Notes - Chapter Five, Call of the Wild

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. Alpine: mountainous.

down grades: downhill slopes. salient: noticeable; prominent.
congested: extremely crowded and callowness: inexperience; immaturity.
blocked up chaffering: haggling; bargaining.

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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.
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Notes - Chapter Five, Call of the Wild
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

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).

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