Vocabulary

Chapter 1—Into the Primitive
Arbors- n. vines
Aristocrat- n. wealthy person
Array- n. an orderly arrangement
Artesian well- n. a well drilled through impermeable layer to reach water capable of rising to the surface by internal hydrostatic pressure
Calamity- n. disaster
Cayuses-  n. small Western horses used by cowboys
Conciliated-  v. made friends with
Conveyance- n. means of transportation
Culprit- n. a person guilty of a crime
Demesne- n. lands of an estate
Docilely- adv. Yieldingly to treatment or handling
Dominion- n. the exercise of control
Genial- adj. friendly
Impending- v. likely or due to happen
Imperiously- adv. urgently
Incurious- adj. not curious
Insular- adj. Isolated; detached
Kindred- n. family
Latent- adj. present or potential
Legion- n. a large number
Metamorphosed- v. changed or transformed
Paddocks- n. enclosed fields in which horses are exercised
Populous- adj. many people
Primitive- adj. very basic
Progeny- n. children
Prowess- n. superior ability
Revelation- n. something revealed or learned
Ruction- n. quarrel or noisy disturbance
Sated- adj. fully satisfied
Slaver- n. saliva
Soliloquized- v. talked to one’s self
Square-head- n. slang a Scandinavian or a German
Tidewater- n. seacoast
Treachery- n. betrayal
Uncowed- adj. not frightened
Unwonted- adj. unusual
Weazened- adj. wizened; shriveled; withered
Wheedlingly- adv. attempting to persuade

Chapter 2--  The Law of the Club and Fang
Appeasingly /appeasement- adv./n. trying to please
Cadence- n. beat or rhythm of movement
Disconsolate- adj. hopelessly sad
Draft animal- adj./n.  an animal used for hauling heavy loads
Fastidiousness-  n. carefulness in all details
Gaunt- adj. haggard and emaciated
Ignominiously- adv. shamefully
Introspective- adj. given to private thought
Malignant- adj. actively evil in nature
Malingerer- n. one who pretends to be ill in order to escape work
Placatingly- adv. appeasingly giving in easily
Primordial- adj. primitive
Reproof- n. scold
Retrogression- n. the act of deteriorating
Vicarious- adj. substituted from one thing for another

Chapter 3—The Dominant Primordial Beast
Adversary- n. enemy; opponent
Apex- n. the highest point of something
Climes- n. poetic for climate
Covert- adj. concealed; hidden; disguised
Daunted- adj. made afraid or discouraged
Dubiously- adv. doubtfully
Inexorable- adj. unwilling to give in
Insidious- adj. sly; crafty
Insubordination- n. disobedience
Paradox- n. a situation that seems to have contradictory or inconsistent 
qualities
Pre-eminently- adv. dominantly
Wraith- n. ghost

Chapter 4—Who Has Won to Mastership
Lugubriously- adv. very sadly or mournfully
Obdurate- adj. unyielding; stubborn

Chapter 5—The Toil of Trace and Trail
Amenities- n. pleasant qualities
Averred- v. declared
Callous- adj. unfeeling
Chaffering- v. haggling over terms or price
Callowness- n. youth and inexperience; immaturity
Copiously- adv. abundantly
Evinced- v. showed clearly
Fissures- n. narrow cracks
Fraught- adj. accompanied
Innocuously- adv. harmlessly
Irresolutely- adv. lacking a solution
Jaded- adj. worn-out
Manifestly- adv. obviously; revealingly
Perambulating- v. walking
Remonstrance- n. a gesture of protest or scold
Rending- v. violently tearing apart into pieces
Repugnance- n. extreme dislike
Rouse- v. to excite into anger or action
Salient- adj. noticeable; prominent
Slipshod- adj. poorly made; shabby
Slovenly- adv. carelessly
Superfluous- more than is necessary
Wayfarers- n. those who travel

Chapter 6—For the Love of Man

Conjuration- n. making a magic spell
Contagion- n. a disease that can be transmitted
Convalescence- n. gradual return to good health
Extremity- n. dying stage
Grubstaked- v. bought supplies for
Millrace- n. the current of water that drives a mill wheel
Peremptorily- adv. absolutely; without question
Plethoric- adj. too full
Wiliness- n. trickiness

Chapter 7—The Sounding of the Call

Ambuscade- n. place of surprise attack
Belie- v. to tell lies about
Certitude- n. certainty
Cessation- v. ceasing or stopping
Chaff- n. husks of grain that are separated when the grain is beaten 
during threshing
Commingled- v. mixed together
Excrescence- n. natural outgrowth
Imperiously- adv. overbearing; arrogant; domineering
Multitudinous- adj. crowded, great numbers
Obliterated- v. wiped out
Palmated- adj. shaped like a hand with the fingers spread
Palpitate- adj. quivering; trembling
Paroxysms- n. outbursts or convulsions
Pell-mell- adv. jumbled or confused
Pertinacity- n. stubbornness; perseverance
Placer- n. a deposit of sand mixed with gold
Ptarmigan- n. a northern or alpine game bird
Rampant- adj. unrestrained; spreading unchecked
Slake- v. to satisfy
Sluice boxes- n. long channels through which water is run, leaving 
the gold
Usurp- v. takes control over
Vigor- n. active physical or mental strength
Virility- n. masculine mental or physical strength
Wantonness- n. lack of discipline

< Go to: Q-Ch 2  Q-Ch 3  Q-Ch 4  Q-Ch 5  Q-Ch 6  Q-Ch 7 >

Chapter 1- “Into the Primitive”

1.  Describe the type of dog in the Northland and why are they needed.
2.      What kind of transaction was going on between Manuel and a man at   
      College Park?
3.      Why do you think Buck needed to be cured according to the man?
4.      Why was Buck treated so poorly by all these men especially the driver in    
      the red shirt?
5.      Who were Perrault and François?
6.      What was primitive?

Homework
Reader’s response -  Choose one of the following:

1.   Do you think that the way some men were treating Buck was an
 acceptable way to treat animals back then?  Why or why not?

2.      Compare the treatment of Buck in Chapter 1 to the way people treat
 dogs today.  Are there any differences?  Any similarities?

Guided Questions

Chapter 2- “The Law of the Club and Fang”

1.      What happened to Curly? Why?
2.      Why was Billee and Buck driven from camp?
3.      How did Billee and Buck keep warm in the freezing snow overnight?
4.      Describe the hierarchy of the dogs and how it relates to training as part  
     of a team?
5.      How has Buck’s character changed due to the situation? Why?

Homework- Write a summary of Chapter 2.

Guided Questions

Chapter 3- “The Dominant Primordial Beast”

1.      How could those starving dogs be a difficult match to beat for the 
     sled-dogs?
2.      What was the purpose of traveling with a pole?
3.      What kinds of hardships did the dogs endure?
4.      How did François help Buck’s pads of his feet?
5.      What happened to Dolly? Why?
6.      What does this mean?
      “…the club of the man in the red sweater had knocked all blink    
      pluck and rashness out of his desire for mastery.”
7.      Describe the situation of the pack when Buck was challenging Spitz’s 
     authority.
8.      What caused Spitz and Buck to finally fight and what was the outcome?

Homework- Answer this question:

How can you relate what happened in Chapter 3 to what happened to White Fang?

Guided Questions

Chapter 4- “Who Has Won to Mastership”

1.      What does François mean when he says that Buck is “two devils”?
2.      What happened when François put Sol-leks into the lead position?
3.      How is Buck’s leadership different from Spitz’s?
4.      Why did François and Perrault sell the team of sled-dogs when they were 
      doing such a good job?
5.      What was Buck and the team’s new job?
6.      How were they treated?
7.      What happened to Dave? What did he do?

Homework- Write a question for each of the following: How, What, Why, What if. Answer your own questions.  Make a copy of your questions to pass to another student to answer.

Guided Questions

Chapter 5- “The Toil of Trace and Trail”

1.      What condition were the dogs in when they arrived at Skagway? Why?
2.      Who bought the team -harness and all and all for a “song”?
3.      What did Hal believe was the way to get the dogs to work?
4.      What does London mean when he calls some dogs “Outsiders” and some
     “Insiders”?
5.      What happened to Dub and the Outsiders? The Insiders?
6.      What advice did John Thornton give Hal? Why didn’t Hal follow it?
7.      When the team of dogs refused to move, what did Hal do and how did
      Buck react?
8.      What did John Thornton finally do to Hal?
9.      What happened to Charles, Mercedes, and Hal?

Homework- Answer the following question:

Death is commonplace in the novel.  Does Hal, Mercedes, and Charles deserve their fate? Why or Why not?

Guided Questions

Chapter 6- “ For the Love of Man”

1.      Compare and contrast the differences in Buck’s relationship with John
     Thornton and Judge Miller.
2.      Why did Buck follow John Thornton everywhere?
3.      Besides the “Law of the Club and Fang”, what other primordial laws did
     Buck learn?
4.      What test did Buck perform for John Thornton and why was Thornton    
      afraid?
5.      What happened at Circle City?
6.      How did Buck save Thornton’s life?
7.      What happened at Dawson?

Homework- Answer the following questions:

Do you think it was necessary for John Thornton to die? Why or why not? Did he deserve to be murdered? Why or why not?

Guided Questions

Chapter 7- “The Sounding of the Call”

1.      Who do you think was this hairy man?
2.      What made Buck go into the woods the first time? Why did he return?
3.      What was the wolf’s reaction to Buck?
4.      What was the “call of the forest”?
5.      What did Pete mean when he said, “When he was made, the mold was  
     broke”?
6.      Describe how Buck killed a bull moose?
7.      What happened to the other dogs and John Thornton while Buck was away?
     What did Buck do?
8.      Why did Buck attack those wolves?
9.      What happened when Buck found the rest of the pack?
10.  Who was “Ghost dog” and why was he named that?

Homework- Reader response:

1.   Describe the plot of the novel.
2.   What are some of the themes of this novel?