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Adapting and Trusting Your Instincts in The Call of the Wild
Albert Einstein, the genius scholar, once said, “The measure of intelligence is the ability to adapt.” In The Call of The Wild by Jack London, we see this as we go on the adventure with Buck, a half St. Bernard-half sheepdog, as he gets captured, chewed up, and spit out into the wild. The main thing we are going to cover is, Buck needs to be willing to adapt and trust his instincts to survive his transition into the wild. He’ll be captured; defeat Spitz, an evil acquaintance; and kill a human that killed his friend, to fully understand that he can and will be one with the wild.
Buck being captured is just the start to kick in that transition into the wild. During this Buck is “jerked
First of all, the protagonist of The Call of the Wild, Buck, is a complete alpha dog. Realistically, nobody can catch up to Bucks skill level. Buck’s muscles became as hard as iron, and he grew callous to all ordinary
The deer season last fall was my most successful season ever. I have been deer hunting since I was fourteen. Each year I have shot at least one deer, but none were that special because they were all does. This year because I was going to college and wrestling I didn't think I would have a chance to get the big buck.
First off, Buck shows an act of heroism when he backs up and defends John Thornton at a bar. A very evil-tempered and malicious man named Burton was trying to pick a fight with the tenderfoot at the bar, and John Thornton came in between the two men. Without warning, Burton struck Thornton across the face. Instantly Buck hurled himself into Burton. “Those who were looking on heard what was neither bark nor yelp, but a something which is best described as a roar, and they saw Buck’s body rise up in the air as he left the floor for Burton’s throat” (87). Buck had to be pried off of Burton, so he didn’t kill him. Buck almost killed a man who only punched Thornton. If Buck had no civilization in him like critics said, he wouldn’t have defended his master. It even said in the book, “But his reputation was made, and from that day his name spread through every camp in Alaska” (87). This reputation he made was, “If you set a finger on John Thornton and Buck was around, be ready to get your head ripped off”. The only reason he had this reputation was because of the intense love he had for his owner, and a
Buck undertook the mission of learning how to survive in the wild. Buck, a domesticated dog, was stolen and forced into the Klondike. He had to learn how to survive so he adapted by following the law of Club and Fang. He respected
Have you ever thought of your sweet, loving dog becoming a savage primordial beast? Or maybe your dog moving from your cozy, warm home to sleeping in the harsh cold outside in the Yukon? In the adventure book, The Call of the Wild written by Jack London, dog named Buck is a dog from the sunny state of California, but after being abducted, is taken to the Yukon.Then, after being taught the harsh law of club and fang, Buck begins to regress and adapt to the cold and brutal North land. Buck passes through many different masters, and has pulled many sleds, but he finds himself in love with John Thornton, and at the same time he is tempted by becoming a savage beast and finally answers the call of the wild. The theme the power of the primitive is expressed many times while Buck lives in the North land and becomes a savage beast.
Chris McCandless and Buck serve as examples of the archetype of the wild through their experiences of leaving where they feel most comfortable and answering the call of the wild. They show that each experience is inimitable because the wild is unique to every individual. For Buck, the wild is a place outside of civilization and his dependence on man, where the external threats of nature exist and he must prove himself as a true animal with instincts for survival. In McCandless' case, the place outside of civilization is actually an escape from his fears because the wild for him is in relationships, where the threat of intimacy exists and he must learn to trust others for happiness. This is because for each of us, the wild is what we fear, a place outside of our comfort zone and, as McCandless' experience shows, not necessarily a physical place. To render to the call of the wild we must leave everything that makes us feel protected, and we must make ourselves completely vulnerable to the wild. McCandless and Buck show that in order to successfully respond to the call of the wild we must relinquish control and drop our guards, until ultimately the fear subsides and we find peace with ourselves as well as with our environments.
BUCK, A POWERFUL DOG, half St. Bernard and half sheepdog, lives on Judge Miller’s estate in California’s Santa Clara Valley. He leads a comfortable life there, but it comes to an end when men discover gold in the Klondike region of Canada and a great demand arises for strong dogs to pull sleds. Buck is kidnapped by a gardener on the Miller estate and sold to dog traders, who teach Buck to obey by beating him with a club and, subsequently, ship him north to the Klondike.
In doing so, he creates a character that acts like an animal, but thinks like a man. His humanity is what allows him to survive under the rule of man. He understands his role as being inferior to man, but superior to the other dogs. Buck learns that the men and dogs around him “knew no law but the law of club and fang” (London 15). Therefore, Buck adapts and abides by this law, creating a place for himself in the social hierarchy of the Northland. “The ability to keep his mental strength, even when his physical energy was sapped, is one thing that separates Buck from the other dogs” (Kumin 103). Although all dogs are the heroes in The Call of the Wild, Buck connects the most with the reader. As the story is told through his perspective, the reader empathizes with Buck more than the other dogs. The mental strength that Kumin references in the above quote stems from Buck’s human characteristics. Buck is a character that exemplifies the traits of all men, including Jack London himself. His human spirit makes this connection possible, and creates a bond between Buck and the
most intelligent of the animals they are chosen to lead. As the book goes on you start to notice a
Famed American literature scholar Donald Pizer once wrote " the strong, the shrewd and the cunning shall prevail when life is bestial " in reference to Jack London's novel The Call of the Wild. In 1903 Jack London's novel based in the vastness of the Yukon captured the imagination of his readers by not only describing a wild unexplored land but also introducing human characteristics to an animal, in this case a half St.Bernard half Scotch Shepherd named Buck. Buck not only displayed the characteristics as described by Pizer but Buck also showed that determination and perseverance goes hand in hand with
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
I was nearly finished with my cigarette when behind me I heard the sound of something moving through the grass. I quickly but quietly extinguished my cigarette in the palm of my gloved hand and turned around. My eyes scanned to see exactly where the sounds had come from, and I only hoped that the smell of my cigarette hadn't spooked whatever was walking behind me. After about ten seconds I saw the ears of a deer sticking up above the tall grass about thirty yards from me. I slowly reached to my right to remove my bow from a hook in the tree. The deer was now moving towards me through the long grass, and behind it was another deer. I knew that the rut (the peak mating season) was well under way and this second deer may be a buck. After what seemed like an eternity the second deer came into view. It was a buck, as I had thought, but it was bigger than any deer I had ever seen.
Being civilized and being wild are two different ways to live that have many differences. Being civilized means that the people around you have a home, have food to eat, have a job, and that there is a developed society around you. On the other hand, being wild would mean that you would have to find your own food, find your own home, and fight for yourself. In the story, Call of the Wild, the main character Buck was a civilized dog living in a civilized place and then became a wild dog living in a wild place. The author, Jack London stated that “Buck quickly lost the fastidiousness that characterized his old life.” This showed that Buck quickly lost his ways of being civilized and started to adapt to the wild. To
Throughout the novel The Call of the Wild there were numerous forms of naturalism shown. With naturalism, the reader is able to understand that bad things happen in life. In the novel The Call of the Wild Jack London said Buck endured many hardships, including fighting with other dogs on the team, being beaten by the man in the red sweater, and killing other dogs but refused to give up.
One of the major theme London presents through his character’s Buck and Spitz is that competition has the potential to be negative. Buck and Spitz are both dedicated members of an Alaskan dog sled team. They are both competing for the most coveted position on their team, the leader. “Dave was the wheeler or sled dog, pulling in front of him was Buck, then came Soleks; the rest of the team was strung ahead, single file, to the leader, which position was filled by Spitz”(London 12). There is conflict amongst the dogs to obtain this position, and Buck and Spitz will do anything to make sure they get it. The leader gets the most respect from the others and has the greatest responsibility on the team, and it is similar to the role of a captain in sports like basketball or football. The competition to be the best on the team and have the best spot on the team causes rivalry.