Call of the Wild Essay
Uploaded by Admin on Nov 14, 2000
In 1903, Jack London wrote his best selling novel, concerning the life of a sled dog that travels throughout Alaska, the Yukon, and the Klondike. Throughout this book Jack London uses personification to illustrate the dog’s viewpoint. London describes what adventures the dog encounters after being kidnapped from his Santa Clara Valley home to be taken to Alaska as a sled dog to help men pursue gold in the gold rush of 1897. Buck, is the name of this sled dog who experiences his primitive life style for the first time after many forays through Canada and Alaska. Due to the events in Buck’s life, he transforms from a domesticated, family pet to a primordial, wild beast.
To begin with, before living in northern Canada and Alaska, Buck lived a pampered, luxurious life on Judge Miller’s estate in Santa Clara Valley, California. Although there were numerous breeds of dogs living on the estate, Buck had an aspect to himself that set him aside from the other dogs and animals. “For he was king – king over all creeping, crawling flying things of Judge Miller’s place, humans included.” (Call of the Wild, page 14). Buck would take long peaceful walks with the Judge’s daughters; he would go hunting with the Judge’s sons; he would carry the Judge’s grandsons on his backs and roll them in the grass. Buck who had been treated fairly and justly throughout his life, had a carefreee personality and was very trusting of both humans and animals.
Essentially, Buck was like an emperor that reigned over the Judge’s estate, leading a very gracious life.
As the story progresses, Buck’s personality shows a flaw after he trusts Manuel, a worker on Judge Miller’s estate who has a weakness for gambling and owes many debts. Manuel kidnaps Buck and sells him to pay off a debt. Buck’s trustworthy nature changes as soon as he is beaten and is not fed or allowed to drink water. When Buck arrives in Seattle he is almost beaten to death by the man in the red sweater. “He saw, once for all, that he stood no chance against a man with a club.” (Call of the Wild, page 19). Buck learns from this horrible incident the ‘law of the club.’ The law of the club states that a dog is no match for a man with a weapon. Buck witnesses as his newly-made friend named...