Novel in the call of the wild

Novel “in the call of the wild”

The novel “the call of the wild” by Jack London is a detail of a survival struggle. A domesticated dog- Buck is snatched from a ranch and sold as a sled dog. The dog is subjected to a harsh environment that it had never experienced. Regardless of the challenges that Buck faces, he puts on a spirited fight to survive and overcome the challenges. Various situations are used to demonstrate the sufferings of Buck; nature, confrontation from other dogs and human beings.

Buck instincts enable him to survive by saving his own life. The fact that Buck was able to listen to his instincts enabled him to become more powerful and cope with the wild environment. A good illustration of this is when Buck leads his team to Thornton camp. He is reluctant to wake up and continue with the journey even though he was capable to move like other dogs. Buck unconsciously sense the risk awaiting him after realizing that the ice was getting weak. Because he did not want to be killed, he decided to remain stagnant at his position. The other dogs and human beings who did not sense this risk died as the ice melted. Buck was able to survive this tragedy.

Buck is determined to survive even amidst threats from Spitz-the sled dogs leader and the wild dogs. Often, Spitz triggered conflict by showing Buck his teeth but Buck avoided fights. However, when Spitz becomes a nuisance for example when Spitz occupies Bucks shelter, Buck is angered and springs on Spitz. This leads to hatred between these two dogs. The quote, “Dazed, suffering intolerable pain from throat and tongue, with the life half throttled out of him, Buck attempted to face his tormentors.” (London 125) explains the scenario.

Buck is also faced with challenges after being attacked by starving and hungry wild dogs. However, after a struggle, Buck with other dogs retreat from the fight and reorganizes them. They manage to survive the attacks even after succumbing to severe injuries. Consequently, Buck is attacked by Dolly-one of the dogs that goes mad. His master Francois kills the dog with an ax hence saves Buck. This scenario leaves Buck exhausted but out rightly saved from the tragedy that had earlier faced him.

There is also a rivalry between Buck and Spitz. These two dogs are rivalry and engage in undeclared war. Spitz is the leader of the dogs but Bucks threatens to overrule his leadership. To achieve this, Buck employs tactics by siding with weaker dogs in circumstances when Spitz tries to control them to his way. This rivalry becomes evident when the dogs spot a rabbit. Buck employs tricks against his rivalry- Spitz by breaking the leg of Spitz and killing him (Feast 2). This episode marks the end of the conflict and Buck takes on the leadership mantle of dogs.

The nature contributed to the change of Buck. The environment that he was taken into was cruel. For instance, the dog is taught how to obey through beatings by use of a club. This cruelty requires change of tactics to survive. Secondly, when a fellow dog, Curly is attacked by huskies after immediately getting out of the ship, this triggered change of behavior, as he was to ensure that such killings do not happen to him (Brucker 2). I quote, “Buck’s first day on the Dyea beach was like a nightmare. Every hour was filled with shock and surprise” (London 42) Buck also suffers from hunger but manages to overcome. This is depicted in the phrase:

He did not mind the hunger so much, but the lack of water caused him severe suffering and fanned his wrath to fever pitch. For that matter, high-strung and finely sensitive, the ill treatment had flung him into a fever, which was fed by the inflammation of his parched and swollen throat and tongue (London 124)

To adapt to this, he had to adjust to the new environment. He therefore, learns how to fight, sleep in harsh conditions, and fight for food.

Buck also changed, after the ice melted and killed many of their colleagues. Thornton became his master and Buck devoted to him. Because of this relationship, Buck acted as a companion to Thornton and even went a step ahead to save him when a man attacked him in the bar. Buck further, managed to win $ 1,600 wager for Thornton after pulling a sled that carried a loud weighing one thousand pound (Feast 2).

Buck love for wilderness life became a reality. This is evidenced when he accompanies Thornton in the forests to search for lost mines. Buck had a feeling of moving from civilization to wilderness. On finding out that his masters have been killed, he attacks the killers-Yeehat Indians and kills them. Therefore, it is apparent that Buck ended up in a better situation even though the going was a bit tough. After Thornton is killed, he goes back into the wild and is given leadership roles. He leads the wolves and is contend with the new role. Buck turns out to be a legendary figure and a ghost dog to be remembered by the coming generations. Regardless of the many challenges that begot him, he is devoted and knows that in order to survive; working extremely hard is his obligation. This is exactly what Buck did, the environment allowed him to learn and employ tactics that enabled him to concur all the threats and eventually concurring the challenges.

In conclusion, the novel, best illustrates the fact that those that are the best survive. Through Buck as one of the key character, the author has managed to take the reader through the challenges of the dogs and how the strongest managed to survive. The weaker dogs died on their way but Buck put on a spirited fight and regardless of the problems such as food, threats from fellow dogs and human harassment, managed to overcome this, and became a leader. Therefore, the novel provides enough situations where we see the efforts by Buck to overcome challenges and indeed gives us hints how a solution to the problem is managed. The novel is therefore educative and interesting to read as it intertwines the story with the real life situations.