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Buck slowly gets his strength back. John Thornton, it turns out, had frozen his feet during the previous winter, and he and his dogs are now waiting for the river to melt and for a raft to take them down to Dawson. With Thornton, Buck experiences love for the first time, developing a strong affection for the man who saved his life and who proves an ideal master. Thornton treats his dogs as if they are his own children, and Buck responds with adoration and obeys all commands. Once, to test Buck, Thornton tells him to jump off a cliff; Buck begins to obey before Thornton stops him. Even though Buck is happy with Thornton, his wild instincts still remain strong, and he fights as fiercely as ever. Now, however, he fights in defense of Thornton. In Dawson, Thornton steps in to stop a fight in a bar, and one of the combatants lashes out at him. Immediately, Buck hurls himself at the man’s throat; the man narrowly escapes having his throat ripped open when he throws up his hand, though Buck succeeds in partially ripping it open with his second try. A meeting is called on the spot to decide what to do with Buck, and the miners rule that his aggressive behavior was justified, since he acted in defense of Thornton. Soon, Buck has earned a reputation throughout Alaska for loyalty and fercocity. Buck saves Thornton’s life again when Thornton is thrown out of a boat and gets caught in fierce rapids. Buck swims to the slick rock where Thornton clings for his life, and the other men attach a rope to Buck’s neck and shoulders. After several failed attempts, Thornton grabs onto his neck, and the two are pulled back to safety. That winter, on a strange whim, Thornton boasts that Buck can start a sled with a thousand pounds loaded on it. Other men challenge his claim, betting that Buck cannot perform that task before their eyes. A man named Matthewson, who has grown rich in the gold rush, bets a thousand dollars that Buck cannot pull his sled—which is outside, loaded with a thousand pounds of flour. Thornton himself doubts it, but he makes the bet anyway, borrowing the money from a friend to cover the wager. Several hundred men come to watch, giving odds—first two to one, then three to one when the terms of the bet are clarified—that Buck cannot break out the sled, and a confident Matthewson throws on another $600 at those odds. Once Buck is harnessed in, he first breaks the sled free of the ice, then pulls it a hundred yards. The crowd of men cheers in amazement, with even Matthewson joining in the applause. AnalysisFor the time being, Buck’s slowly developing identity as a wild animal is quelled by his new devotion to John Thornton and, through him, to the man-dog relationship. If the terrible trio of Hal, Charles, and Mercedes comprises the worst master possible for an animal, then Thornton may be the best. His relationship with Buck is founded on mutual protection and affection—he saves Buck’s life, and then Buck not only does the same for him, but also bears out Thornton’s faith in him by winning a seemingly impossible wager. This is the first time, London emphasizes, that Buck has actually felt love for a human being—perhaps because it is the first time that he is neither a pampered pet nor a drudge, toiling away to pull a sled. Whatever the cause, this love is presented as being profoundly physi-cal—Thornton shakes him and wrestles with him, and Buck has a way of biting his master’s hand that, without drawing blood, is strong enough to leave the marks of his teeth in Thornton’s flesh. Thornton’s relationship to Buck seems to be the fulfillment of Buck’s mystical vision of primitive man, a vision that recurs in Chapter VII. The relationship of man to dog, the novel suggests, is not a creation of civilization—rather, it is a much more primal bond that can survive even in a dog like Buck, whose civilized veneer is almost entirely scraped away to expose the wild animal beneath. Buck is no longer a pet or a slave, but he still has a master. He has not yet become an animal of the wild. What happened during Chapter 6 call of the wild?With Thornton, Buck experiences love for the first time, developing a strong affection for the man who saved his life and who proves an ideal master. Thornton treats his dogs as if they are his own children, and Buck responds with adoration and obeys all commands.
What does Buck learn from John Thornton?With Thornton, Buck quickly learns the meaning of true love. Buck regains his health and strength, and he is ecstatic with Thornton. While they are still at the cabin, Buck does not want Thornton out of his sight, because he is afraid the man will disappear.
How did Buck's relationship with John Thornton differ from his relationships with his previous Masters?Buck's relationship with John Thornton is differ than his other masters because John Thornton saved Buck's life and John Thornton stayed with Buck when there sled team left them. London illustrate Buck's intense feelings for Thornton by saying that he never leaves his master only if Thornton tells him to.
Where did John and Buck go?Together with his other dogs and his friends Pete and Hans, he and Buck wander in the wilderness, hunting and fishing and living off the land, until they reach a shallow place in a valley full of gold. The men earn thousands of dollars a day panning for gold, and the dogs have nothing to do.
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Why did john have immediate second thoughts regarding his bet?
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