Call Of The Wild Character Analysis

The Call of the Wild, on the surface, is a story about Buck, a four- year old dog that is part Shepherd and part St. Bernard. More importantly, it is a naturalistic tale about the survival of the fittest in nature. Throughout the novel, Buck proves that he is fit and can endure the law of the club, the law of the fang, and the laws of nature.

Buck lives in Judges Millers estate at the beginning of both the book and the movie. He is then kidnapped by Manuel, the gardener. He is sold to dog salesmen heading to Alaska. He is disciplined by the Law of Club and Fang. The man in the red sweater takes Buck out of the cage and repeatedly beats him. Buck continues to try to attack until he is to week to fight. He then learns the law of Club and Fang.

Finally john Thornton stepped in and threatened the mans life if he laid another hand on the dog. He then took the dog from him; the rest of the team was drove on by the men just to fall threw a river and die. Buck was aloud to rest and gain his weight back. John Thornton became his best friend.

He began again to daze off staring at the fire and imagining the hairy man crouched down in the summer sun. The Call of the Wild written by Jack London is an adventure book that follows the life of a once tamed dog known as Buck to a dog that has retrogressed to a more primitive state during the Yukon Gold Rush. Buck who eventually answered the call of the wild had to go through many difficulties to get there.The theme power of the primitive is reinforced by the retrogression of a dog despite the love of mankind.

“ From far away drifted a faint, sharp yelp, followed by a chorus of a similar sharp yelps (London 105).” In the book, Call of the Wild by Jack London the main character Buck faces a retrogression. Buck goes from being king like to a wild rebellious dog. Buck goes through this change because men found gold. The men needed dogs like Buck. Buck was half saint Bernard and half scotch-shephard, so he was a gigantic dog and had a thick coat to survive in harsh weather like in the Klondike. So Buck is sold and beat he learns to obey the law of club and fang to be formed into a sled dog, but ends up forming a bond with a man his name was John Thornton . Thornton died and Buck answers the call and runs in the wild becoming alpha of the wolf pack. As Buck was

London uses the motif to shatter Buck’s existence of civil domestication from the moment the rope is placed around his neck and is handed to the stranger. First, being choked into unconsciousness, it is an introduction to shock and suffering he experiences through repeated beatings and acts of violence he witnesses, with the death of Curly being the first act of savage violence displayed by not humans, but other dogs. “So that was the way. No fair play. Once down, that was the end of you,” is the realization Buck comes to when he watches Curly torn to pieces (London, Ch. 2, par. 4). London sets what can only be imagined as an intimidating and frightening scene for the dogs when describing the death of Curly, or even more so, Buck’s fight to the death with

Buck was treated with no respect and was abused by the man in the red sweater . In chapter 1 it states ‘’deliberately dealt him a frightful blow.’’ This shows the

Buck is the main character of this novel. The other animals in the novel are Buck, Curly, Spitz, Dave, Billee, Joe, Sol-leks, Dolly, Pike, Dub, Skeet, and Nig. Buck’s mother was a Scotch Sheppard, and his father was a huge Saint Bernard. Buck was a civilized dog, but answers the call of the wild and becomes one with the wild. Curly was Buck’s companion on the boat trip to the North. Curly is described in the novel as a “good-natured Newfoundland.” Curly does not survive long; however, Buck learns a gruesome lesson when he sees how easily Curly was murdered while trying to be friendly with Spitz. Spitz was the dog that assassinated Curly and becomes Buck’s most bitter enemy. He was terminated later in the novel by Buck in a dog brawl. Buck’s victory entitled him to take over the lead of the dogs that belonged to Spitz. The dog fight illustrated to me Buck’s ability to survive even among the most primitive elements. Dave, Billee, Joe, Sol-leks, Dolly, Pike, and Dub are the other dogs that serve on the dogsled team with Buck. Finally, Skeet and Nig were two of John Thornton’s dogs that he owned before he rescued and adopts

Buck lost everything that he wants and everything that he loves. “The last tie was broken. Man and the claims of man no longer bound him.”(23). The quote explains he was free from the chains of man and love. The last of the domestic animal was gone and only there was the fierce wolf. Then came the blood lusting to kill whoever had murdered John Thornton, his handler and his lover. John Thornton had meant everything to him, Thornton was the reason he came back from the forest each time. He felt the grief of losing his loved one who he could not live without. The original Buck was gone he was replaced by the mighty wolf, the alpha of a wolf

Buck in the book “The Call of the Wild”, goes through many obstacles where he faced getting killed. He was just an ordinary house dog, but was kidnapped by his family’s gambling-addicted gardener. He later is beaten with a bat until he obeys and

Manuel kidnaps Buck and sells him to pay off a debt. Buck’s trustworthy nature changes as soon as he is beaten and is not fed or allowed to drink water. When Buck arrives in Seattle he is almost beaten to death by the man in the red sweater. "He saw, once for all, that he stood no chance against a man with a club." (Call of the Wild, page 19). Buck learns from this horrible incident the ‘law of the club.’ The law of the club states that a dog is no match for a man with a weapon. Buck witnesses as his newly-made friend named Curly is torn to pieces by thirty or forty huskies after she falls to the ground from fighting. Buck is taught the ‘law of the fang’ from Curly’s death scene. The law of the fang recognizes the fact that once a dog falls to the ground he is dead. In the north, Buck learns many traits that will help him journey through the north in order to survive. Buck learns that he has to eat his food quickly in order to not have it stolen; he learns to steal food to survive, because the daily ration cannot fill his stomach; he learns to break the ice out from his toes; and finally Buck learns that in order to stay warm during the harsh, freezing nights, he has to make a ‘nest’ to sleep in. Because Buck learns these new secrets of the sled dogs, he is able to survive in the north and to maintain his

For example, a theme of survival of the fittest is presented when Buck first joins the sledding team, as there is a constant power struggle between characters, particularly Buck and Spitz. On the other hand, incidents such as Buck’s initial beating at the hand of his master symbolize Buck’s departure from his pampered life at the estate to his survival-based situation as a sled dog. These literary devices add a crucial element to the book and enhance the story for the reader.

Buck’s owner had died and he visited the sight of his death before living on as a wolf, “but every year he returns to the place Thornton died, to mourn his master before returning to his life in the wild”. Everyone has lost someone in their lives. It’s just a part of life, just how Buck treats it like a real human being, but then goes back to his life as a wolf. Buck also overcomes the adversity of the abusive owners. Buck tries to fight the owners off but gets suffocated,”Then the rope tightened mercilessly, while Buck struggled in a fury, his tongue lolling out of his mouth”. Buck is overcoming the harsh and abusive conditions of these owners. We go through times in our lives that are tough like Buck. Some say that the abusive manner towards the dogs is too much. But, it shows how much Buck has changed through the book, how he has become stronger, and how we treat dogs

In The Call of the Wild Buck overcomes many tough challenges that make him a better dog. When Buck got sold to the man in the red sweater he got beaten many times. Buck got beaten because he wasn’t obeying

Call of the Wild is a novella written by Jack London that is ironic about life and the way we look at it. We look at life as humans and other things are just living in our world, that nothing else has a say in the world because we do not speak the same languages. Example of this is how we “own” dogs, cats, horses, etc; we do not “own” them, they are their own being with goals of their own. We may not be able to understand what they are saying or what they are thinking, but as London explains throughout his novella, one dog in particular has such high aspirations for himself that he will not quit for anything and his name is Buck. Never giving up on what you want in your life is the real message in this story that is being portrayed through the life of Buck.