Call Of The Wild - Thematic Summary

Throughout the book, Buck would hear a howling from the woods, or saw visions of his ancestors in his sleep. He had looked into the campfire and seen back generations, to the wild dogs who were his ancestors, and the hairy men who were their masters. He recognized how their lives connected them. Something within him longed to return to the state that these ancestors lived in, to answer the call of the wild. As the novel continued, he had given into this call more and more often, and each time, to a greater extent. He experienced physical changes, such as the hardening of his muscles, and many emotional changes, the desire to join his wild brother, and the dislike for his former life in the Santa Clara Valley. At one point in the book, Buck leaned his head back and gave a long, low wolf howl. It excited him like nothing he had ever felt, and expressed the change he felt toward the wild beast. When Buck finally gave in

The dog sledders' call was wealth. The gold that was in the wilderness was enough to drive them on, even in very harsh conditions that could have, and in a few cases did, take their lives.

Jack London showed greed in many ways. One was the mistreatment of the sled dogs, which showed how far a human would actually go to get what he wanted. These brutal men only wanted gold. The only reason they were in the Alaskan wilderness was for the riches that were spread amongst the treacherous terrain. The ideas of having money, and being wealthy were enough to force a man to beat a dog, as if the dog could feel no pain. All through the story, the sled drivers would starve their dogs, trying to force them to work harder to get food. The men would sometimes take the food for themselves, and depriving the dogs of nutrition needed to go on each day. On a few occasions, the dogs would die of malnutrition, and exhaustion, and even hypothermia, caused by many factors. With no human companions that could be trusted, the canines would sometimes fight amongst themselves just to show dominance and to not be attacked by others. This human ambition caused the dogs to be hurt in many ways.

The novel also shows us how loyalty and love can be experienced, despite the conditions. When Buck was still living in the Santa Clara Valley, he knew he had belonged there, and that that was his

Some topics in this essay:
Call Wild, Jack London, Clara Valley, Judge Buck's, , Thornton Thornton, call wild, wild beast, Santa Clara, santa clara valley, book buck, clara valley, santa clara, sled team, greed mistreatment, loyalty love,