CHAPTER II—THE SHE-WOLF, an excerpt
From White Fang
By Jack London

Breakfast eaten and the slim camp-outfit lashed to the sled, the men turned their backs on the cheery fire and launched out into the darkness. At once began to rise the cries that were fiercely sad—cries that called through the darkness and cold to one another and answered back. Conversation ceased. Daylight came at nine o'clock. At midday the sky to the south warmed to rose-colour, and marked where the bulge of the earth intervened between the meridian sun and the northern world. But the rose-colour swiftly faded. The grey light of day that remained lasted until three o'clock, when it, too, faded, and the pall of the Arctic night descended upon the lone and silent land.

As darkness came on, the hunting-cries to right and left and rear drew closer—so close that more than once they sent surges of fear through the toiling dogs, throwing them into short-lived panics.

At the conclusion of one such panic, when he and Henry had got the dogs back in the traces, Bill said:

"I wisht they'd strike game somewheres, an' go away an' leave us alone."

"They do get on the nerves horrible," Henry sympathized.

They spoke no more until camp was made.

Question 1
At once began to rise the cries that were fiercely sad—cries that called through the darkness and cold to one another and answered back
How do the words fiercely sad impact the story?

A. They imply an evil intent.
B. They imply a looming coldness.
C. They suggest a feeling of unease.
D. They suggest a celebration.

Question 2
As darkness came on, the hunting-cries to right and left and rear drew closer, ...
What is the purpose of this sentence in the story?

A. It implies a mood of utter despair.
B. It implies a near tragic event.
C. It creates a feeling of being trapped.
D. It creates a sense of action.

Question 3
...the men turned their backs on the cheery fire and launched out into the darkness.
What part of this line most clearly adds to the tension in the story?

A. The contrast between the fire and the darkness
B. Using the word launched to describe the departure
C. The description of the men turning their backs
D. Ending the sentence on a dark note

Question 4
They spoke no more until camp was made.
What does this last line of this section suggest about what will happen next?

A. The men will continue to feel uneasy and fearful.
B. The men will feel more and more hopeful.
C. The men will find new ways to communicate.
D. The men will soon have better days.

lithograph is created by etching the flat surface of a print.

perhaps donatello’s landmark work – and one of the greatest sculptural works of the early renaissance – was his bronze statue of david.  this work signals the return of the sculpture in the round figure, and because it was the first such work like this in over a thousand years, it is one of the most important works in the history of western art.

david is shown at a triumphal moment within the biblical storyline of his battle with the philistine, goliath.  according to the account, after david struck goliath with the stone from his slingshot, he cut off his head with goliath’s sword.  here, we see the aftermath of this event as david stands in a contemplative pose with one foot atop his enemy’s severed head.  david wears nothing but boots and a shepherd’s hat with laurel leaves on top of it, which may allude to his victory or to his role as a poet and musician.

before donatello’s work, david was typically depicted as a king, given his status in the old testament.  here, however, we have a stark change in the way david is depicted.  not only is he shown in the, but he’s also a youth.  in middle ages, nudity was not used in art except in certain moral contexts, such as the depiction of adam and eve, or the sending of souls off to the underworld.  in the classical world, was often used in a different, majestic context, such as with figures who were gods, heroes, or athletes.  here, donatello seems to be calling to mind the type of heroic nudity of antiquity, since david is depicted at triumphal point in the biblical narrative of his victory over goliath.

as for david’s youthfulness, donatello has gone back to the early life of the biblical david to depict him, rather than to his later life as a king.  it seems that donatello is trying to associate david’s youth with an innocent and virtuous life.  david looks young here – so young, in fact, that his muscles have barely developed enough to hold the large sword – that his victory over his foe is all the more improbable.  could david’s victory have been gained without divine intervention?   donatello’s work seems to imply that the answer is “no” – the victory was god’s rather than man’s.

in any case, donatello’s david is a classic work of renaissance sculpture, given its judaeo-christian subject matter modeled on a classical sculptural type.  it was revolutionary for its day – so much so that it did not get copied right away.  the idea of the life-sized sculpture-in-the-round evidently took some time to sink in and become an acceptable statue type