What does mama most want to do with the insurance money? a. she wants to give it to ruth for a vacation. b. she wants to give it to walter to invest in a business. c. she wants to buy a house for her family. d. she wants to use it to go to africa.

London includes a quote about john thornton as he is observing hal attempt to motivate the exhausted dogs "it was idle, he knew, to get between a fool and his folly". if the word "idle" is defined as "of no real worth, importance, or significance", what does this statement mean with regard to hal? who is the fool? what is hal's folly? why would john thornton think it of no real worth or useless to intervene?