The Sounding of the Call

Text of Book

The Sounding of the Call, page 1

The Sounding of the Call, page 2

The Sounding of the Call, page 3

The Sounding of the Call, page 4

The Sounding of the Call, page 5

The Sounding of the Call, page 6

The Sounding of the Call, page 7

The Sounding of the Call, page 8

The Sounding of the Call, page 9

The Sounding of the Call, page 10

The Sounding of the Call, page 11

The Sounding of the Call, page 12

The Sounding of the Call, page 13

The Sounding of the Call, page 14

The Sounding of the Call, page 15

The Sounding of the Call, page 16

Questions

1)	What is this chapter mainly about?

2)	Several paragraphs in this chapter are used to describe Buck's hunting a great bull moose, the strong leader of his herd. Which characteristic is most responsible for Buck's success in bringing down an animal so much larger than himself?

3)

When Buck attacks the Yeehats who have wrecked the camp and killed John Thornton along with the other men and dogs, the author uses a metaphor to describe the way Buck hurls himself into battle: "It was Buck, a live hurricane of fury, . . ." Which of the following literary examples is NOT also a metaphor?

4)	The Yeehats were the first men that Buck had killed. What did he learn from the experience?

5)	Near the end of the story, Buck fights with a large group of wolves. They back him up against a bank, leaving him no room to maneuver or escape. Buck fights so fiercely that "at the end of half an hour the wolves drew back discomfited." What does "discomfited" mean?

6)	In the same quote below, what does it mean when they "drew back" from Buck? "at the end of half an hour the wolves drew back discomfited."

7)	Jack London describes Buck's life after he has yielded completely to "The Call of the Wild." Without being directly told, we understand that Buck has not forgotten John Thornton. What is the "yellow stream" that London refers to in the second–to–last paragraph?

8)

In the last sentence of the novel, the author paints a beautiful image. He shows us Buck "running at the head of the pack through the pale moonlight or glimmering borealis, leaping gigantic above his fellows, his great throat a–bellow as he sings a song of the younger world, which is the song of the pack." What does the word "borealis" mean?

9)	Who responded to the "call of the wild"?

10)	Is there anything or any word that still confuses you in "The Call of the Wild"?