“The Call of the Wild” was written by Jack London in 1903. “The Call of the Wild” is an outstanding book because the author describes the struggles in the life of a dog named Buck that most people can relate to their own lives. Buck’s struggles teach him the perseverance and self-defense skills he will need to later survive the wild. Much like a child growing up, Buck did not want to endure the challenges that came his way, although it was those challenges that equipped him for his later life. The “Call of the Wild” is a story that in many ways parallels the challenges in life that humans experience as we grow up and transition into adulthood.
Jack London was born on January 12, 1876, in San Fransisco, California. His mother, Flora
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Wellman, was not married to his father at the time of his birth. Jack’s birth father was William Chaney, but his mother later married John London who was a Civil War veteran. His childhood mainly consisted of exploring the outdoors and finding various jobs to make some quick cash. Jack grew up in a working-class family. When he got older he explored many different working fields including scooping coal on trains, stealing and selling oysters, and he worked on a sealing ship in the pacific (biography.com). When Jack was seventeen he joined the sealing ship, later that year their vessel was hit by a major typhoon that killed most of the crew. Jack London survived the typhoon and he eventually made it home to his mother and began to seek out his true passion in life, writing. When Jack returned home to his family, his mother helped him enter a local writing competition. London only possessed an eighth-grade education, but he entered anyway (biography.com). Jack ended up winning first prize in the competition, which was twenty-five dollars. In the contest he had competitors that were in college, some were even attending Ivy League schools such as Stanford and Berkeley. Once Jack had received first prize, he decided to devote the rest of his life to writing short stories. Jack began to spend much time at the library reading and practicing his writing skills; nevertheless, he later decided to move back to California and attended the University of California at Berkeley. He was there for a semester. In 1897, at age twenty-two, London went to the Canadian Klondike to seek a chance at finding gold and bring in a nice fortune. He did not find his fortune in the Klondike; however, he later found his fame and fortune through his writings. His book “The Call of the Wild” helped him reach his goal of fame from writing at the age of twenty-seven. He continued to write over fifty books, many of which are still very popular and even studied today. Jack later married a woman named Kittredge. “In Jack’s final years of life, he retired back at his ranch in California, which he shared with Kittredge, and then died on November 22, 1916” (biography.com). He died of kidney disease due to alcohol abuse. “The Call of the Wild” was written to tell the experiences that Jack London went through in his life, especially as he was prospecting for gold in the Canadian Klondike.
The book was written in the early 1900’s after Jack had been to the Klondike and returned home. The story is told through the perspective of a dog, but in many ways parallels the life of a human finding their place in life. Jack’s previous life had many tough times and hard jobs such as the physically hard work on a sealing ship and the disappointment of not finding gold in the Klondike. This built Jack’s strong character and it was that strength that the book’s character Buck was …show more content…
based. Buck is the main character in “The Call of the Wild”. He was a St. Bernard and sheepdog mix that was leading a fairly leisurely life on a farm, in California (sparknotes.com). Buck’s master on the farm was Judge Miller. He owned a large estate in the Santa Clara Valley which was a great original home for Buck. Buck’s life changed dramatically when he was stolen from the farm and then trained to be a mail delivery dog in the Canadian Klondike. He began to develop skills, from natural instincts, to survive in the harsh elements of the Klondike. He had a strong, leader type personality, but Buck was not the leader of his sled group. Spitz, the sled group leader, was Bucks main competition. Spitz was described to have “sharp teeth with a will to fight” (London 22). Buck and Spitz would get in fights that would end with their master breaking them up. One of the times that the two dogs got into a fight, Buck ended up killing Spitz which led to Buck becoming the lead sled dog. This was a big deal to Buck because now he could put his strong leadership skills to work. He began to work harder and more efficiently. His human leader, on the mail route, was a man named Francois. Perrault, another one of Buck’s early masters, helped Francois in making Buck into a mail sled dog for the Canadian government. Once Buck became the lead dog, he was able to pull the sled at a record speed. Being faster and more efficient resulted in a sixteen hundred dollar profit for his master Francois. This jump in profit would not have happened if Spitz was still alive and leading the team of dogs. This could be viewed as a parallel to overcoming a barrier in life and pushing forward through adversity. While in the Klondike, Buck came to know several other dogs on the team. Each one of the dogs helped Buck develop new skills and make the transition from the farm to the Klondike. Dave was another dog that had strong leadership characteristics. Dave showed excellent grit and determination. While on a journey through the Klondike, Dave grew very ill but refused to stop pulling. He eventually died, but never gave up. Buck learned from Dave’s passion for pressing on. Another older and more experienced dog on Buck’s team was Sol-leks. Sol-leks was very smart and shared good wisdom with Buck on how to survive the Klondike. In human life, a child growing up has many teachers, just as Buck had many teachers. As Buck shifts from being a beloved pet on the farm to being a hard-working sled-dog leader, he goes through several masters.
Most of the masters were rough on him until he got to John Thornton, his favorite and final master. John was a gold prospector in the North and he valued Buck. “He saved Buck from death and Buck returns the favor to Thornton by giving him fierce loyalty” (sparknotes.com). Now Buck and John know that they will take care of each other. Later in the story, while on a long journey, Thornton’s camp was attacked by the Yeehat Indians and Thornton was killed. Buck came back to the camp and saw what had happened. He started to attack the natives in revenge. He killed some, but he was very emotionally injured because he lost the master he had grown to love.
Although Buck loved Thornton very much he had been experiencing a growing call for the wild. He had been torn between his loyalty to Thornton and his curiosity about the wild. When Thornton died, Buck ran to the wild and his natural instincts began to come to him as he quickly learned to survive alone. After living in the wild Buck is happy, but he still shows his love and loyalty to Thornton with a return visit, to the sight of his death, each
year. Jack London did a great job showing the events in Buck’s life that lead him to be called to the wild. He showed how Buck grew up and went through different pieces of training and how Buck’s natural instincts began to shape the way for the rest of his life. One scene in the book painted a picture of the sled group traveling over a frozen lake and Buck would not continue to the lake because he knew that it was melting and not safe. Buck stayed behind and ended up watching his team and master suffer death as the ice broke and they fell in the water. Buck’s decision to not get on the ice demonstrated the wisdom that came from his new experiences in his current environment. Buck’s story in “The Call of the Wild” is a great parallel to a person transitioning from the easy life of a child to the independence of adulthood. Just as Buck had to learn how to fend for himself and find his calling, a child has to learn to do various things in life alone and not panic when challenges face them. A large challenge or obstacle in a person life is getting through school. On the farm, Buck’s life was like that of a very young child. Then he suddenly had to learn how to be a male dog which may be similar to the change a kid feels when they enter school and leave the parent for the first time. He became skilled enough to lead a team of dogs on mail runs and in search of gold, much like the independence that an older child develops when working on high school projects. Buck later loses his beloved master and becomes completely independent in the wild, just as human children grow up and leave home. Buck successfully earned his place in the wild by fighting off stronger animals that were more experienced, just as young human adults learn to fend for themselves in the workplace. Most who would read this book would feel heartbreak when Buck was taken and sold into the sled world. Heartbreak is also a part of a child’s life as they move from the young stages of life to older more matured stages. Fear in life can be overcome; the will just have to be present. Buck showed great strength and will to survive after Thornton, his final and favorite master, died during an Indian attack. The hardships that he experienced prepared him well. As a child grows, they need both love and strict training to learn the right path to follow. Buck had to learn how to deal with the different dog personalities like children have to learn how to deal with friends at school. Each year of life people learn the next level of social skills that prepare us for an independent life later on. When Buck was younger and less experienced he might have gone out onto the lake even though the ice was melting. He had learned an abundance about his new environment and made a better decision, just as experience helps kids to make wiser decisions. Buck showed continued loyalty to his former master even after he had moved into the wild. Grown up children continue to love their parents after moving out and following their call of the wild. Like Buck, most adults continue to return home at least once a year. ‘The Call of the Wild’ is about a dog, but the story of how Buck changes and develops the skills necessary to live independently are definitely similar to the changes that occur in the life of a child growing into an independent adult.
John Burroughs accused Jack London for being a ‘’Nature Faker’’. Some Critics even said London animal hero’s are men in fur. There is an article about writers like him that was asked can any writer create a believable and compelling nonhuman character without being a nature faker? Why might Jack London have chosen to attempt this difficult technical feat and what is he trying to communicate to readers through his portrayal of Buck? Richard E. Miller called Jon Krakauer’s critique of London vehemence. Krakauer’s fury was for authors whose life and words don’t line up. Since Mc...
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
“I now walk into the wild” (3). It was April 1992 a young man from a rather wealthy family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness. His name was Christopher McCandless. He gave all of his savings to a charity, abandoned his car in the desert, left all his possessions, burned his money and wallet, and invented an alter ego all to shun society. Four months after his adventure, his decomposing body was found in bus 142 by a moose hunter. Into the Wild is a riveting novel about one man’s journey to find himself and live as an individual. Although, Chris McCandless may come as an ill-prepared idiot, his reasons for leaving society are rational. He wanted to leave the conformist society and blossom into his own person, he wanted to create his own story not have his story written for him, and he wanted to be happy not the world’s form of happiness.
Chris McCandless, the main character of “Into the wild” was angered by his father’s infidelity and bigamy. As a result, Chris McCandless wanted to separate himself from his family and he begins a spiritual adventure to search for his identity. Chris McCandless isolates himself physically and emotionally to find freedom and peace by adventuring into the wild. Therefore, McCandless escapes from Emory University and immediately flees his dull and predictable life, heading west without a word to his family. Although, McCandless journey ends in a tragic ending, he fulfilled his ambition by pursuing his ambition and inner peace. In conclusion, McCandless journey was both a search for inner peace and transition to maturity.
“ Everything in nature means something and he had missed the warnings that summer was ending , had in many ways already ended, and what was coming would be the most dangerous thing he had faced since the plane crash.” (Paulsen, pg 3) and “That night Buck faced the great problems of sleeping”. These two quotes tell us that Buck and Brian had situations and had to find ways to deal with them in their stories. Brian and Buck both realize that life isn’t always going to be easy. But even through those times they have to be ready and be strong. The novels Call of the Wild by Jack London and Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen both reveal aspects of character, personality through the thoughts and actions of the character, and also show, how the characters have to deal with situations throughout their
The novel, The Call of the Wild, follows a four-year-old mixed Saint Bernard and Scottish shepherd, named Buck. In the beginning of the story, Buck lives in the home of Judge Miller, located at Santa Clara Valley, California. In Santa Clara, Buck lives a luxurious life. At the time of the story, gold is discovered in the North. With this discovery, the value of large dogs like Buck escalated dramatically. The dog’s value was due most to their ability to haul heavy sleds through the abundant snow. Unfortunately, Judge Miller’s servant, Manuel steals Buck to sell him to a band of dog-nappers to pay for his accumulating gambling debts. The ring of thieves that bought Buck is gaining a secure banking by trading the dog to northern executives. Buck, who has had an easy life so far, does not adapt well to the terrain as the other canines do. Buck does not easily tolerate the confinement and mistreatment of his new authority. Buck’s gains the misconception, which then is an aide that any man with a club is a dominator and must be obeyed.
The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, is a classic piece of American literature. The novel follows the life of a dog named Buck as his world changes and in turn forces him to become an entirely new dog. Cruel circumstances require Buck to lose his carefree attitude and somewhat peaceful outlook on life. Love then enters his life and causes him to see life through new eyes. In the end, however, he must choose between the master he loves or the wildness he belongs in.
Jack London wrote the novel The Call of the Wild; it was also his first success (Feast). The Call of the Wild is an exciting beast fable which dramatizes the unforgiving harshness of existence but shows that suffering can lead to heroic self-awareness (Buckner). London was big on the philosophical idea of Naturalism. As well as having links with literary naturalism, "The Call of the Wild is also a mythical book informed throughout with such traditional myths as the Myth of the Hero." Although Buck is always a dog throughout the story, his predicament is highly relevant to the human condition in a novel beginning with concise patterns of description and moving toward an increasingly lyrical style (Williams). The protagonist of The Call of the Wild is a dog named Buck. He's part German Sheppard and half Saint Bernard, he's labeled the "hero" of the story. The story takes place primarily in the Klondike region of Alaska except for in the first chapter it takes place in the Santa Clara Valley of California. The story is centrally focused around Buck; if it wasn't for him not having any speaking parts the reader would think he was a human because of the personality traits he possesses. In this paper we will discuss traits such as Buck's ability to adapt, Buck's bravery, his mental and physical strength, his loyalty and love and his instinct of the wild.
In The Call of the Wild, Buck finds comfort in his relationships with man. When he is initially removed from Judge Miller's house in Santa Clara Valley, he is given his first exposure to the wild where, "every moment life and limb were in peril" (London 31). But soon he finds himself not entirely ready to leave civilization and answer the call of the wild, because he must first experience love. Buck establishes a relationship with John Thornton, and "love, genuine passionate love, was his for the fir...
“In Buck’s bad dreams, Jack recorded his own childish fears of cold, deprivation, and solitude, as well as compulsion always to be free and roving…” (Sinclair 49). While in John Thornton’s company, Buck dreams of a primal man with whom he walks through the forest, on the edge of the wilderness. The dreams beckon to him and encourage him to give in to his instincts. They fill him with “a great unrest and strange desires” and cause him to feel a “vague, sweet gladness” (London 71). His visions both frighten and intrigue him, until eventually he pursues the call and ventures into the wild. London feared being alone, but knew he could not thrive in a confined, suburban life. This fear, London believed, is rooted in all men. They are subdued by their fear, yet it also lures them to return to their beginnings. “…Jack believed that people respond to the literature of fear and nightmare, because fear is deep in the roots of the race. However civilized men think they are, fear remains their deepest emotion” (Sinclair 49). Buck is a civilized dog who turns into a savage beast. When Buck understands his deep-rooted fears, he is able to ‘turn back the clock’ and complete his transformation into a primordial animal. London explains that this transformation can be undergone by all men if they conquer their fears as Buck
Jack worked with his dad as a contractor for a hotel. Jack was getting paid well and had an overall good lifestyle but decided that being a contractor wasn't what he wanted to do with his life. Jack had dreams of becoming a writer, and he was determined to fulfill them. Jack told his parents that he was moving back to the States to finish high school and his father found him a family to live with.
Both main characters are forced to leave their families. Buck is sold by his owner’s gardener that has a gambling problem and “needs” the money. Salva is just a young boy enjoying his day at school when a terrible war breaks out in his village. They are both abandoned out in the wild with no familiar faces and they have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Buck learns to trust in men, but when he is sold he knows that something is wrong with these strange men, and that he can not trust them. Buck turns into a primordial beast for the first time in the novel. Buck learns more and more through his journey about who he is and where he
Isn't it funny how life itself is not just a fight for survival, but more a fight for mastery? Some people are satisfied with just survival, but some strive to be the best they can be during their life. In the novel, The Call of the Wild (1903), by Jack London, the author demonstrates life's struggles for dominance while following the life of a magnificent dog named Buck. Buck was living a peaceful, laxadazical life on a California estate when he is stolen and taken to the Klondike region of Canada, due entirely to the discovery of gold. In a matter of days, Buck's life makes a 180 degree turn when he finds himself in the harsh weather of Canada pulling a sled day after day. All this time, Buck is in a life and death struggle for dominance. Once he finally meets a master of his equal, his life is almost perfect. As life throws its curves, Buck finds himself being pulled away from his equal owner, Jack London. When Jack is later killed by the Yeehat Indians, Buck has to go out on his own and continue his tre...
Setting is a very important element of literature. The setting an author chooses for a novel can have a huge impact on several aspects of the story. For example, in Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, the setting greatly affects Buck, the novel’s protagonist. Buck is a big, proud St. Bernard who undergoes a dramatic change throughout the book. Buck is taken from his comfortable and luxurious home in Santa Clara, California and is thrust into the harsh environment of Alaska during the Klondike gold rush. He is forced to adapt and learn the ways of this new land just to survive in a situation that seems to grow worse every day. As the story progresses, Buck grows further and further away from the pet he once was and eventually becomes a half-wolf beast. His environment hardens him and forces this change. The setting of Jack London’s The Call of the Wild transforms Buck from a domesticated pet to a wild animal.
In 1893, his essay, titled “Story of a Typhoon Off the Coast of Japan”, was published in the San Francisco Call for twenty-five dollars; in 1899, his story, “To the Man on Trail”, was published in Overland Monthly for five dollars; in 1900, A Son of The Wolf, a collection of short stories, was published by Houghton Mifflin (and is often quoted as being the “beginning of the modern American short-story”) and “An Odyssey of the North” (based on Jack’s experiences during gold rush in Klondike) was published by Atlantic Monthly for forty dollars; in 1901, Jack ran in, and lost, the mayoral race and The God of his Fathers and Other Stories, his second collection of short-stories, was published by McLure, Phillips; in 1902, his third collection of short-stories, Children of the Frost, was published by Macmillan, The Cruise of the Dazzler (based on Jack’s experience of living in San Francisco) was published by Century, and Daughter of the Snows (based on Jack’s experience living in Klondike) was published by Lippincott. In the same year, Jack moved his family to Piedmont Hills, travelled to London, and was hired as a war-correspondent writer for the South African Boer War. Unfortunately for Jack, the war ended before he had a chance to reach London; however, despite