How Does The Call Of The Wild Change Throughout The Novel

The northland is a formidable and punishing wasteland, full of hardships and toil. Jack London’s The Call of the Wild is a highly acclaimed novel following the journey of a dog named Buck. He is a southland dog who gets taken up north to become a sled dog, and has to battle the harsh conditions and tough competition of the northland. Throughout the story, Buck grows both physically and mentally to survive in the conditions. In The Call of the Wild, London displays to the reader the importance of a willingness to learn and adapt to your surroundings to survive through the metaphor of Buck’s paws hardening, his development compared to that of other characters with similar backgrounds, and his evolution into the physical and mental peak of his

At this point in the story, Buck is on his first expedition, learning how to pull a sled. It is explained that Buck’s paws were soft and weak, unlike his peers’ which were hard and adapted to the trail. He is inexperienced and not physically nor mentally ready for the trail. His owners, Francois and Perrault, even have to give him boots for him to protect his paws. It is then stated that, “Later his feet grew hard to the trail, and the worn-out foot-gear was thrown away”(London 31). His feet growing hard to the trail does not only apply to his feet, but also his mental state. He physically and mentally was adapting to the trail. This was necessary for his survival, as if he did not change how he acted he would have gotten

After Buck and his team had a record run, his past owners sold him. He was bought by Hal, Charles, and Mercedes, who have very similar backgrounds to Buck. They all came from the southland and all had no experience pulling sleds prior to going to the north. The difference between them is that Buck was willing to learn and adapt. Many times, Hal, Charles, and Mercedes were given advice on what to do, but they naively ignored it. Later on in the story, London states, “Dog and man watched it crawling along over the ice. Suddenly, they saw its back end drop down, as into a rut, and the gee-pole, with Hal clinging to it, jerked into the air. Mercedes’s scream came to their ears. They saw Charles turn and make one step to run back, and then a whole section of ice gave way and dogs and humans disappeared. A yawning hole was all that was to be seen. The bottom had dropped out of the trail“(67). The team falling into the water and dying shows how unprepared they were. Hal, Charles, and Mercedes were warned not to go on, but they did not listen and went on, leading to their demise. They were not willing to learn and adapt. Buck, on the other hand, was more than willing to learn and adapt to his surroundings, which is why he