Heroism In The Call Of The Wild

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles”~Christopher Reeve (actor). In a 1912 review that angered writer Jack London, the author of The Call of the Wild, the critic Philo M. Blake, Jr. complained of the apparent barbarism that characterizes many of London’s heroes. Barbarism means an absence of culture or civilization which often includes extreme cruelty or brutality. The statement made by Philo M. Blake, Jr. is truly false about the protagonist Buck in The Call of the Wild. To make clear, Buck is the main character who is stolen and sold north for the Klondike gold rush. Buck has to adapt to the North, and he has to learn how to survive in the gruesome Canadian wild.

John Thornton is challenged with a bet of $1,600 that Buck cannot pull a 1,000 pound sled 100 yards. As it normally took ten dogs to pull a sled of that size, the likelihood of Buck winning the bet was very slim. “He had caught the contagion of excitement, and he felt that in some way he must do a great thing for John Thornton” (93). There were many men who believed that Buck could not pull such a load, but because of his courage and strength like true heroes possess, he persevered and he pulled the sled the full 100 yards. Buck could have easily given up as the prize for winning had no direct benefit to him. However due to his devotion to his master, he accomplished a feat many dogs can never come close to

John Thornton and his two partners, Hans and Pete, were lining a long, narrow poling-boat when suddenly the ice collapsed and, John Thornton was thrown into the rapids. “Buck had sprung in on an instant; and at the end of three hundred yards, amid a mad swirl of water, he overhauled Thornton” (88). He was unable to drag Thornton out of the rapids the first or the second time, but Buck was unrelenting, and on the third attempt he succeeded in saving Thornton’s life. Buck had adapted and had the ability to survive on his own, yet he still ran back to his master and saved him. A barbarian would not risk his own life for another. Buck however was instead a true hero who was willing to sacrifice his own life for another’s.

As can be seen, the critic Philo M. Blake, Jr.’s opinion of Jack London’s protagonists in the novel The Call of the Wild is not justified. Time and time again, from the incident at the bar, to winning the impossible bet, to risking his own life in the rushing rapids, Buck displayed noble qualities such as loyalty, bravery, and selflessness. In spite of rejecting the culture of civilization and being labeled a “beast” by many, Buck ideally reflects the spirit of true heroism through his courage, noble qualities, and exceptional