The Call Of The Wild

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The Call of the Wild The book chosen was The Call of the Wild, written by Jack London. Because London tends to write about human vs. nature or animal vs. nature which is very interesting. There are three main ideas of this story, which are all brought together by the characters, theme, and plot. The conflict of the story is between the characters, theme, and plot.

The Call of the Wild has a very interesting plot. The plot is centered around a St. Bernard, named Buck. He lives in a large house called Judge Miller's Place, in Santa Clara Valley. Manuel, one of the gardener's helpers, got caught up with a gambling debt, and kidnapped Buck from Judge Miller and loaded him onto a train headed towards Seattle. When he got there, Buck was bought buy two men and was loaded onto another ship called the Narwhal and was taken to the Yukon, where he would train as a sled dog.

After awhile of sled dog work, Buck was traded to a gold seeking family. John Thornton, who was one of the sled teams new owners, became enraged when he found out about beatings that the dogs would receive unnecessarily. He threatened to kill the man and then released Buck and the other beaten dogs and let them rest. The other owners and the rest of the sled team decided to leave John Thornton and Buck, so they were left to survive on their own. Because of this Thornton and Buck grow a mutual trust and passion for each other, as they travel the Yukon. For example "Buck pulls a sled 100 yards that has a thousand pounds of flour on it because John bet that he could" (page 50). Buck soon becomes known all over Alaska due to he strength and devotion to his master. On his travels he becomes a very skilled at hunting and survival when needed. Buck demonstrates this when he fights Spitz "The dominant primortal beast was strong in Buck"(page 15). This proves that Buck was coming in touch with his inner self and nature.

The overall theme of the book Call of the Wild is the power of love is stronger than all other powers. Buck demonstrates this when John is in the river drowning "Buck jumps into the water and risks his life to save John"(page 46). But many other themes were used to help set the stage for Buck and his getting to know his self. The themes start in Santa Clara Valley, where Buck is familiar with his surroundings and becomes fond of his home. Then he learns to deal with what people give him. For example he had to stay in the cages and he learned the law of the club and the law of the fang. Finally, he was in the wilderness where he leaves civilization and becomes one with the wild. This shows how Buck has developed as an independent and self-aiding dog.

There were many different settings in the book The Call of the Wild, which helped demonstrate how Buck was liked and how he became a successful leader. The first setting was California, which was were he lived with Judge Miller, were he lived an easy comfortable life. Then the dog seller's cage, which is a harsh condition were Buck begins his mindset that he has been betrayed. The majority of the time the dogs were kept in the cage on the trip up north to Alaska and the Yukon. Lastly and most important, the wilderness, where Buck hears the call of the wild.

The three main ideas of the book The Call of the Wild which were discussed above are plot, theme, and the characters. The main theme is that people will do anything for the things or people that they love. Jack London shows this throughout the story by have each main character love something, such as Buck's love for the wilderness, Jack's love for Buck, or Spitz's love for being the leader. The plots tie together to show how different environments or settings might change the perspective of the character. These all tie together to prove that love conquers all. The conflict of the story is portrayed through the use of the characters by them having problems with each other because of the treatment towards the dogs. Also the theme is a representation of conflict due to the use of the man vs. nature and man vs. man. The conflict is a direct effect of the characters, theme and plot.