Jack London’s novel, Call of the Wild, tells the story of Buck, a tame dog, who is kidnapped from his peaceful home in Santa Clara Valley in California, to the height of the gold rush up in the Klondike. Dramatically, Buck’s life alters as he is forced into the harsh world of the Alaskan wilderness and faces challenging obstacles. In this novel, Jack London demonstrates vicariously through Buck’s hardships that intelligence allows one to adapt.
Jack London hits the beginning off with the death of Curly, a dog who was assaulted when she approached another dog in a friendly manner. Buck is stunned by the ferocity and cruelty displayed by the dogs. He is appalled that a friendly gesture could simply make a dog face death. “So sudden was it, and
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A recurring lesson Buck is taught is the way of club and fang. In this lesson, Buck who is known to be a dominant and powerful dog must learn to be submissive and compliant. Buck learns that a man with a club is likely to demand obedience and able to force Buck to do his bidding. The treatment he receives from this man is unlike any he has seen before. The law of club only refers to the primitive law of nature which reigns in the Klondike. On the other hand, the law of fang demonstrates the power of a dog in the wild. Together, the law of club and fang is a code for adaptations in the Northland, which teaches to obey to a man’s club, never let your guard down, and to win all battles. “He saw, once for all, that he stood no chance against a man with a club.” (Page 10). Buck learned that the man in the red sweater’s club shows that Buck must obey to the him. Buck’s introduction to this new way of life is different from the pampered existence he led in the Santa Clara Valley. Buck demonstrates the strength he has to be submissive under someone else’s jurisdiction. It starts to show him adapting from a dominant one, to one who holds the strength to be
Jack London is well-known for his novels on wolves and dogs: The Call of the Wild and White Fang. This essay explores the latter; a hero’s journey adapted to the character of a wolf-dog hybrid. As a canine placed into a traditionally human role, White Fang is an obvious statement on the perception of humanity. Therefore, the following research question arose: How does White Fang’s adaptation as a hero challenge the perception of humanity?
Lewis and Clark were two people that established our country by going on a risky exploration across America. In the books Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose and The Captain’s Dog by Roland Smith their journey gets gets captured even the imperfections. Each of these books capture the story in different ways; perspectives, story, and the different messages they’re getting across. In these two books the perspective differs from facts to the perspective of a dog.
Buck 's intelligence and strength helped him survive, but the determination and will to live is what really got Buck through his hardships. A major theme in The Call of the Wild is "Determination can get you through anything," a statement Buck proves multiple times. Buck was a strong-willed dog that faced many challenges, from being kidnapped, sold to Alaskan gold miners, becoming a sled-dog and conflict with other dogs. While Buck 's wits, strength, and most likely some luck assisted him in his journey, Buck stayed determined throughout and it got him to where he wanted to be. In the beginning, Buck was a pampered dog, he lived in a nice house with a family that loved and cared for him.
Ignorance is Bliss Throughout the world, many young, ego-oriented teens decide to stray from secure paths to discover themselves or to conquer the unbelievable. Like many teens, Christopher Johnson McCandless decides to adventure around the country before arriving to Alaska, where his adventure tragically ends by his death. In Jon Krakauer’s biography, Into the Wild, Chris, the protagonist, embarks on a two year journey around the West Coast of America after his college graduation. Krakauer portrays Chris as a crazy, ignorant young adult to demonstrate his resistance to conform with society by risking his life.
In the novel, Call of the Wild written by Jack London, the actions and personalities of Buck’s many owners are all very unique. Buck is a strong and courageous dog who over time become mature and independent through his experiences with all of his different owners. Buck has been through a long cycle of being bought and sold by different men. There have been many men Buck serves under, but there has been no one like John Thornton. John Thornton is Buck’s savior.
The person Manuel sells buck, to is quoted as "The man in the red sweater" and this man, is not a good man. Buck now also words for Perrault. There's other dogs there, other
Although the movie is based off the book, Call of the Wild as a book is very different from the movie. There are multiple reasons for this to occur, but it happens all the time with book/movie crossovers. In the following paragraphs we will be discussing just some of the differences between the call of the wild book and the call of the wild movie. Not to mention it was published in 1903 so there were multiple things that the movie couldn’t have or express. John Thornton may have been important to the book, but he was the nearly movie’s main focus.
Buck is being called into the wild. His life events changed who he was and sent him free in spirit and body. Once Thornton was kill Buck was able to be free and just be a wild dog with the others (napierkowski). In my opinion, this book shouldn’t have been in the category of banned and challenged books.
More civilized dogs like Newfoundland’s and even huskies find primitive counterparts in the wolves whose howl at the end of the story was the very sound of the wild. London “doubles” the story into opposing worlds. Buck begins in the waking world of reality and ends in a silent, white wasteland which was also the world of dream, shadow, and racial memory. Buck survives to embrace life at the end of a book informed by death as the horrifying, rhythmic reflex of an entire order of things. Life in The Call of the Wild was a survival built on the death of other living creatures.
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…”
In attempts to achieve a greater understanding of absolute reality and truth, Christopher McCandless temporarily separates from societal influences and undertakes an odyssey into the Alaskan wilderness. Powered by the notion of happiness through self-reliance, McCandless retreats from the social and into a deeper self, undergoing a profound realization of himself and truth. Linking McCandless’s countercultural actions to various literary influences ultimately reveal the overarching transcendentalist forces in which shape his determination to enter the wild and seclude himself from the social. The philosophy behind transcendentalism recognizes and rejects the flaws and corruption engrossed in the precepts of the status-quo society.
Jack London wrote The call of the Wild in 1900 and had it published 1905. The main character, Buck a St Bernard living the good life until he gets stolen and taken to Alaska. After that he is made a sled-dog who is sometimes beaten and starved. But in the end this is a transformation physically and mentally. The story takes place in Miami, Florida for a part of the story until he is stolen and taken to a remote part of Alaska.
Buck is a dog from Santa Clara Valley, a dog who lived in a huge house. He was the king of the property and was petted, fed well and treated like a loved and cherished dog. Buck was living a pampered life, where he had everything he want until the day where he was stolen, sold, and brought to an unknown environment. Buck has went through a change where he had to adapt quickly for survival. A place where he had to steal to eat, defend himself in order to survive.
In the novel “The Call of the Wild”, Buck changes throughout the novel in many ways for survival. One way buck changed for survival was when he learned “A man with a club was a law giver, a master to be obeyed, though not necessarily conciliated” (London 10). This first quote shows how Buck changed and adapted because if he never learned that lesson then he would have had not survived throughout the story. Also If he never learned this lesson then Back would have been dead because then the man would beat him to death.
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.