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Theme Of Survival In The Call Of The Wild

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The Largest dog in the yukon, stood like a stone wall against the crisp, Canadian wind and all over the dense, north snow he left his mammoth sized paw prints followed by the tracks of his team mates and a sled. In the adventure novel, The Call Of The Wild by Jack London, Buck the largest dog in the yukon endures a variety of masters, sled dogs, and challenges. Buck went from the life of luxury in california, to toiling in the traces in the Yukon, during the 1897 gold rush. One of the bolder themes in The Call Of The Wild is survival of the fittest, This theme appears over and over in the novel. One example of survival of the fittest happens when buck and his team chased a rabbit for fun. When bucks team was set on killing the rabbit for food, buck spotted it first and lead the team towards the rabbit. When spitz caught the rabbit before buck, buck wasn't happy. Buck wanted that kill. “At the sound of this the cry of life plunging down from life's apes in the grip of death, the full pack of buck's heels raised a hells chorus of delight. Buck did not cry out.” (London 40). Spitz was fit to survive in the hostile Northland. Buck later learned that those unable to survive die when unprepared. …show more content…

While looking for a place to cross an unfrozen river, a man named John Thornton told the unprepared people not to cross. They crossed regardless of what they were told. Everybody was killed except for buck. “They saw charles turn and make one step to run back and the whole section of ice gave way and dogs and humans disappear.” (London 27). When those who were unprepared didn't listen to the people were experienced they died. When the trio went on the thin ice, they proved they could not

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Buck decided he would help other dogs fight against Spitz and would protect the dogs from their punishments that came from Spitz. Another thing, is he would not fight Spitz in plain sight because he didn’t want to get caught by their dog’s master. He also rebelled against Spitz by swaggering in front of him to get on Spitz’s nerves. Buck did everything he could to help the other dogs by leading them. This is how Buck was able to rebel against Spitz and didn’t get caught at the same

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880 Words | 4 Pages

From Spitzenberg through the Arctic, and across Canada and the Barrens, he had held his own with all manner of the dogs and achieved mastery over them. Bitter rage was his, but never blind rage. In passion to rend and destroy, he never forgot that his enemy was in like passion to rend and destroy. He never rushed till he was prepared to receive a rush; never attacked till he had first defended that attack” (London 20). As one can see Spitz was a very good fighter so may he did let Buck win because Buck was not a fighter he was the type of dog that did stuff with his owners like going hunting and playing with the children.

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Between these opposing values Buck hovers continually in the action of the tale. Even the call of the wild itself, to which Buck responds with growing intensity throughout receives double focus twin definition: it was both lure and trap. In the second chapter, when Buck learns “The Law of Club and Fang” he builds his first warm sleeping nest in the snow, to discover the next morning: It had snowed during the night and he was completely buried.

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612 Words | 3 Pages

When the sled drivers who delivered the mail were done with Buck and his team they got about a two days rest until they were purchased by three people who didn’t know a single thing about being a sled driver. They over packed the sled, didn’t bring enough food, bought too many dogs (which ties under not bringing enough food). After about half of the dogs died from starvation, they ended up at John Thornton’s little stop area, while the three people were asking where to go all the dogs flopped down in exhaustion. Once they get the directions they beat the dogs until they got up, except for Buck, Buck didn’t move at all. He didn’t even feel the pain of the club or whip hitting him.

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He could see them, beyond Spitz and to either side, half-crouching for the spring, their eyes fixed upon him." (Chapter 4 Page 42) Buck, blinded by his lust and greed for power overthrew the once lead dog, Spitz, to gain more of what he wanted, power. Another example of this is, "At last, at the end of the fourth day, he pulled the great moose down." (Chapter 7) Buck's greed for more and more power drove him to kill a large bull moose in which he found a worthy opponent. However, this kill was not for food, there were plenty of cows and calves around the bull to attack.

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Buck gets into a fight with the mean, lead sled dog named Spitz, and ends up killing him, "Mercy was a thing reserved for gentler climes. He maneuvered for the final rush… Only Spitz quivered and bristled as he staggered back and forth, snarling with horrible menace, as though to frighten off impending death. Then Buck sprang in and out; but while he was in, shoulder had at last squarely met shoulder. The dark circle became a dot on the moon-flooded snow as Spitz disappeared from view" (London 34).

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For example, he leaped around Buck very fast and Buck couldn’t bite him. Since Buck was smarter he used his imagination and took out spitz’s front legs and let the other dogs finish him off. In the middle of the book, Buck had to kill a bear. First, Buck seen a bear and he had to get food.

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Finally, Buck battles the elements while on a simple river trip with John Thornton. They find themselves floating downstream,

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Buck loved him so much that he saved John from drowning in a river, killed a man who started a fight, and won a $1,600 bet for him. However, as strong as Buck’s love was for John Thornton, his call to the wild was stronger. This led Buck on an adventure for many days deep into the woods with a newly befriended timber wolf. When he eventually returned home, he had found that Indians had killed all the dogs and people.

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Similar moments in both The Call of the Wild and War Brothers taught the protagonist a valuable lesson about being strong in order to survive. For both Buck and Jacob, it’s kill or be killed. Buck quickly learns this lesson after being thrust into this situation with several new ferocious dogs. At this point, “They were camped near the log store, where she, in her friendly way, made advances to a husky dog the size of a full-grown wolf, though not half so large as she. There was no warning, only a leap in like a flash, a metallic clip of teeth, a leap out equally swift, and Curly’s face was ripped open from eye to jaw” (London 10).

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That leads me to my second reason Buck watched as one of his own sled dog team members go into a fight he watched how the leader Spitz and Curly got into a fight he realized that if he got knocked down in a fight he would die. “He had never seen dogs fight as these wolfish creatures fought, and his first experience taught him an unfortunate lesson.” (London 16) I think this was a good quote he had to watch one of his own dog team member get killed in a fight and he learned a lot from that one fight if he got knocked down he would be dead this proves that he has is ft to

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696 Words | 3 Pages

The novel The Call of the Wild is a story based on a dog named Buck who is a four year old part Shepherd and part Saint Bernard that lives in Santa Clara Valley, California. Buck is taken from his home to be a sled dog for delivering Alaskan mail. He goes through many transforming and unrealistic experiences that take him from being a dog to being a wolf. Buck meets many other humans and dogs and wolves in this story that all play a part in Buck’s transformation. It is overall a naturalistic tale about the survival of the fittest in nature and reality.

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961 Words | 4 Pages

The dark circle became a dot on the moon-flooded snow as Spitz disappeared from view. Buck stood and looked on, the successful champion, the dominant primordial beast who had made his kill and it was good.” (London 78). This demonstrates that Buck did what he had to do to become leader and rise to the top because he did not give up in his

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1125 Words | 5 Pages

And then a whole section of ice give way and the dogs and humans disappeared.” If it wasn’t for Thornton helping Buck with his adversity, only moments later Buck would have lost his life. The voice of Thornton changed Buck’s fate. Buck who can’t speak would have been unable to change his future, but the voice to conquer his adversity was there for

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684 Words | 3 Pages

Along with these people were strong powerful dogs that were used to pull the sleds. With these dogs came some vicious and kind owners. The main character in this novel is Buck which he is the protagonist. Buck is a strong courageous dog that is half Saint Bernard and half Scotch Sheepdog. He once was not a sled dog for the Klondike Gold Rush.

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