Call+of+the+Wild


 * Discussion Time:**
 * Friday, January 20 7:55-9:25 (2B)**

Matt Chiu Dillon Peacock Ryan Jack Yannik Fischer Ben Soule Anne Tommaso
 * Group Members:**

Pre-Discussion Information
The purpose of this section is to sort out the basic fiction elements in the novel. This is a good way to check your understanding of the novel, and the group can use this information as a reference during the discussion. You can use your collective knowledge to answer these questions and build a foundation for your discussion so the conversation can focus on higher level issues.

Post on the wiki prior to discussion and include textual references for each element.
 * Characters - List at least 3 significant details for each character.
 * Buck, Spitz, Sol-eks, Curly, Dave, Red Sweater, John Thorton, Judge Miller, Hal, Yeehats.
 * Setting(s) - Starts In Santa Clara CA and makes their way to Alaska. Buck is stolen by the Gardener of the home he lives at and sold for money. This is during the Gold Rush so everyone is trying to make their way up to Alaska to get their bit of gold. Dogs that were good for getting across the rough terrain and tundra were in high demand and it was a good market for stolen dogs.
 * Important plot events - Choose at least 3 significant plot elements and explain their importance.
 * 1.) Was stolen from his home and sold for cash by the gardener.
 * 2.) When he was beaten by one of the owners.... This he isn’t use to.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3.) When John Thorton dies and buck returns to his wild family.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Conflicts - Identify and elaborate on the conflicts that drive the plot.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The main catalyst of the story, is when buck is forced into labor after being discarded by his owners for poor behavior. This unleashes a series of sub-plots and contingencies, remarking on his harsh new existence in the northern climate.


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Narration (point of view) - Describe how the telling impacts the story.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The 3rd person narration captured the environmental displays that the surroundings radiated. Because the main character isn’t capable of thinking intellectually, the outside source of thinking added depth.


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Qualities of the journey - Each group member should make a statement about the journey (metaphorical, literal, etc.) and how the character changes (or not...).

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why Jack doesn’t write about emotions? There are some sad situations!

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I thought overall the journey was very compelling, and captured the brutality of some of the situations very well. It was interesting to see bucks personality change so dramatically in accordance to the surroundings.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Agenda
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We recognize that a good discussion is a mix of planned and spontaneous conversation. Therefore, this section is designed to help you to plan the discussion without prescribing too rigidly. Your agenda should have a good mix of the following:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">9009Discussion Questions:
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What are the issues and ideas within this novel you’d like your group to discuss? Be sure to consider various parts of the text (beginning, middle and end). Collaboratively create 15-25 open-ended questions that promote discussion and organize them logically.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Personal Response Questions__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- These questions might address your personal reactions to the style and content of the novel and ask group members to share and compare.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Even though the book was about dogs and was in the mind of dogs, did you find a human connection? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Did the ending make you sad--Buck leaving the company of humans--or not? Why? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. If the whole book is a journey: what does Buck gain or lose? How is he different at the end?


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Open-ended, analytical questions__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- These promote multiple perspectives and don’t yield a single answer. They address the WHY and HOW.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Why do you think the story and specifically the narrator speaks with so little emotion? How does this affect your reading? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Do you think Buck would want to go back to his former life if he had the choice? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. What do you think London meant by “The Call”? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4. Is it fair to compare Buck to a human? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5. What are your opinions of John Thornton? Is he different from other humans in this story?


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Significant passage questions__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- Observe, as you would in close reading, the qualities of the text and how the passage brings meaning to the novel overall.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are a lot of passages that talk about the power of instinct: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. “All that stirring of old instincts which at stated periods dries men out from the sounding cities to forest and plain to kill things by chemically propelled leaded pellet, the blood lust, the joy to kill--all this was Buck’s, only it was infinitely more intimate. He was ranging at the head of the pack, running the wild thing down, the living meat, to kill with his own teeth and wash his muzzle to the eyes in warm blood” (43). <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What does this quote say about human and animal instincts?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Protocols:
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Use of at least two protocols and customize them to fit a discussion of your novel
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Choose protocols to include all members and specify what will be addressed using that protocol.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Make use of the <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Discussion Resources__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> linked here or create your own.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Connections:
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Learn about your book and widen your discussion by researching outside resources. Each must include a specific part of the text the group should focus on, a statement about why the outside source is relevant, plus at least one comment or question for discussion. The outside resources can include:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://go.galegroup.com.ursus-proxy-10.ursus.maine.edu/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=LitRC&userGroupName=maine&tabID=T001&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=2&contentSet=GALE|H1420031075&&docId=GALE|H1420031075&docType=GALE&role=LitRC


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">literary criticism
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">book reviews
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">other works of literature - White Fang, short stories To Build a Fire, An Odyssey of the North and Love of Live.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">literary theory
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">author information -- Born 1/12/1876 died 11/22/16 - interviews, obituaries, statements
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">trailers/spin-offs/popular culture references

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Information on “Survival of the the Fittest”: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/340400.html__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How does this theory affect our understanding of the story and of Buck’s character?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Check out this information on wikipedia comparing morality and instinct. Maybe we could think about this conflict in connection with Buck? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_of_the_fittest__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> ...look under “Morality”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cool photographs of Klondike Gold Rush by Photographer, Hegg. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://content.lib.washington.edu/heggweb/index.html__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Maybe we could think about these in relation to setting in the novel?