The Call of the Wild is a story written by Jack London about a dog who was stolen into the Yukon as a sled-dog. Buck starts off in a domestic setting where he feels content with his life, but everything lacks the potential excitement it could have. The gardener secretly sells him to feed his gambling addiction. When Buck makes it to the Yukon, he fights angrily before getting beaten with a club. He is sold to two mushers who train him to be a sled dog. He quickly becomes rivals with Spitz, the aggressive lead dog. The two constantly fight, but one day Buck challenges him for his position. Buck kills Spitz, and becomes the lead dog, though not at the best time. After carrying heavier loads for a different mail carrier, a dog is left terribly ill, and is put down.
All the dogs are exhausted. Buck and his team are sold to three irresponsible gold rush chasers who overwork, beat, and starve the dogs. Only five out of fourteen dogs remain alive, and they all trudge over to John Thornton's camp. The mushers make the unwise decision to mush over ice that was too thin, and all the dogs accept Buck obey their command to move. When the musher goes to beat him, Thornton defends Buck and cuts him loose. The mushers and the dogs all die in the ice, Buck finds genuine love in Thornton, and is loyal to him. He would wander the forests, and dips his feet into the feral life. He always comes back to Thornton, until one day he finds his master dead, and his murderers, the Yeehat tribe, still at the camp. He kills many, and leaves several to tell the tale. He leads a pack of wolves and becomes a legend among the Yeehats, "The Ghost Dog". He fathers many cubs, as many of the tribe members notice changes in the local wolves' features. Every year, Buck returns to Thornton's camp to mourn him, before returning to is new life.
All the dogs are exhausted. Buck and his team are sold to three irresponsible gold rush chasers who overwork, beat, and starve the dogs. Only five out of fourteen dogs remain alive, and they all trudge over to John Thornton's camp. The mushers make the unwise decision to mush over ice that was too thin, and all the dogs accept Buck obey their command to move. When the musher goes to beat him, Thornton defends Buck and cuts him loose. The mushers and the dogs all die in the ice, Buck finds genuine love in Thornton, and is loyal to him. He would wander the forests, and dips his feet into the feral life. He always comes back to Thornton, until one day he finds his master dead, and his murderers, the Yeehat tribe, still at the camp. He kills many, and leaves several to tell the tale. He leads a pack of wolves and becomes a legend among the Yeehats, "The Ghost Dog". He fathers many cubs, as many of the tribe members notice changes in the local wolves' features. Every year, Buck returns to Thornton's camp to mourn him, before returning to is new life.
Major Themes:
Pride: Buck has gained pride in his accomplishments, but Hal, Mercedes, and Charles perish due to their prid
Loyalty: Buck saves John Thornton from getting in a bar fight and drowning in a river, because he owes his life to him.
Friendship: Buck befriends John Thornton, and even after he loses him, Buck remembers and mourns him every year.
Pride: Buck has gained pride in his accomplishments, but Hal, Mercedes, and Charles perish due to their prid
Loyalty: Buck saves John Thornton from getting in a bar fight and drowning in a river, because he owes his life to him.
Friendship: Buck befriends John Thornton, and even after he loses him, Buck remembers and mourns him every year.
Quote:
“He pleaded with his eyes to remain there. The driver was perplexed. His comrades talked of how a dog could break its heart through being denied the work that killed it” (44).
Dave is terribly ill, this passage shows loyalty to one’s purpose, even until they can’t keep going.
My late grandfather had a mindset quite similar to this. He had worked three jobs to support his wife and eight children in a third world country. After my mother’s family moved to America, his mind started to go. In my parent’s front yard, he tore up all the grass on the lawn to “prepare the soil for rice” Even when he was not doing well mentally, working for his kids at home was the only thing he felt content doing.
“He pleaded with his eyes to remain there. The driver was perplexed. His comrades talked of how a dog could break its heart through being denied the work that killed it” (44).
Dave is terribly ill, this passage shows loyalty to one’s purpose, even until they can’t keep going.
My late grandfather had a mindset quite similar to this. He had worked three jobs to support his wife and eight children in a third world country. After my mother’s family moved to America, his mind started to go. In my parent’s front yard, he tore up all the grass on the lawn to “prepare the soil for rice” Even when he was not doing well mentally, working for his kids at home was the only thing he felt content doing.
Argument: Love will set free those who are hurting, but in different ways.
Kately M. Cockrell
Mr. Pace
DC English IV
The Call of the Wild Essay
4/30/2020
Two Sides of the Same Coin
The Call of the Wild is a novel by Jack London. The story follows a domesticated dog named Buck, who rejects his domestic heritage. He is reintroduced to his native land in a brutal exchange into canine slavery, where neither the men or dogs were civil. He is subjected to harsh treatment and suffers the passing of his beloved master, which only further alienates him from his old life. Another of London’s novels, White Fang almost mirrors The Wild. A morose wolf-dog is suspicious of everyone in his surroundings after living a difficult life, but is softened by his gentle master, and becomes domesticated. These canines are very similar in their experiences, and both have people who softened their hearts.
Even in Judge Miller’s estate, Buck did not experience the same amount of love that he has for Thornton. “Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time. This he had never experienced at Judge Miller’s down in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley. With the Judge’s sons, hunting and tramping, it had been a working partnership; with the Judge’s grandsons, a sort of pompous guardianship; and with the Judge himself, a stately and dignified friendship. But love that was feverish and burning, that was adoration, that was madness, it had taken John Thornton to arouse” (60). White Fang’s master, Weedon Scott pitied the hybrid and had “set himself the task of redeeming White Fang -- or rather, of redeeming mankind from the wrong it had done White Fang. It was a matter of principle and conscience. He felt that the ill done White Fang was a debt incurred by man and that it must be paid” (200).
Both canines are torn between the wilderness and life with humans. For Buck, it is the atavism of his ancient instinct emerging from him. For White Fang, it is his direct bloodline being half-dog, half-wolf. They each find a loving master who rescues them from their abusive ones. Buck quickly takes a liking to Thornton, but it takes White Fang longer due to his trauma with both dogs and people. Their traumas differ, After a feral youth and mistreatment by humans and dogs later in life, White Fang discovers that he can confide in people. After a stagnant domestic life, Buck discovers he doesn’t need to rely on people, and that following his instincts would be his best life. They are prisoners of their situations
They are both set free by the love of their masters, White Fang acquires a comfortable life where he is free from the abuse, and Buck is liberated with Thornton’s death because he no longer has anything to keep him from becoming feral. Both canines became their best selves because of love.
Mr. Pace
DC English IV
The Call of the Wild Essay
4/30/2020
Two Sides of the Same Coin
The Call of the Wild is a novel by Jack London. The story follows a domesticated dog named Buck, who rejects his domestic heritage. He is reintroduced to his native land in a brutal exchange into canine slavery, where neither the men or dogs were civil. He is subjected to harsh treatment and suffers the passing of his beloved master, which only further alienates him from his old life. Another of London’s novels, White Fang almost mirrors The Wild. A morose wolf-dog is suspicious of everyone in his surroundings after living a difficult life, but is softened by his gentle master, and becomes domesticated. These canines are very similar in their experiences, and both have people who softened their hearts.
Even in Judge Miller’s estate, Buck did not experience the same amount of love that he has for Thornton. “Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time. This he had never experienced at Judge Miller’s down in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley. With the Judge’s sons, hunting and tramping, it had been a working partnership; with the Judge’s grandsons, a sort of pompous guardianship; and with the Judge himself, a stately and dignified friendship. But love that was feverish and burning, that was adoration, that was madness, it had taken John Thornton to arouse” (60). White Fang’s master, Weedon Scott pitied the hybrid and had “set himself the task of redeeming White Fang -- or rather, of redeeming mankind from the wrong it had done White Fang. It was a matter of principle and conscience. He felt that the ill done White Fang was a debt incurred by man and that it must be paid” (200).
Both canines are torn between the wilderness and life with humans. For Buck, it is the atavism of his ancient instinct emerging from him. For White Fang, it is his direct bloodline being half-dog, half-wolf. They each find a loving master who rescues them from their abusive ones. Buck quickly takes a liking to Thornton, but it takes White Fang longer due to his trauma with both dogs and people. Their traumas differ, After a feral youth and mistreatment by humans and dogs later in life, White Fang discovers that he can confide in people. After a stagnant domestic life, Buck discovers he doesn’t need to rely on people, and that following his instincts would be his best life. They are prisoners of their situations
They are both set free by the love of their masters, White Fang acquires a comfortable life where he is free from the abuse, and Buck is liberated with Thornton’s death because he no longer has anything to keep him from becoming feral. Both canines became their best selves because of love.