Title: The Call Of The Wild
Author: Jack London
Copyright: 1986
Setting:
The beginning setting takes place on the property of Judge Miller in Santa Clara
Valley, California in 1897. Later the setting takes place in Alaska during the Gold Rush
of the Klondike.
Main Character:
Buck is the only main character of the book. Buck is a dog who is part Saint
Bernard and part Shephard.
Summary:
Buck is my favorite character of the book. He had such a great life before he was
stolen and sold to some very nasty people. Buck was treated very badly and he had to
learn how to survive. He didn’t let the people know he was scared. The only way to
survive was to listen, watch and learn. Buck wanted to be the leader and fought for what
he wanted and he got it.
Buck had a great life living with Judge Miller and his family. He had free run of
the place and played with his daughters and hunted with his sons. All the other animals
were stuck in the house or behind fences.
One day a gardener named Manuel, that Buck had trusted, stole Buck and took
him to a train station and sold him to people who used large dogs to pull sleds in Alaska.
These men were not nice and would beat Buck and the other dogs very badly to let them
know who was boss. Buck and the other dogs had no idea what was happening to them.
The dogs were put onto the trains and taken to a ship that took them to Alaska where they
would be sold again in teams to pull the sleds of people looking for gold and other work.
When Buck and the other dogs got off the ship, the first thing they saw was white.
They didn’t know what it was. It was snow. They learned quickly how hard and scary
this would be. Other dogs being used were wild wolves that would tear the new dogs
apart if they had the chance.
Buck and eight other dogs were sold to Perrault and Francois. Buck knew he
needed to learn how to survive fast. One of the dogs, Spitz, who was the leader was a
wolf and very mean. He would bully the other dogs. Buck hated him and one day
wanted to take him down to take his place as leader. The dogs had to live through many
dangers and survive with little food and sleep.
his dog was dead,"(176) and that there was nothing he could ever do to bring
to Alaska and was in the frontier. Unfortunately he was unable to survive, dieing of starvation.
Lost by his parents at a young age, Pecos Bill was raised by a pack of coyotes who treated him like one of their own. When Bill reached adulthood, he left his coyote family and took up ranching and cattle herding as a profession. Most of Bill’s adventures him protecting his herd of prized cows out in the sandy desert. He rode a snarling mountain lion and a swirling cyclone to make sure they did not take his cows. Bill even used a lasso of rattle snakes to rope his whole herd at
He was eventually found by mobs, attacked, and his house
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.
His father, John was a railroad fireman and his mother, Emma was a housewife. Buck was one of six children, including his 3 Sisters, Fanny Willa, and Lena and his two brothers Herman and Charlie. John Leonard, bucks father, died in 1919 from influenza.
everything he owned. He took refuge in criminal activity, and was sent to prison. His
After the Civil War, Jesse was an Outlaw. He rode with Frank, his cousins the Younger brothers, and many other men such as Bob and Charlie Ford, Jesse’s supposed killers.
...o”(79). The men knew that Rat needed to kill the animal in order to cope with the loss of his friend. The platoon understood that “…it was a question of pain”(79) not sanity that Rat was trying to figure out. Everyone has a breaking point of how much they can handle. For Rat, the way of dealing with his problems presented itself in the killing of the Buffalo, for others it was humor and daydreaming.
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
First, we're going to talk about Buck's strength through the things that he faces and how he adapts to the circumstances. Being that Buck's character doesn't have any speaking parts one get a true sense of how Buck feels through the imagery throughout the story As the story begins we meet Buck, who is a spoiled, carefree and loved pet to Judge Miller in the "sun-kissed" Santa Clara val...
In The Call Of The Wild Buck was taken away from his happy life, and put into situations that make it difficult to persevere and stay optimistic. When Buck’s friend Curly died he learned that people, even his closest friends will be gone eventually. In the beginning of the book when Buck got beat by the man in the red sweater he felt even more trapped and unable to persevere after realizing that his life was never going to be the same anymore. After Buck's first
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...
Buck meets the man in the red sweater in chapter one and is instantly shown his place. The author shows us into the mind of Buck after he is severely beaten by the man with a club, “The club was his revelation. It was his introduction to the reign of primitive law…the lesson was driven home to Buck: a man with a club was a lawgiver, a master to be obeyed…” (London, Pg. 6). Subsequently Buck is let out to roam with the other dogs. He sees that these dogs, or more specifically Spritz, are not to be provoked. One wrong move and he would wind up like Curly; an amicable dog that was ripped apart because she didn’t know the rules. These events are referenced throughout the book as the law of club and fang, and it is this that begins an awakening into his wild nature. After a while Buck adds another lesson to the law. 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.
The universe determined scientifically by heredity and environment was wrought masterfully in the novel. The use of Buck was London’s portrayal of the “beast.” Buck’s transformation from a domesticated, gentle dog into dominant primordial beast was inevitable because of the naturalistic universe. Buck’s heredity and environment force him to or to be killed. The amiable Buck was kidnapped from Judge Miller’s California ranch by Manuel, a ranch-hand man, and sold. Then Buck was transported to the Yukon to be used in a dog team which was run by Perrault, a French Canadian. Buck learned quickly that he would have to adapt in order to survive. Buck was cruelly treated in the beginning of the book. After Perrault sold him, he was almost killed by his new master. John Thornton, his final owner, saved him from this cruel