Call of the Wild

The main character of the novel, The Call of the Wild, is a St. Bernard and Scotch Shepherd mix, named Buck. As I read the book, I found out that Buck can be very loyal and trustworthy to his master, if his master is loyal to him. Also, at times I found that Buck could turn into an enraged beast very easily. At home, which was a large house called Judge Miller’s Place, in the sun kissed Santa Clara Valley in California, Buck ruled over all of the dogs that were there. Buck was Judge Miller’s inseparable companion, until a man named Manuel, who was one the gardener’s helpers, committed a treacherous act. In order to cover his Chinese lottery gambling debts, he stole Buck from his sound sleep and brought him to a flag station called College Park. There, the exchanging of money took place. Buck was loaded onto an express car to Seattle. On his way to Seattle, he found that a man in a red sweater repeatedly beat him. From then on, I knew that Buck would never forget that experience. In that part of the book, I found out that Buck was now an enraged animal and could only be tamed by repeatedly being hit with a club or a whip. At this point of the book, I was thinking about Judge Miller. He would’ve sent out a message or an investigation in order to find Buck. Because Judge Miller had a big house to live in, the book implied that he was wealthy. The trip to Seattle must of taken days and by then, Judge Miller would’ve been worried sick about his inseparable companion. As the story goes on, Buck’s first experience of snow left him feeling pretty stupid. When the train got to the station in Seattle, two men named Perrault and Francois bought him. Then, they put him on a ship called the Narwhal. At this point of the book, I was thinking about the cruelty of animals and how the humans treated them. It was cruel, but I guess they didn’t care. The Narwhal took Buck to the Yukon where he was trained to be a sled dog. There were other dogs that Buck had grown to know well during his training. In a matter of time, Buck became a great sled dog. Francois and Perrault took the huskies and mix breeds from Dyea Beach to the town of Dawson. There were many conflicts with Buck and Spitz, who was the leader of the dogs. From then on, Buck’s motivation was to survive the freezing cold weather of the arctic. Buck was very ambitious to be the leader. In some ways, I find that Buck can be satanic. To become the lead dog of the sled team, he would fight to the bloody death of the lead dog, and that was what he did later on in the book. When I was reading, I noticed something in the writing of Jack London. Francois and Perrault must of came from France or something. Their English was really bad. It took me a while before I could really understand what they were saying. An example of this was when Francois was talking about how there was no other dog like Buck. “Nevaire such a dog as dat Buck!” he cried. “No nevaire! Heem worth one t’ousan’ dollair, by Gar! Eh? Wot you say, Perrault?” When Spitz was killed, Francois and Perrault didn’t even make Buck the leader of the pack. Buck became enraged and pushed himself harder than ever to achieve the roll of being the leader. As days past, Francois and Perrault made the trip to Dawson. By the time they got there, most of the dogs were severely wounded. Some of them had broken legs and some of them were severely sick. The dog that was in best condition was Buck, although he had many wounds and bruises. When Francois and Perrault got to Dawson, Buck was traded to a family who knew absolutely nothing about managing a sled team. This part of the plot didn’t seem right. There was a rich family who could’ve taken a train to their destination