Comparing The Dog And The Old-Timer

Well the main character is buck. He was born on a judge’s ranch in Mexico. He was the king of the ranch, everyone loved him. Them one day a gardener took him for a walk, and he was sold. He fought the man that bought him; he was stuffed in a cage. Buck is a huge half breed saint Bernard, and Scottish shepherd. He Is sent to Alaska and sold for a sled dog. He goes through several different owners.

The man represents the fraction of society that doesn't respect nature. He doesn't understand the power of nature because he is oblivious to it. On the other hand the dog was "told a truer tale than that was told to the man by the man's judgement." The man "did not know cold. Possibly all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold, of real cold." "The was no keen intimacy between the dog and the man." The man and the dog are together because the man needs the dog, and the dog has no choice. They have no emotional connection between them because the dog is used as a slave. In one part of the story the man uses the dog to test the trail and make sure that it is safe. The dog has more inherent knowledge about the area, all of his "ancestry knew" about the cold and the dangers of extreme cold. He also had a warm "natural covering" to keep him safe from the weather. The man was not used to the cold. He "was without imagination. He was quick and alert to the things of life, but only the things, and not the significances." He also was stubborn for his neglect to take advice.

The main character of the story is doomed from the start. London says, “The man broke through” telling the reader about the main character’s experience with the water spring (London 337). Nature gives him bad luck over and over again, showing us his doomed fate from the start. Naturalism also demonstrates the environment being indifferent; the environment does nothing to help its inhabitants. The Yukon does not cease the bitter coldness when the man is struggling to stay alive: “He was losing this battle with the frost” (London 344). This indifference makes survival the only possible goal to try to reach. Another characteristic of Naturalism is the force of instinct. London states in the story, “The dog did not know anything about thermometers. Possibly in its brain there was no sharp conscious or a condition of very cold such as in the man’s brain. But the brute had its instinct” (London 334). The dog’s instincts give it an awareness of the wilderness that is superior to or better than the man’s sense of judgment. The dog’s instinct also ties in with the Naturalistic characteristic of heredity. The dog, unlike the man, has physical characteristics that have been passed down genetically

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”,”

Another way it thinks that the author has set-up a man and an animal as competitors is to show how similar things a human would do like an animal if put in such a situation such as high winds, predators, and a constant danger of frostbite, a human would only care about three things, food, shelter and water like an animal. With the only source of food, a human would resort to savage ways so similar to the ways of a polar bear as the story states, “without an instant 's hesitation the man hurled his spear” (p. 164) and when “with a growl of rage, the bear tore it loose and charged upon the man” (p. 164). This shows that when a human is exposed to this type of environment, they would kill for food without

”Buck faced the great problem of sleeping .¨ ¨A chill wind was blowing that nipped him sharply and bit especial venom into his wounded shoulder.´´This help the reader understand the character was experiencing a new situation having to sleep in the cold. He had to observe the other dogs to understand what needed to be done to survive the cold weather.

The man in this story has had a long and difficult journey, filled with emotional and physical pain. The only company he had was a native dog who followed him everywhere he went. The cold air of the Yukon trail presented a major problem for the man as he fought off frost bite. Throughout the story he struggled against nature a lot. With ups and downs along the way, the weather was always against him as he thought of ways to survive. In the end, nature won.

Alternatively, the dog has a different biology make up than the human. The husky dog has a thick furry coat cuddling his warm body. Even though the dog probably never experienced such climate as the man, its biology make up allows the dog to survive and is therefore fit enough to support such extreme cold. The other difference between the man and the dog is

In “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, the protagonist’s overconfidence causes him to eventually freeze to death. To begin with, the man tests the temperature of the air by spitting in the air. He shows confusion when the spittle crackles in the air, and not when it touches the ground. He admits that he does not know how cold it is, just that it is colder than usual. This detail reveals the man is inexperienced because he is a newcomer and has a lot of confidence that causes him to ignore all the warnings and advice given to him. His lack of experience shines through when he does not even know the temperature of the place. Not long after, the man feels the frostbite starting to dig into his fingers as he paused momentarily for a lunch break.

The man had no imagination and only understood facts. He knew it was very cold and his body was numb, but he failed to realize the danger. A newcomer with no experience, he thought he was invincible. Neither the "absence of sun from the

Usually when a person is given advice from an older and wiser person, they accept and use the advice. This man refused the advice given to him by the man from Sulphur Creek. He recollected when the old man told him how cold it got sometimes, and the man laughed at the thought. Once again, after he fell into the freezing water, he remembered the old man telling him that no man should travel alone in 50 below 0 weather or colder. After escaping the cold water, he had made a fire to warm himself up; all was going well. This made him think how “womanish” the old man was and how much of a manly man he, himself was (London 553). Soon, thereafter, his fire was put out by the snow on a tree because of his recklessness when gathering sticks for the fire. After that he realized

The protagonist meets his demise because of his lack in intuition and imagination. (Short Story Criticism) The miner heads out to the miners camp after being warned to not travel at such cold temperatures. The miner displays his lack of intuition many times throughout the story. The miner proves he lacks in instinct when he says “fifty below zero is just uncomfortable and cold.” (London 1) “The protagonist travels against the advice of experienced prospects, thinking that he will make it successfully.” (Short Story Criticism) He shows his inexperience further when he thinks it is “fifty below when it’s actually seventy-five below zero.”(London 2)The recurring motif of man versus nature supports the lack of intuition theory. The secondary main character displays the instinct traits the man does not have. It shows how the wolf-dog senses the severity of the climate while the miner just views it as uncomfortable and cold. The miner further proves his lack of

First, I am going to analyze the dog’s relationship with the man. the man is on his way to meet the boys with his only companion, a wolf dog which represents the bond we have with nature. The dog relies on the man to provide warmth by fire and the man needs the dog for his instincts. I believe the that since it is a wolf dog it has both traits as a wild wolf and a domesticated dog. It is like a gateway between humanity and nature which allows us to be a part of it. The dog never left the man’s side because he needed him. The man however, the attempted to kill the dog to spare his life. The man also sent the dog across the lake knowing that the dog’s instincts could get him across. The man heavily relied on the dog for his survival and was willing to sacrifice him for the man’s

* Dave- a hardworking dog who runs behind Buck in the team and ‘teaches’ Buck by nipping him to correct his mistake. Dave is

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.