Buck From “The Call of the Wild”
In the novel “The Call of the Wild” we follow the tale of a male dog name Buck. As a Half Saint Bernard half English sheepdog that is a house pet, Buck is in no way prepared for the journey that will transform him from pampered house pet to savage leader of pack. From the start of this novel we get a glimpse that Buck is in no way like other house pets. Almost in a human fashion, unlike most house pets, Buck is abled to reason and also has a sense of wonder and reason, and later also develops of a sense of pride, shame, justice, and love.
Living in comfortable Santa Clara California on an estate, Buck has never really experienced the outside world. Buck is Introduced in the Novel as a spoiled house pet that enjoyed all the creature comforts that his master does. However due a gold rush in the Klondike region of northern Canada, A gardener Kidnaps Buck and sells him to a group of dog merchants. At first buck not knowing how to respond to the situation at hand tries to fight his imprisions only to be beaten brutally close to death. This encounter is the first taste of the cruelty and horror that the world outside his masters estate possesses.
After boxing him up and shipping him out to northern Canada, Buck experiences again the cruelty and savagry of the world when disembarking from his ship Bucks friend that he has met along the way is violently attacked and killed by the other dogs on the ship with Buck. Buck presents another human quality as vowing to himself never to suffer the same fate as his friend. Now in the Canadian wilderness Buck now begins to learn the tools of survival as he learns how to fight off other dogs in his camp and other predators at present a threat, Buck also learns how to scavenge for food, since most of the time his masters dont provide enough food for the dogs at the camp or the other dogs steal Bucks share of it. Lastly Buck learns how the survive the cold arctic weather but tunneling undering the snowbanks which actually insulates him from the sub-zero temperatures.
A violent and savage rivalry also develops along Bucks journey between him and another dog among the other he is imprisoned with. Buck begins to skirmish with this other dog who is the currently leader of the “pack” and begins to undermind his authority. Eventually Bucks tranformation from quiet tame house pet into a wild and intimatdating wolf dog is complete and Buck challenges his rival and kills him in a visious duel between the two.
After becoming the lead dog Buck soon changes hands a couple times in the novel until he meets one of his masters that team him his last two human-like values which are unconditional love, trust and loyalty. After having his life saved by his new master and returning the favor numerious times Buck and also defends him in bar fight. Buck defending his master makes a name for himself for his fiercosity and loyaltiy. Buck also wins his master a major bet when Buck pulls a sled that has a load of one thousand pounds on it one hundred feet. Buck begins to care about his new master like a person would care about their partner, but he is also comflicted with his growing interest in leaving civilization and fully emersing himself into the wilderness.
After accompaning his master to a gold mine deep within the canadian forest Buck starts to run astray from the camp becoming familiar with the forest and wild life around the new campsite. One night Buck hears a call from the forest. After going to investagate Buck meets face too face with a timber wolf, At this point Bucks personality splits into two parts, the civilized Buck that stays back at the camp with his master. Also Buck begins to come like the timber wolf, staying away from the camp for days at a time sometimes. Buck begins to hunt his own food again and even manages to kill a bear.
One day when Buck was away from camp for four days, hunt salmon and moose on his own. During Bucks trip back to camp he senses an uneasy feeling in the air. When he returns to camp he finds his premonition is correct when he witnesses native indians murder the entire camps of people including his master. Buck enraged at the sight of his masters death charges and kills several of the indians with the rest fleeing. At this point Buck completely transforms from a civil companion to a wild wolf-dog with the last bit of his civil behavior dying with his master. Buck also learns his last value as an account of this, reverance. As Buck makes an annual trip away from his pack that he leads to his masters grave site, like a person would too a a deceased reletive to pay their respects.
