The Call of the Wild
Written by Jack London
About the Characters
Buck: Buck is a dog who was kidnapped and captured and sold to dog traders who would bring him to the Klondike region and would use him to pull their sleds that were filled of gold. After experiencing the harsh conditions of living in the Klondike, Buck begins to adapt to the life style of living way up North. He learns how to hunt and scavenge for food as well as find comfortable sleeping conditions where he won't freeze to death. After developing a rivalry with Spitz, the head of Bucks's dog team, Buck is determined to take out Spitz and become the new head of the dog team. After being sold to inexperienced dog traders Buck faces the worst of the worst conditions. His new masters beat and force Buck to carry loads to heavy and extreme for the dogs to carry. After seeing the harsh beatings towards the dogs, John Thornton tried to cut loose some of the dogs but only managed to cut loose Buck. Eventually John Thornton becomes Buck's new master. From there they form a strong bond between each other.
John Thornton: After saving Buck from being killed by Hal, Bucks old master, Buck and John develop a strong relationship. They both have each others back. For example, Buck saved John from a man who tried to start a bar fight with him. He also saved John from drowning in a river. John was killed by the Yeehat indians after they raided Johns camp. This left Buck all alone in the wilderness to defend for himself.
Book Evaluation
I enjoyed the book The Call of the Wild because of the characterization of Buck. I like how Jack London transformed Buck into a regular pet dog into a strong working dog. I also liked how he made Buck have to move from California where its always hot all they way up to the Klondike where its always cold. This made Buck have to adapt to the harsh cold conditions ultimately making him become stronger in the end. I also like how Jack London only gave background information about Buck and not any other character. Therefore the reader has to interpret where certain characters come from such as John Thornton in the book. I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys the outdoors.
Character Conflict
I like how Jack London added a lot of conflict between characters in the story. For example, Buch and Spitz fought to the death to determine who would be the leader of the dog team as well as Hal and John fought because of the treatment Hal displayed towards his dogs. This fighting between characters made the story even more of a page turner because you never know what could happen between the characters.