Compare And Contrast Tell Tale Heart And The Call Of The Wild

The main character of The Call of the Wild, Buck, and the protagonist of The Tell-Tale Heart are like two rivers, similar yet different in many ways. First of all, both of them push forward to solve their conflicts, doing so in a very consistent manner. Furthermore, they both experience strong emotions. Although they seem similar in characteristic ways, they hold back differences that set them apart. Primarily, the most obvious of them being their differences in physical traits. Lastly, the resolutions of their conflicts are different from each other. Both characters have similarities that pair them together, yet the differences maintain a clear distinction between them.

First of all, they both overcome challenges. Buck’s daily challenges are simply trying to survive in the frigid north amid the Klondike Gold Rush. The protagonist from the Tell-Tale heart must overcome the challenge presented by the vexing evil eye. While both challenges are extremely different, the amount of consistency used in solving them is similar. An example of this is that Buck never gives up, even

when most of his team is dead and he had starved for the past week. To compare, the protagonist constantly watches the old man’s eye at night, carefully planning the perfect strategic method to defeating it. Evidence from The Tell-Tale Heart; ”And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it --oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head.” Both of the characters overcome challenges in a similar way, no matter how different they may be.
Furthermore, they both experience high and low amounts of emotions of varying degrees. Buck’s emotions are based off the hard physical labor of his world, and the protagonist’s emotions are based off the vexing evil in his world. While their emotions seem different, to them in their worlds the emotions are as strong as ocean waves during a thunderstorm. Buck experiences high amounts of stress when having to forcefully pull the thousand pound sled to win a bet for his owner. The protagonist flashes through multiple layers of stress when the police officers are questioning him about the reports of screams in the area. This is seen in the following quote from The Tell-Tale Heart, “But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted.” As stated, both of the characters experience emotional hardships, including stress.
Primarily, the most obvious of differences would be that of the physical type.

In fact, Buck and the protagonist are not even part of the same species. Buck is a large canine, a mix between a St. Bernard and a Scottish shepherd.This is further evident when The Call of The Wild states, ”His father, Elmo, a huge St. Bernard, had been the Judge’s inseparable companion,...for his mother, Shep, had been a Scotch shepherd.” The protagonist is a fellow human, but a man that has gone terribly mad. The two are also different in their execution of solving their conflicts. Buck fights them off like the wild dog-beast he is, never showing mercy, for there is none in his world. The protagonist is very meticulous in his actions, taking an entire week to carefully plan the murder. To make a point, while the physical differences are the most obvious of them, the physical differences are the most

significant.
Lastly, the resolutions of their conflicts end on opposite ends of the table from each other. As said before, Buck’s main conflict and challenge is surviving the harsh northernland, the only way out being death. However, Buck also hears the call of the wild, a force and presence so ancient that it flows through the blood of all canines. In the end, Buck finds his peace and answers that call to the wild, ending his seemingly endless struggle for survival. Contradicting this, the protagonist of The Tell-Tale Heart is not as lucky in finding a final resolution. After the murder of the old man, the protagonist believes his troubles are over, only to have the police interview him, uprising the problem once again. In the end, the protagonist is driven absolutely mad by the mocking nature of the policemen, so he reveals the hiding place of the old man’s body, confessing to the crime. It is then assumed that the protagonist will never find peace to his problem, for it has been uprooted once again. Evidently, the final resolutions truly are worlds apart from each other.
The main character of The Call of The WIld, Buck, and the protagonist of The Tell-Tale Heart can be seen as similar, yet there are also many differences. First of all, both of them are quite consistent in solving their conflicts. Furthermore, strong emotions are felt and tested by both. These strong similarities are countered by strong contradictions. Primarily, the most obvious being their physical differences, one being a dog, and the other a man. Lastly, the resolutions to their conflicts are very different from each other. In short, the two characters share many traits and experiences, but they also contradict each other, like a book against a movie.