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Writing analysis of call of the wild
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The novel Call of The Wild by Jack London is about the dog Buck who is half St. Bernard and half sheepdog. Buck enjoys a relaxed lifestyle at his home in California until he is stolen and shipped to the Klondike region in Canada. Here he is put to work as a sled dog where he must battle the bad conditions, other dogs, and the cruelty of the wild to stay alive. One theme that can be seen over the course of the book is the difference between civilization and the wilderness. For example in civilization there are set rules that people must abide and these set rules makes everyone equal. However, Buck quickly learns that in the law of club and fang govern the wild. These means that the strongest people/dogs controls the weaker ones. In order for Buck to survive he must adapt to the ways of the wild in order to survive. …show more content…
At the beginning of the novel Buck is portrayed as a pampered house-dog who is the head dog at …show more content…
Then over the course of the novel Buck transforms into a wild dog as a result of being thrown into the Klondike regions of Canada. While in the wild Buck abandons morals in order to survive because in the wild the strongest dogs rules and there is no right or wrong. Through Buck’s transformation the differences between the wilderness and civilization are highlighted. In civilization people abide by the rules and act based on their moral opinions. However in the wild the strongest man will survive while the weak will not thrive. Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest has a strong relevance in the book because Buck a young strong dog conquers and rules over the older dogs and the weaker
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
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
In the novel, Lord of the Flies, Jack is the character that experiences the most change. Jack begins the novel as a somewhat arrogant choirboy, who cries when he is not elected leader of the island. Jack is gradually transformed into a vicious killer who has no respect for human life. Through a series of stages, such as leading the choir, leading the hunting tribe, wearing the mask, killing Simon, separating from the group and intentionally killing Piggy, Jack degenerates from a normal, arrogant school boy into a savage beast.
of the wolves and finds that they are more than the savage and merciless hunters
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.
As Josh Billings says “A dog is the only thing on this earth that will love you more than he loves himself.” In the story Call of the Wild and White Fang, both by Jack London, Buck and White Fang both have many similarities and differences.
Coming home after hunting he finds Indians had shot and murdered the humans he was staying with. Buck converts into a raging monster, full of hatred for these strange men who executed his mast, and kills every one of them, although they had arrows. He was so proud; he had killed the noblest game of all however, he learned an important lesson, “he would be unafraid of them [humans] except when they bore in their hands their arrows, spears, and clubs.” (London, Pg.
In both stories, the personalities of the main character, Buck and the man, are very analogous. “Only this time he was the one who had been beaten,”(Call of the Wild, pg. 42), in this scene, Buck murders Spitz. This displays Buck’s thirst for life, even if he has to kill, Buck will do anything to stay alive. “He would kill the dog and bury his hands in the warm body until the numbness went out of them,”(To Build a Fire, pg. 6), Along with Buck, this demonstrates that the man is willing to kill another animal to stay alive. Along with personality, their primitive instinct is one in the same.
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 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
This story takes place in California and up through Canada towards Alaska, during the Alaskan (Klondike) Gold Rush in the late 1890’s. Naturalism is presented in The Call of the Wild in many ways such as when Buck had the urge to leave to live in the wild. The only thing that was preventing him to go to the wild was his his love for John Thornton, at times Buck did attack him, but he still knew where he stood with him. This shows naturalism because it is dog against nature as well as man against dog. “ But behind him were the shades of all manner of dogs, half-wolves and wild wolves, urgent and prompting, tasting the savor of the meat he ate, thirsting for the water he drank, scenting the wind with him, listening with him and telling him the
In life, people tend to talk up a big game about many things, and sometimes they can be used to hide someone’s insecurity or fear. But what is a dog who is all bark and no bite? Just as in the short story “The Sacrifice of the Hunted,” by Andrew Smock, the main character Buck begins the story as rude and cocky towards the narrator about his hunting skills, but after a deer is actually killed, he gets a greater understanding of his true feelings about hunting. This is illustrated through out the short story in many instances. From the time Buck is addressed in the story to until the deer is shot he makes fun of the narrator for not knowing much about hunting. When the deer is shot, Buck seems to get a stronger understanding of how he truly
In the book, Call of the Wild, hunger and the need for power can cause quarreling. Quarreling caused by this include Spitz and Buck fighting for the role of alpha dog, the man in the red sweater beating Buck, and the dogs stealing each other’s food.
First, for instance, on Judge Miller’s Buck adapts to his role as King by accompanying the Judge’s sons on their hunts, his daughters on the walks, and the Judge’s grandsons in their play to perform his role as King and lord protector of his realm. Next, Buck adapts on the trail by quickly learning how to pull the dogsled so that he earns the respect of the other sled dogs and his masters so that he can survive on the trail. Lastly, in the wild Buck adapts to the rules of the wolf pack when he must use his physical prowess to earn his way into the wolf pack where one must prove himself by fighting and
Author of Call of the Wild, Jack London, blends characteristics of his own life into his novels. After experiencing the Klondike Gold rush in 1897, Jack London wrote Call of the Wild based on his experiences, and that managed to spark London’s writing career. The short novel Call of the Wild displays Buck’s life transitioning from a “lazy sun-kissed life” into tough manual labor of the Klondike Gold rush in the harsh winter (London 8). Using elements of his challenging childhood, his passion for travel, and belief in Darwinism, Jack London used many aspects of his life in his novels.