The Call of the Wild Violence Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #13

The man saved his life by instinctively throwing out his arm, but was hurled backward to the floor with Buck on top of him. Buck loosed his teeth from the flesh of the arm and drove in again for the throat. This time the man succeeded only in partly blocking, and his throat was torn open. (6.19)

The violence of Buck’s attack on the man in the bar reflects his feelings of love for Thornton.

Quote #14

This dog was thrashing about in a death-struggle, directly on the trail, and Buck passed around him without stopping. From the camp came the faint sound of many voices, rising and falling in a sing-song chant. Bellying forward to the edge of the clearing, he found Hans, lying on his face, feathered with arrows like a porcupine. (7.38)

Thornton and his men die a brutal death at the hands of natives, demonstrating the effect of the wild on both creatures and men.

Quote #15

The Yeehats were dancing about the wreckage of the spruce-bough lodge when they heard a fearful roaring and saw rushing upon them an animal the like of which they had never seen before. It was Buck, a live hurricane of fury, hurling himself upon them in a frenzy to destroy. He sprang at the foremost man (it was the chief of the Yeehats), ripping the throat wide open till the rent jugular spouted a fountain of blood. He did not pause to worry the victim, but ripped in passing, with the next bound tearing wide the throat of a second man. (7.39)

Buck’s violent attack on the Yeehats parallels the intensity of his feelings for Thornton.