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, 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.
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.
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.
The author of The Call of the Wild, Jack London, heavily influenced the literary world with his inspirational works, specifically surrounding the theme of Naturalism. London followed the same theme, among others, in many of his works, focusing on how the environment affects its inhabitants and the details of the environment itself. The descriptions of nature London took the time to include in his books and the way they affect the story is what makes his works truly remarkable. He strongly committed himself to his works and put a great deal of effort into researching them to ensure accuracy. In The Call of the Wild, there are three main themes that are made evident: naturalism, coming of age, and loss of innocence. Naturalism is what London is most known for, and is shown through his attention to the surroundings of his characters. Coming of age was displayed through specific life changing events that altered Buck’s perspective. And finally, loss of innocence can be seen in the gradual, but sure decline of Buck’s morals.
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
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 the novel Call of the Wild, Buck is a domesticated dog at Judge Miller's house in Santa Clara Valley, California. Buck lived in a large spacious grounds filled with orchards and gardens. Buck was Judges Miller's companion, he took his daughters on walks and hunts with his son’s, he considered himself to be superior than the other dogs living at the house. He was a large built dog, a mix of St. Bernard and Scotch Shepherd, and weighs 140 pounds. During this time period, gold has been discovered in the Yukon and Alaska, there has been big demands for strong built dogs to pull sleds up to the arctic. Manuel, a gardener at Judge Miller's estate has gambling issues and is in need for money, and with the demand for sled dogs for the arctic, he manages to kidnap Buck and sell him to a saloon-keeper and is transported to the north on train. What Buck does not know is what lies ahead of him in this journey, it's the beginning of Buck's survival.
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.
Beaten, neglected, and loved Buck dealt with all those things. In the story ‘’ The Call of the Wild ‘’, the central theme is how one treats animals can reflect on what kind of person they are.
“Your circle of influence dictates your path.” -John Bielecki. Influence others have can guide your life. In the book “Call of the Wild”, Jack London uses the influence of masters. Buck is a pampered prince in Santa Clara Valley, in Judge Miller’s house. One day, he is kidnapped and sold to be a sled dog. Buck met several masters, the man in the red sweater, Francois and Perrault, and John Thornton. All of them played a great role for Buck’s rapid growth. Under the harsh environment of toiling, Buck gradually grew into an undefeatable, wild beast. Among his masters, Buck felt passionate love for him and Thornton. After Thornton’s death Buck returns to the wild, but the trace of civilization left him brings him to the place where Thornton
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.
Throughout the story of The Call of the Wild, Buck had many relationships with many different individuals. Some were loving owners while others were terrible. The four most important that had the most influence of Buck were his original owner, Judge Miller, François and Perrault, and John Thornton. Eventually Buck took control of his own life and became his own master. In this essay, I am going to describe the relationships of Buck and his owners and what each of them taught him.
Perseverance is an immense trait that rules all if one contains it. Never giving up, pushing through, that is what it means, and that’s what it takes. Perseverance can be mastered by anyone, you have to fight and never back down to succeed. Raise the bar, and push past others. Both Buck and Leighton persevered by succeeding in the face of adversity and giving it everything they had.
In The Call of the Wild, one theme could be that only the strongest survive, Buck goes through significant changes in his life and has to learn very quickly how to adapt in order to survive. The connection between this theme and natural selection is that if you are not able to adapt or suited for a certain task, you will fail. If Buck had not adapted and learned how to a sled dog, he would have most likely of died. When it says "only the strongest survive" it means that if you are not prepared or are weak, you will die first. In natural selection, when disasters happen or things in the world change, only the strongest, smartest, and quickest to adapt will survive. Bucks life changed very rapidly, but he was able to adapt very quickly to his