How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph) Shmoop has numbered the chapters continuously, but the book renumbers them in each Part.
Quote #7
He never knew defeat. His early training, when he fought with Lip-lip and the whole puppy-pack, stood him in good stead. There was the tenacity with which he clung to the earth. (17.12)
Once again, early competition makes later competition easier. White Fang just doesn't lose. And that's a good thing too because losing means death and we still have eight or nine more chapters to go.
Quote #8
"I said don't break them teeth," the faro-dealer repeated more ominously than before. But if it was a bluff he intended, it did not work. Scott never desisted from his efforts. (18.41-42)
This isn't a confrontation, but it's definitely a competition. Tim wants Scott to back off. Scott declines, making him the winner in the puffed-up-chest-and-menacing-noises phase of the proceedings.
Quote #9
He snarled more menacingly, crouched still lower, and still the hand descended. He did not want to bite the hand, and he endured the peril of it until his instinct surged up in him, mastering him with its insatiable yearning for life. (19.47)
The competition here is between man and wolf, but for the first time, there's something more than death at stake. Weedon's trying to recover White Fang's soul, and the battle of wills between them is about whether White Fangs trusts him. If he doesn't he'll be killed, but if he does, he'll be saved from all the hate and death surrounding him. Big stakes.