One of the main themes in this book is the appeal of the wild. It draws in Buck, and it draws in the reader. Eventually, you will write a longer story about the wild. Now is a good time to start thinking about what you can write about. Take a few minutes to come up with a list of questions about "the wild" that you might be interested in exploring further. Perhaps it can be about how your ancestors lived a long time ago. Or, it could be about where you live and what it was like before people settled there. It can be about you, about an animal, or some other big idea connected to the wild.

Once you have written down your questions, reflect and identify one or two you might want to explore further. Note two possible sources you might be able to use to find information to help you answer at least two of your questions.

The most important reason is economic opportunity. You may have moved or your family may have moved in their lifetime, and chances are it was for an economic opportunity. Perhaps your mother or father got a new job or couldn't find a job where you were living, or your guardian was transferred or something like that. That tends to be the reason why most people move today is for better economic opportunities. Some people are looking for resources. This is very common in ancient times. If a river were to dry up or a water source would be gone, civilization would be forced to move on to find more resources. More land is another reason people migrate. That was a very popular reason for the settlement of the Western United States. Lots of settlers came from not only within the United States, but around the world in order to own their own land. Forced migration is another reason for migration. People, ethnic groups especially, have been victims of being expelled from a region and having to relocate by force. Other groups have chosen to relocate because of other forced reasons, such as disease epidemics or because of war. So all of these reasons are part of the reasons why people either have to move or choose to move, not only in the past, but also today.