Imagine this: Gold was just discovered in the Yukon Territory of Canada, and many gold miners rush to the North to see if they can strike rich. However, in order to do so, they need big, strong dogs with warm coats to protect them from the biting cold. As a result, a dog from the sunny state of California is dog napped and taken to be sold to anyone who is willing to buy him. When the dog is sold, he is shipped to the cold North. As he gets out of the boat, a chilling wind runs past him and, he realizes that he isn’t in California anymore. As the dog continues to live life with the other sled dogs, he realizes that in the North only the toughest can survive. The very same happens to Buck, a half St. Bernard and half sheepdog, in Jack London’s novella The Call of the Wild. Buck lives a very comfortable life on Judge Miller’s estate in the Santa Clara Valley of California. However, when the Klondike Gold Rush occurs, many men are in need of strong dogs like Buck. Manuel, the gardener, kidnaps Buck in order to pay off his lottery debts. Buck is then shipped to different parts of the Western Coast of the U.S. When he arrives in Seattle, he gets in a fight with a dog trader in a red sweater, which teaches him that he must obey men with clubs. Buck is sold to Francois and Perrualt, French mail carriers, and is shipped to the North. As Buck lives in the North, he begins to get in touch with his wild side. Buck is given to many different owners, until he finally meets John Thornton. He loves Thornton and wishes to stay with him forever, but on a hunting trip for gold, Buck begins to hear the call of the wild beckon to him louder and louder. He finds himself having to choose whether to stay with Thornton or go out into the wild. However, t...
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...ving on things that lived, unaided, alone, by virtue of his own strength and prowess, surviving triumphantly in a hostile environment where only the strong survive.” (56) As Buck is hunting, he realizes that the only way to survive in the North is by being stronger than anything else. He notices that the only reason that he is still alive is because he is a strong killer.
All in all, The Call of the Wild is a classic example of Naturalism because it contains many characteristics of Naturalism like the time, the geographical location, and the concept of survival of the fittest. From Buck’s first encounter with snow to him joining a pack of wild wolves, Naturalism is always present in The Call of the Wild. The examples of Naturalism in The Call of the Wild help show the reader the changes in Buck from a tame pet to a wild animal and the reasons for those changes.
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
Jack London’s classic novel, Call of the Wild, published in 1903, has been subject to censorship attempts. The most notable attempts of censorship are centered in Nazi Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. The banning of Call of the Wild in these places has been for varying reasons but the predominant reason behind all the attempts is because of “[Jack London’s] socialist sympathies.”1 However, “violent portrayals [have also] led to the book’s banning”2 in different places other than Nazi Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union.
The point of view of Call of the Wild is a combination of Buck’s perspective and a human’s perspective on Buck’s situation in the human world. Most often, the perspective of the story is third-person in Buck’s point of view. This perspective enables the reader to feel what it's like to be a dog and to experience that point of view. I understand how it feels for a dog like Buck. Here London shows Buck’s experience with the new vicious dogs:
“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.
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.
In Alaska, Buck is sold to become a sled dog. Intelligent and hard working, he quickly learns to adapt to his new life. He becomes a good sled dog, working as part of the team; he also learns how to protect himself from the miserable cold, burrowing under the snow, and how to find food, stealing if necessary. He also learns he must always be alert, for there are dangers everywhere. Additionally, Buck learns the law of the whip, for if he does not obey the driver or do his fair share of pulling, he will be popped.
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.
The novella The Call of the Wild is a story of Buck overcoming challenges while being thrown into the real world and learning new traits like persistence and resilience. Protagonist Buck is a colossal St Bernards cross Scotch shepherd dog, transforms from a humble house dog and then eventually returns to a primordial state as a best of the wild. Along the way he is faced with an endless array of challenges. London achieves this by portraying Buck’s change in character in a manner that explores and incorporates diverse motifs.
Jack London, author of The Call of the Wild, once said, “He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars.” Jack London was an inspiration in the life of Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless was inspired by London’s tremendous respect for the outdoors and influences him to have his own “Call of the Wild.”. Our great laboratory we call nature, also is regarded in the book and our past history as an ally but also an obstacle. Chris McCandless displays how nature can transform from an immense joy to an enemy with any simple mistake.
A quick learner, he adapts well to the sled dog life. His heritage also helped him become accustomed to the harsh Klondike climate. Some difficulties such as sore feet and a voracious appetite set him back at the beginning, but he speedily overcomes them. Buck goes through several masters and many thousands of miles. Along the way, he learns “The Law of Club and Fang”: never challenge a human that has a weapon, and once a fighting dog falls to the ground, roaming huskies quickly destroy it.
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...
survive was to listen, watch and learn. Buck wanted to be the leader and fought for what
Another tool that London uses to make this a great story is the way he uses the character of the dog to illustrate the failings of the main character. He describes the dog as a simple creature, a product of its instincts. The dog knows of the foolishness of being out in the open, and only wants to shelter itself from the cold. Because of the cold the dog "experienced a vague but menacing apprehension that subdued it and made it slink along at the man's heel," (L...
When Jack London wrote "To Build a Fire" he embraced the idea of naturalism because it mirrored the events of daily life. Naturalism showed how humans had to be wary at every corner because at anytime death could be there, waiting for them to make a mistake and forfeit their lives. He used naturalism, the most realistic literary movement, to show how violent and uncaring nature really is and how no matter what you do nature will always be there. London also presented the basic idea of Darwinism and the survival of the fittest, basically if you are dumb you will die. Collectively, London used naturalism to show how in life, humans can depend on nothing but themselves to survive. "To Build a Fire" is a short story that embodies the idea of naturalism and how, if one is not careful, nature will gain the upper hand and they will perish.