Call Of The Wild Character Analysis

In the middle of the story, Buck develops a strong emotional feeling for John Thornton because he viewed Thornton as a hero for saving him from the blows he was getting and the rest of the torture he had experienced or was about to experience. This shows how Buck is

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.

     After all that he had been through, one would hardly suppose that Buck could love a person. However, love he can and love he does. He loves John almost more than is possible; once, as a joke, John commanded Buck to “Jump!” over a cliff. A second later, he was struggling with Buck at the very edge of the precipice. They could happily live together for the rest of their lives...if it weren’t for “the call”.

In the story The Call of the Wild “the call” symbolizes a wolf howl calling to Buck to come

Buck took the primordial beast from within him and let it be free. He knew that if he didn’t keep up with the like he now knew he would fall behind and be lost forever. He had taught himself to survive on the little food that they had. He, Buck had transformed himself. He once was the protector of the family (Judge Miller’s family and farm workers). He would chaperone the kids on their walks through the woods and made sure that they got to their destination safely. Buck trusted everyone on the ranch, so much that when Manuel ; one of Judge Miller’s workers went to sell Buck, all he had to do was call him so that he could bring him to the trading destination.

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.

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

Jack London brings a natural instinct into the spotlight by defining that everyone has that primal call to the wild, and often one feels this when in a difficult situation. Giving into this ‘call of the wild’ leads to a different kind of adaptation, it makes you become primal to survive in a primal situation. Further into the book it states, “The others sat down and howled. And now the call came to Buck in unmistakable accents. He, too, sad down and howled.” (London, 1990, p.62). This is the defining moment of Jack’s book when Buck lets go of all ties to humans and decides to carve his own path, adapting the way he needs to, not the way that humans encouraged him. Soon, Buck changes himself completely to fit snugly into the environment and to prevent further torturous struggles with humans. These quotes combine to paint a picture of total and complete change when it comes to a new and unfavorable environment.

We are all born into this world, never knowing what life has in store for us. It’s a journey that we are all not accustomed to, some of us grasp onto life and use its full potential, as others take the high road and use life as a chance of self exploration. The novel, Into the Wild, portrays a college graduate and successful homebody, Jonathan McCandless, taking a life’s journey that not even his parents expected. This character analysis will showcase how even in life, when one was given everything, we all have a choice to make our own path in life. The character analysis will also shine light on McCandless psyche, home life and the psychological theory to the why, behind his self exploration.

Buck answered the call of the wild after Thornton’s death. He ran and howled with the wolves. The Indians called him a ghost dog because he was a powerful wolf who came to the place where Thornton died every year. This was because Buck felt the passionate love for him and Thornton. Buck saved Thornton, risking his life. “Love. Genuine, passionate love, was his first time.” (pg 73). What the influence of love Thornton had for Buck was unbreakable. Thornton’s influence allowed Buck to grow more

       Buck wasn't always considered such a leader. Getting to that leading spot wasn't always so easy, but yet it came to Buck like a second nature. I like to think Buck was born with a leadership trait and it shows in many ways throughout this book. Whether it was fighting for the top spot or even just knowing what was right for his fellow mates and treating them just right. He had to be brave and strong yet very clever. He was a big help and a blessing to many  people and also even dogs. Buck knew what wanted in his life and that was to be a leader in addition to that he'd do anything to get to that spot.

Call of the Wild A major theme in The Call of The Wild is that one must adapt to survive, which buck does throughout the entire book. At the beginning of the book, Buck sees he needs to begin to assimilate to his surroundings. First, Buck learns, not everything is perfect, nor is everyone. For example, he sees that Manuel isn’t perfect when he steals and sells him so he can have money for the Chinese Lottery.

Buck went through many different struggles throughout the book, Call of the Wild. For example, he was repeatedly abused by almost all of his owners. The man in the red sweater, would beat him with clubs. This made Buck feel weaker,

The relations between Buck and the human he encounters are marked not surprisingly, by opposing forces, actions, roles or values: love and hate, master and slave, uneasy truce and open war, hunter and victim. Buck enters the story in his sustaining California environment as ruler of all he surveys: he was “king, -king over all creeping, crawling flying things of Judge Miller’s place, humans included.” Taken out of that happy valley, he was starved and mistreated by his captors and then subdued by the brutal club of a shrewd, red-sweated man. The man conquers Buck and Buck hates him; yet the beating brings with it the curiously ambiguous relation between master and slave: “When the man brought him water he drank eagerly, and later bolted a generous meal of raw meat, chunk by chunk from the man’s hand.” Buck’s understanding of human beings will henceforth be defined by power and the politic dispensing of the necessities of life.

By the end of the novel, Buck had made one last major mistake that would change the course of his life even more so than when he got kidnapped. His last failure was when he failed to save is best “master”, John Thornton. “Death, as a cessation of movement, as passing out and away from the living, he knew, and he knew John Thornton was dead,” (London 112). Buck tried to save him, he used everything he had to save the only person he ever truly loved, but he couldn’t. No matter how violently Buck killed a Native American, it couldn't stop them from killing John.