The team knows what has happened, even though nobody tells them.
Buck knew, and every dog knew, what had taken place behind the belt of river trees.
A strong answer The last paragraph shows two things side by side. The trail goes on at once: the man comes back hurriedly, the whips snap, the bells tinkle merrily, the sleds churn along. And the dogs know what happened, since Buck knew, and every dog knew. A strong answer says what this pairing shows about the trail, gives two different pieces of evidence, and stays with what the paragraph says, not with what the dogs feel.