Chapter 2: The law of
club and fang
1) Explain the following:
a. life and limb were in peril=His Life Was In
Danger.
b. was taken aback=Shocked
c. recovered from his consternation and fled
ignominiously=Recovered From Confusion
d. whined placatingly=Crying
e. contracted spasmodically=Bursts Of
Excitement.
f. a sound trouncing=Defeat
g. swiftly lost the fastidiousness
=characterized his old life
h. callous to all ordinary pain=Immune To
Ordinary Pain.
2) Describe Buck's process of regression and
retrogression. (Write your answer in detail
developing your points on paragraphs)
As Buck transitions from living a
comfortable life in sunny California under
Judge Miller's care to being thrown into the
rough, Alaskan wilderness as a sled dog, his
gradual retrogression enables him to
survive in the harsh, dangerous
environment. Each day in the Northland,
Buck sheds characteristics ill-suited to his
environment and gradually tunes his latent
primitive instincts. Buck learns the law of
club and fang, sheds his civil personality,
and gradually retrogresses back to his
former primitive wolf-like state.