Chapter 2: The Law of Club and Fang Practice Quiz — The Call of the Wild
by Jack London — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 2: The Law of Club and Fang
What happens to Curly on Dyea beach?
Curly approaches a husky in a friendly manner, is attacked and knocked down, then swarmed and killed by thirty or forty dogs. She is torn to pieces in under two minutes.
How does Buck learn to sleep in the freezing Yukon cold?
After being driven out of the tent, Buck wanders the camp until he accidentally steps on Billee buried under the snow. He then digs his own snow hole and sleeps warmly inside it.
What is Buck's first job as a sled dog?
Francois harnesses him to pull a sled to the forest for firewood. Buck learns basic commands like "ho" and "mush" and how to swing wide on bends.
What route does the dog team travel in Chapter 2?
They travel up the Canyon, through Sheep Camp, past the Scales and timber line, across the Chilcoot Divide, down through a chain of lakes, and camp at the head of Lake Bennett.
What is Buck's first act of theft?
After watching Pike steal a slice of bacon from Perrault, Buck steals an entire chunk of bacon the following day. Dub, an awkward blunderer, is punished for the crime instead.
How does Buck react when he wakes up buried in snow?
He experiences a primal fear of being trapped, his muscles contract spasmodically, his hair stands on end, and he snarls ferociously before bursting straight up through the snow into daylight.
What lesson does Buck learn from Curly's death?
He learns that there is no fair play in the Northland. Once a dog goes down, it is finished. Buck vows he will never go down.
How do Billee and Joe differ in temperament?
Billee is excessively good-natured and appeasing, wagging his tail even when attacked. Joe is sour, introspective, and fiercely aggressive, snarling and snapping so ferociously that even Spitz backs down.
What is Sol-leks's defining trait and what does his name mean?
Sol-leks means "the Angry One." He is an old, battle-scarred husky with one eye who does not tolerate being approached on his blind side, slashing Buck's shoulder when Buck unknowingly does so.
What role does Dave play on the sled team?
Dave is the wheeler, the dog closest to the sled. He is an experienced teacher who nips Buck whenever he makes a mistake, but never without cause. He is utterly transformed by harness work, becoming alert and passionate about the job.
Why does Buck develop a hatred for Spitz in Chapter 2?
When Curly is killed by the pack, Spitz runs out his tongue and appears to laugh at her death. Buck interprets this as cruelty, and from that moment hates Spitz with a bitter and deathless hatred.
What are Francois and Perrault's roles?
Francois is the dog-driver who trains Buck with a whip and manages the sled. Perrault is a courier for the Canadian Government carrying important dispatches, and he selects and acquires the dogs for the team.
What is the "law of club and fang"?
It is the primitive survival code of the Northland. The "club" represents human authority enforced through physical punishment, while the "fang" represents the brutal hierarchy among dogs where the weak are destroyed.
How does London contrast the Southland and Northland moral codes?
In the Southland, the law of love and fellowship meant respecting private property and personal feelings. In the Northland, under the law of club and fang, such considerations are foolish handicaps that lead to failure and death.
What does atavism mean in the context of this chapter?
Atavism is the reappearance of ancestral traits. Buck's domesticated behavior falls away as ancient instincts resurface, including wolf-style fighting techniques and the impulse to howl at the stars.
How does London portray Buck's moral transformation?
London describes it as both development and retrogression. Buck's theft represents the decay of his moral nature, but London frames this decay as fitness for survival rather than as a moral failing.
What literary movement does Chapter 2 exemplify?
Naturalism. London presents Buck's transformation as driven by environmental forces and biological instinct rather than free will, showing how harsh conditions strip away civilized behavior.
How does London use foreshadowing in Chapter 2?
Buck's "bitter and deathless hatred" of Spitz after Curly's death foreshadows the inevitable violent confrontation between them that will occur in later chapters.
What does Buck's howling at the stars symbolize?
It symbolizes his reconnection with his wild ancestors. London describes it as ancestral voices "pointing nose at star and howling down through the centuries and through him," representing the complete awakening of his primal nature.
What does "primordial" mean as used in Chapter 2?
Existing from the beginning of time; ancient and fundamental. London uses it to describe the raw, uncivilized environment Buck has been thrust into, calling it "the heart of things primordial."
What does "retrogression" mean in the context of Buck's development?
A return to a former or less developed state. London uses it to describe Buck's transformation, noting his physical hardening and moral loosening could be seen as either development or retrogression.
What does "fastidiousness" mean as applied to Buck?
Excessive delicacy or pickiness. Buck quickly loses the fastidiousness of his old life as a pampered house dog when hunger forces him to eat fast and steal food from others.
What is the significance of the quote: "So that was the way. No fair play. Once down, that was the end of you"?
This is Buck's internal realization after watching Curly's death. It encapsulates the fundamental rule of survival in the Northland and marks the moment Buck begins adapting his behavior to this brutal reality.
What does London mean by: "the ancient song surged through him and he came into his own again"?
This describes Buck howling at the stars as his wolf-like instincts fully awaken. The "ancient song" represents the primal call of his wild ancestors, and "coming into his own" means he is returning to his true, uncivilized nature.