“He had been suddenly jerked from the heart of civilization and flung into the heart of things primordial.” This is a quote from Jack London’s story The Call of the Wild. Buck is a family dog until he gets kidnapped and is forced to pull a sled in the harsh Canadian climate. He passes through many owners, gets into fights with many other dogs and has to learn the laws of the wild. Jack London uses conflict and imagery to represent loyalty, the harshness of reality, and character development.
Jack London uses imagery to portray loyalty. A man named John Thornton rescues Buck from his previous owners. Buck deeply loves him, and would do anything for him. When John Thornton falls off a boat, and starts drowning, Buck immediately jumps in to save
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Buck gets kidnapped and put into a train car, "The next he knew, he was dimly aware that his tongue was hurting and that he was being jolted along in some kind of a conveyance…He opened his eyes, and into them came the unbridled rage of a kidnapped king. The man sprang for his throat, but Buck was too quick. His jaws closed on the hand, nor did they relax till his senses were choked out of him once more" (London 6). Buck is kidnapped and immediately taken into the harsh world. Buck gets into a fight with the mean, lead sled dog named Spitz, and ends up killing him, "Mercy was a thing reserved for gentler climes. He maneuvered for the final rush…Only Spitz quivered and bristled as he staggered back and forth, snarling with horrible menace, as though to frighten off impending death. Then Buck sprang in and out; but while he was in, shoulder had at last squarely met shoulder. The dark circle became a dot on the moon-flooded snow as Spitz disappeared from view" (London 34). 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