Interpreting The Call of The Wild
In his classic book "The Call of the Wild," Jack London tells the narrative of Buck, a domestic dog who is kidnapped from his cozy home in California and sold into the harsh world of the Alaskan gold rush. As he struggles how to endure in the brutal and merciless wilderness throughout the book, Buck's character evolves, eventually embracing his wild animal instincts.
The novel is a story that explores the theme of naturalism, where the struggle for survival is the primary driving force of life. The journey of Buck serves as a metaphor for the state of humanity, in which social pressures frequently cause our natural primal tendencies to be suppressed. Buck is stripped of his domesticated life and introduced into the wild, his natural instincts begin to
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Buck’s transformation is not without struggle and loss. Throughout the novel, he faces many challenges and obstacles, and only through his strength and resilience is he able to survive. For example, London writes, “he was beaten (he knew that); but he was not broken. He saw, once for all, that he stood no chance against a man with a club. He learned the lesson, taking the experience to heart…” (Chapter 1). This quote highlights the importance of Bucks adaptability and resilience in the face of adversity, a key theme in the novel. Buck learns that he must conquer all the obstacles and adversities he faces in order to survive. London shows how Buck now thinks in this new world he is now in, “He must master or be mastered; while to show mercy was a weakness. Mercy did not exist in the primordial life. It was misunderstood for fear, and such misunderstandings made for death. Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the law; and this mandate, down out of the depths of Time, he obeyed.” (Chapter 6). This quote shows the new mindset of Buck that is now printed in his mind from all the past lessons he has
Buck had strong natural instincts; "the dominant beast was strong in him Once he was forced to learn to survive in the new order, his dead instincts became alive again". Buck's sight and scent became remarkably keen;his hearing developed acuteness. The need to survive awakened and the old tricks which they had stamped into the heredity of the breed;came to him without effort or discovery taken to a man in a red sweater, the man with the club is king, he's in control. Buck was constantly lunging and fighting with the man in the club. But Buck knew he could never win.
The suddenness and violence of his capture further emphasize the loss and trauma he experiences. As Buck adapts to his new life as a sled dog, he also experiences the loss of his identity as a domesticated pet. He learns to tap into his primal instincts and becomes more like a wild animal than a domesticated one. This loss of identity is exemplified in Chapter 3, where Buck fights fiercely with the other sled dogs: "He was sounding the deeps of his nature, and of the parts of his nature that were deeper than he, going back into the womb of Time. He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars and over the face of dead matter that did not move" (London
In Call of The Wild, Buck, the main character, is forced to push through treacherous conditions and dangerous situations to achieve his goals, showing his undying perseverance. Buck is able to persevere through everything due to his extreme want to be great at everything he does, no matter the activity. He never gives up, even through tough circumstances, and this results in his pulling a ton with his own strength, and leading his team through the perilous slopes of the Yukon. “He was beaten (he knew that); but he was not broken,” (Chapter 1, Paragraph 40).
Have you ever wanted to live in Alaska and travel all through the Yukon delivering mail, panning for gold, or go hunting for moose? In the adventure novel Call of the Wild by Jack London, the main character Buck goes from pampered pup to wild beast, Buck travels around Alaska going from city to city, fighting to survive in the dangerous Yukon. Slowly throughout the book, Buck’s permeative instincts come out and isn’t like a house dog. He becomes tougher and learns how to hunt, dig holes in the snow to sleep in and learns to never get knocked down in the fight. All throughout the book, Buck slowly turns into a wild dog and lets his inner wolf come out, one way he does this is he digs a hole and learns that he 's not going to have a warm bed anymore.
Buck has finally learned the “Law of the club and fang”. This shows that he realized he can’t defeat any cruel man with a club. Soon then his hate for him grew and the man became his
“Faithfulness and devotion, things born of fire and roof, were his; yet he retained his wildness and wiliness. He was a thing of the wild, come in from the wild to sit by John Thornton’s fire, rather than a dog of the soft Southland stamped with the marks of generations.” (London 76). Buck became a killer, hunting and running with the
In The Call of the Wild, London displays to the reader the importance of a willingness to learn and adapt to your surroundings to survive through the metaphor of Buck’s paws hardening, his development compared to that of other characters with similar backgrounds, and his evolution into the physical and mental peak of his
In the novel, The Call of the Wild, by Jack London a half St. Bernard half Shepherd dog named Buck was living in a safe, comfortable home in California until he was kidnapped and forced into a completely new environment as a sled dog being sold to different owners throughout the story. Buck experienced new things, good and bad but when he is out in the wild his inner wolf starts to show and The “Call of the Wild” makes him unsure what to do or where to go. The “Call of the Wild” affects Bucks behavior throughout the story in the novel. At the beginning of the novel, taking place in 1897 Buck had been raised in California, on the ranch of Judge Miller.
Another way to show the theme is by this detail is the passages "...never seen before a seeming familiarly the instincts (which were but the memories of his ancestors). " Also this statement from the passage "...which had lapsed in later days, and still later in gimmicked and became live again. " All these details that show Buck is still controlled by his natural instincts like all of us. In conclusion natural instincts everybody has.
In Call of the Wild, Buck has to persevere through difficult times. He is taken by
As the novel goes on, Buck loves his new owner John but he is starting to become more a part of the savage wild ways. An example of how Buck was becoming savage was, “Mercy did not exist in primitive life, kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the laws and this mandate down out of the depths of time, he obeyed” (London 44). Buck quickly learned if he did not become a good hunter, then he would be the hunter's next prey, so he was a predator who killed and got what he wanted. Buck was now exploring the wild and becoming more friendly with other wolves and creatures who he had things in common with but was slowly becoming more distant from John.
In chapter 7 Buck ruthlessly kills all of the indian’s who have killed his master. Yet Buck cares not what he has done. “He did not pause to worry the victim, but ripped in passing, with the next bound tearing wide the throat of a second man. There was no withstanding him. He plunged about in their very midst, tearing, rending, destroying, in constant and terrific motion which defied the arrows they discharged at him.”
Buck had to get into a fight. He had to kill another dog; his world had become much harsher. Buck being pulled into the harsh world by being kidnapped and then having to fight in it shows how harsh his world has
In the novel of the Call of the Wild, Buck tried to adapt to his new and difficult life. He was forced to help the men find gold; he experienced a big transformation in him. At the end, he transformed into a new and different dog. Buck went through physical, mental and environmental changes. In my essay, I talked about how Buck was like at the beginning, what he changed into, and how he was forced to adapt his new environment, and underwent these changes.
As Jim Rohn once said, “It is not what happens that determines the major part of your future... it is what you do about what happens that counts.” Buck, the main character in the novel The Call of the Wild, is a victim of life 's many unexpected obstacles. From domesticated and tamed to wild and primitive, the transformation of Buck from beginning to end is a result of nature and nurture combined. Nature, his genetic makeup, proves to be the most dominant in his development of becoming a free creature of the wilderness.