How Did Jack London View Animal Behavior?

After John Thornton dies and Buck’s only tie to humanity and civilization is severed, Buck proceeds to live out his days in a local wolf pack where he becomes the alpha. Here he becomes a legend to the locals and is forevermore known as the Ghost Dog because of ferocious actions presiding Thornton’s death. Throughout the novel, “The Call of the Wild” it is proven that adaptability is key to one’s survival in any harsh environment. Over the many years in Buck’s time after being kidnapped by Manuel, Buck demonstrated time and time again that being able to adapt to one’s surroundings is and essential to life. In the novel, it is conveyed through many different events and lessons that being able to become accustomed to a setting is key to

“ 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

Human traits and characteristics like imagination, love, anger and revenge are projected by London into Buck’s character, a trait called anthropomorphosis, by using these human feelings and thoughts allowing the reader to better relate to Buck’s understanding and handling of certain situations. “At various points in the narrative, Buck is said to “imagine”, “decide”, “realize”, “know”, “divine”, “wonder”, and so on” (Auerbach 53). Further analysis of London’s narration by Auerbach of Buck is critical, claiming that while London is writing an animal tale, he is doing so more from a human perspective, rather than that of an animal. Unlike other animal tales written during the same time-period, London’s narration helps the story work as an animal story partly due to the way “Buck is put into a situation not in his control, then invested with a human mentality and morality to evaluate the situation, and then represented as reacting to that situation by way of “instinct”,”

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.

In his novel, The Call of the Wild, Jack London wants us to see the step beyond the survival of the fittest to the complete adaptation to and domination of a once unfamiliar and unforgiving environment. Using a third-person, limited omniscient narrator, the cold, icy Yukon wilderness, and a journey from lazy farm life to the deadly work of a sled dog, we see Buck, a Saint Bernard/Scotch Shepherd mix slowly return to his ancestral roots. As Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin states in her book The Call of the Wild: A Naturalistic Romance, “The book deals less with the concept of evolution than with that of devolution” (Courbin pg 57). London asks us to believe that happily domesticated farm dog, Buck, can not only survive life as a sled dog in the Yukon, but can become completely in tune with his primitive inner self, and ultimately thrive as a leader of a wolf pack.

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 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

In The Call of the Wild, Jack London utilizes the uprising of a dog’s primitive nature to communicate the influence of ancestry present within all beings. When Buck is ripped out of domestication, he immediately channels his hidden defensive qualities whenever a sense of danger is present. He discovers traits within himself that he was unaware to have possessed, sometimes even becoming shocked by his own reactions. The instincts of Buck’s ancestors awaken once he arrives in the Yukon Territory which allows him to fend for himself and survive while undergoing the dangerous conditions of the climate. Buck not only fits the criteria necessary to survive, but he goes above and beyond and finds himself successful and thriving as the leader of the

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.

I picked this quote from chapter 6 and it explains the tension building up inside of Buck during his time with John Thornton, who is the ideal master, and his relationship with Buck represents a perfect friendship between a dog and their owner. The author tells us that this is the first time that Buck has loved a human. Yet it is clear that Buck is supposed to free in the wild, so Buck doesn’t know whether to stay with his owner or go free into the wild. But after Thornton is killed and he avenges his death he has no more reasons to not go into the wild where he truly belongs.

While with John, Buck reveals his true character by saving John when he almost fell into a river. This showed respect for his leader, by it also shows how attached Buck could get to someone. Before this Buck was very close to Judge Miller, but never to the point where he would risk his own life for someone else’s. In addition Buck character changed while with John because before he was not willing to trust his new leaders. Until John came into his life, her he trusted him and was willing to do what he wanted. Finally Buck became very protective of John, all the way to the point where he would never let John out of his

Buck used Thornton's love as an escape from the wild, and depended on the comfort Thornton provided as a safe

Another important component of The Call of the Wild is the distinct tone London uses in the story. He primarily uses a simple and robust tone, such as on page 56 when Buck is physically drained from pulling the sleds. On page 56 London writes: “All that stirring of old instincts which at stated periods drives men out from the sounding cities to forest and plain to kill things by chemically propelled leaden bullets, the blood lust, the joy to kill-all this was Buck's, only it was infinitely more intimate. He was ranging at the head of the pack, running the wild thing down, the living meat, to kill with how own teeth and wash his muzzle to the eyes in warm blood." This blatant and robust tone compliments the untamed setting and violence in the plot of the story.

A major theme in many of London’s works was Naturalism, as seen in his books The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and others (insert). London emphasized nature’s beauty as well as harshness in his books, and the change in his descriptions of the surroundings was a very effective way of indirectly changing the mood and tone. This is particularly evident in The Call of the Wild where the dog Buck is taken from his warm