Discussion Topic
John Thornton's Fate and Residence in The Call of the Wild
Summary:
In The Call of the Wild, John Thornton meets his tragic end when he is killed by Yeehat Indians at his remote camp in the Northland. This event occurs while Buck, his loyal dog, is away hunting. Upon his return, Buck discovers Thornton's body and attacks the Yeehats in revenge. Thornton, a transient character, initially resides at a camp by the White River due to an injury, but he frequently moves for work and adventure throughout the story.
Who killed John Thornton in The Call of the Wild?
In chapter seven, John Thorton and his two friends, Pete and Hans, embark on an expedition to a legendary gold mine in the North and take Buck and their other dogs along for the trip. After Thorton and his men strike gold, Buck begins to spend more time in the wilderness, where he ends up killing a bear and a moose. At this point in the story, Buck is beginning to behave more like a wolf than a domesticated dog and feels the urge to abandon his old life behind in order to run with the wolves and embrace the wild. One fateful day, Buck returns to Thorton's camp and discovers that his master has been brutally murdered by a group of Yeehat Indians. After discovering Thorton's lifeless body, Buck becomes incensed with fury and rage and proceeds to attack the defenseless Yeehats, who proclaim that Buck is an evil...
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spirit. Overall, John Thorton is brutally murdered by a group of Yeehat Indians at his camp, which is deep in Northland away from civilization.
Buck has left John and the mining camp to go hunt and has decided that he will bring down a great old bull moose. As he follows it and harries it for days, the Yeehat Indians have attacked the mining camp and killed John. Buck knows nothing of this until he kills and feasts on the moose and then begins his journey back to camp. On his way there he begins to sense that something has changed. He notes that the animals are different and making different noises and singing different songs.
When he finally reaches the camp, the Yeehats are still there and he attacks them with an incredible ferocity. They were so terrified and he was so ferocious that they thought it was the evil spirit come to torment them.
Where did John Thornton live in The Call of the Wild?
John Thornton did not have a permanent home in this book. He moved around doing various things to make money.
When we first meet Thornton in Chapter V, he is living in a camp at the mouth of the White River. We are told at the start of the next chapter that Thornton stayed there because he had frozen his feet. He and some partners had been going to get a raft of logs to bring back to Dawson, but he froze his feet and had to make a camp where he could recover.
But even after he heals, Thornton does not go back and live in Dawson. We are told that he used money from the raft of logs to finance an expedition to the headwaters of the Tanana. We also know that Thornton later goes out with a group of men to look for the lost mine (where they are later killed).
So Thornton doesn't live in any one place, but when we first meet him he is in that camp at the mouth of the White River.