Motifs And Theme In Jack London's The Call Of The Wild

A domesticated dog that gets stolen and sold to the wild, a mongoose that gets separated from his family, and a fourteen-year-old boy that gets shot at by a group of strange men are all protagonists that face difficult challenges revealing their characteristics. Buck in The Call of the Wild by Jack London is a domesticated dog that gets stolen and sold to a sled dog team as he faces the challenge of surviving in the wilderness. Rikki in “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” by Rudyard Kipling, is a daring mongoose who gets washed away from his family by a monsoon and is taken in by humans where he faces the challenge of surviving against Nag, the evil snake who is targeting him. Walt Masters in “The King of Mazy May” by Jack London is a fearless fourteen-year-old boy who faces the challenge of having to be brave as he saves an old man’s claim from black-bearded stampeders. Buck, Rikki-Tikki, and Walt encounter desperate circumstances where they learn about life.

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

Buck is a type of dog that doesn’t give give up, he was taken through some of the worst conditions and yet survived them. He was stolen, he was beaten, he was forced to run the entire distance of the Yukon mountain range. But yet he pushed through clung to life as if it was the only thing left that he had.

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, the main character in Jack London’s novel Call of the Wild undergoes drastic change from living in his cozy house in California to trudging the cold and dreary lands of the Klondike. London’s novel describes the life of Buck, a simple housedog who is used as a bet and is then brought to an unfamiliar territory, and an unfamiliar lifestyle. Buck becomes a sled dog, learning as he goes. His life is vastly different from what it was once, and he has to adapt and evolve to his new routine. Along the way, Buck endures new challenges such as his struggle for leadership, his willingness to relinquish power to his owner, and internal struggle of wanting to be both wild and civilized. In Jack London’s novel, Call of the Wild, main character Buck evolves from a domesticated pet, into a wild, power-hungry wildebeest.

First, Buck has to fight off one hundred huskies. For example, Buck tries to escape the camp with Spitz. Since, he doesn’t want to be killed by the starving dogs. Second, Buck and the other dogs know Dave has been put down. For instance, the dogs know he has been killed and they are scared. Since, they are all sad, but they are glad it was not them being put down. Last, Buck and the team eat too much and might not be able to stand the cold weather. For example, the dogs could die in the cold. Since, the food makes them full and unable to get up and move around. In conclusion, Buck furthers his knowledge of kill or be killed.

London’s novella Call of the Wild tells the story of Buck’s transformation from a domesticated pet on a vast Santa Clara Valley estate to the primal beast he becomes in the bitter regions of the Klondike wilderness. London delivers Buck’s journey in several key plot events and uses various settings and narration styles to tell the story in a way that allows a reader to easily become invested in Buck’s character and well-being from the viewpoint of a loyal and lovable pet, as well as, that of a creature returning to its primal roots and ancestry. Settings in Call of the Wild consist of generally harsh and vicious locations, situations previously unknown to Buck, and various hostile persons and dogs. As well as a variety of settings, London

Buck learned quickly what was expected of him. He knew that he would be beaten. Not only did he have to worry about his owners beating him but the other dogs. They kept each other in line and moving while in the traces. His first to owners ran him over 2500 miles. Then the third owner ran him more. The next owners had no idea what they were doing. The dogs would not work for them inspite of severe beatings.

In the beginning of the book buck faces kill or be killed situations. First, Buck is trying to take Alpha Dog with spitz. For example, When Buck first goes to Alaska with Francois and encounters Dave and Spitz. Since, Buck fights Spitz to the death for alpha dog and wins that shows that Buck faces kill or be killed situations. Second, Buck has to learn how to pull a dog sled. For instance, When he gets to Alaska and see’s how good the dog sled team is and he’s going to have to step up his game to compete with the other dogs. Since, Buck has to stay on the same level as the other dogs or he’ll get kicked off the team and most likely get killed. Last, Buck Scenes have to change or he's going to get cut from the team. For example, when he first gets and see’s the team's skills and what they can do . Since, he see’s how good the team is and he knows he his whole outlook needs to change.(Conclusion)

In the beginning of the book, Buck must learn to adapt to life in the wild. First, Buck learns how to adapt to no Longer being a King, but a slave instead. For example, the man in the red sweater beats Buck with a club so that Buck will obey him like a slave, including eating out of his hands that just beat him. Since Buck survives the clubbing by not attacking the man, he has learned to adapt to the “Law of the Club.” Second Buck learns how to adapt in the snow. For instance, Buck becomes a great sled dog and leads the team. Since Buck is a great sled the people need him. So they help Buck survive. Last Buck learns how to adapt by being pretty much king, For example he went from being beaten and not loved to being leader and loved and important.

The book I selected to read during this semester is the literary classic The Call of the Wild, a 1903 novel by award-winning author Jack London. I chose to read this story because it is a classic novel and the heroic tone of the novel appealed to me. The novel tells of an initially pampered dog, Buck, and the progression of his tendency to revert to the inner instincts of fierce violence and extreme competition instilled in him. In the process, Buck goes through several different masters before finally landing with the right one. The Call of the Wild is made interesting by the literary devices used in the novel, the simple and robust tone used by London, and the process that the protagonist Buck undergoes in reverting back to his

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.

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.

Adjusting to the survival way had Buck become stronger and more powerful in new ways.In Order to survive you have to defend for yourself and most importantly, you have to overcome your fears. “This first marked Buck as fit to survive in the hostile Northland environment” (London 24). This quote means that Buck had to adjust and learn the new ways of dog V.S. dog to survive he had to steal food to fight his hunger and gain strength

The will and perseverance of a person can get the through the hardest and most difficult of times. The Call of the Wild is an adventure fiction novel by Jack London. The novel gives and insight into human nature. Set during the Yukon gold rush the Call of the wild tells the story of Buck. Buck ,a dog from Southern California, who is kidnaped and sold on the blackmarket to a sled team in Alaska. Perseverance play a big part in buck’s journey throughout the novel.