Tracking Song and The Call of the Wild

Matthew King · 13 Jun 2007, 14:00 · from 2007-June.txt.gz

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From: automatthew at gmail.com (Matthew King)
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 09:00:50 -0500
Subject: (urth) Tracking Song and The Call of the Wild
In-Reply-To: <39ed084f0706121721x3c80fad5x85f05aea7dc5515d at mail.gmail.com>
References: <39ed084f0706121721x3c80fad5x85f05aea7dc5515d at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <547B28C7-B747-45B7-8987-1C908393203D at gmail.com>


On Jun 12, 2007, at 7:21 PM, Matthew Groves wrote:

> Unlike Buck in CotW, who becomes increasingly ruthless and brutal,  
> Cutthroat becomes increasingly reluctant to kill and squeamish  
> about eating the flesh of the animal tribes. He doesn't want to eat  
> the Lenizee doe; he gives away his share of the meat from the moose- 
> man Nashhwonk (cf. Buck's ruthless pursuit of the wounded moose);  
> and he refuses to kill the lion-man Ketin. Repeatedly coming into  
> possession of increasingly powerful weapons (the clubbow, the  
> endieva wand, and the horned staff), leaves them behind one by one.

This resembles the arc of _White Fang_ more than _Call of the Wild_.

I haven't read either since I was twelve, so my recollection of the  
details is fuzzy.  But I do recall specifically noting that CotW  
depicts a dog's descent from, and WF a wolf's ascent to, civilization.

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