This was written by Sean Quinn
Imagine being a dog back in the late eighteen hundreds, during the great Klondike gold rush. Jack London, author of "The Call of the Wild", paints that exact picture into the mind of the reader during the unfortunately short amount of time that it takes to finish reading this great story of survival in the wilderness of the Yukon Territory.
The tale begins in California where Buck, a normal dog, spends his time taking care of his masters by playing with the judge's, Buck's owner's, children or by protecting the women of the family by accompanying them on their long walks through the town. The judge's gardener hears about the money that can be made by selling dogs to gold prospectors on their way to the Yukon Territory. So he steals Buck and leads him on a walk down to the train station where Buck is eventually sold to a man heading north so that he can be used as a sled dog. His new owners abuse him on his trip to Seattle. Soon after arriving in Seattle Buck finds himself on a ship heading north towards the Yukon Territory. After his journey by ship ends, Buck experiences his first snow and learns a very important lesson: that once you fall down in a fight, you never get up. He learns this by watching a fight between his friend Curly and the leader of the dog sled team, Spitz. In this fight, Curly, struck by a blow from Spitz, fell to the ground and immediately found herself covered by other starving dogs and her remains were literally torn to pieces. After this event took place, Buck quickly learned how to be a sled dog. He accomplishes this feat with the help of the other dogs. As time passes Buck and Spitz begin to hate each other more and more and everyone knows that there will eventually be a fight between the two and that it will be to the death. That day finally comes while the dogs chase a rabbit. The battle lasts a long time and Buck comes out triumphant. He then becomes leader of the team and he does a good job. Buck changes owners many times during his life. During a long trip through the wilderness the team runs out of food and they almost starve. They keep traveling as it starts to turn into spring and Buck senses danger and lies down on the ground and refuses to move. His owners repeatedly beat him, but he still won't move. An innocent bystander, John Thorton, put a stop to the beating, takes Buck, and warns Buck's previous owners not to cross the ice covering the river. The people don't listen and as they crosses the river the ice gives way and everyone dies: all of the people and all of Buck's former team members. Buck lives a happy life with John Thorton and he saved his life once by pulling him from a raging river. As time passes, Mr. Thorton decides to start searching for a gold mine out in the wilderness. While out there, Buck meets a wolf and almost joins the pack, but his love for John prevents him from going. This goes on for many nights and one time when Buck returns he finds the camp being raided by Indians. Buck, being in the best physical shape of his life, attacks and kills all of the Indians and when he finishes he finds the bodies of all of his old friends, including John. After this, Bucks decided to join the wolf pack and finish out his days with them.
London did a good job with "The Call of the Wild" because he used third person narration, showing Buck's evolution from a house dog into a beast of the wild, he wrote a realistic story line, and he made the story very interesting and exciting. The first reason why London did a good job would be that he used third person narration. He made Buck seem like a real dog because he told the story through Buck's eyes and not in the first person where Buck tells the reader the story. Most movies about animals, especially "The Adventures of Milo and Otis" and Disney movies, make the animals talk and that takes away from the realism of the story. On the other hand, London only used crude emotions such as love, hate, fear, and anger. Using third person narration made the story seem right. Second, London showed Buck evolve from being an ordinary house dog into being a member of a wolf pack. In the beginning of the story characterizes Buck as being a lazy house dog . After being captured and forced to pull a dog sled for the first time, it states how Buck's feet became sore and how his muscles began to ache. But as time went on he built up his muscles and his feet grew harder and he became more mentally adapted to survive in the wild. The story would not work if Buck started as a strong dog able to withstand everything. Third, the story sounded realistic. Buck never jumped across twenty foot crevices or fought off ten dogs at once. Instead it showed how Buck became able to survive with or without a team of other dogs to help him. It also showed how Buck loved the master that treated him nicely and hated the ones that treated him badly. This would be the same in a real dog. Finally, London made the story interesting and exciting. He did this by creating suspense leading up to the fight between Buck and Spitz, and by explaining how a dog sled team operates. It makes the reader feel as though they actually experienced things as they happened. London's use of third person narration, Buck's evolution, realism, and giving the reader interesting details while making them feel like part of the story, all combine to make "The Call of the Wild" a story that can be easily enjoyed.
Though, London did have a few short comings in his story such as the length of the book and how when the reader starts to like a character, they die, or else Buck finds new owners. First of all, the story didn't last long enough. It could easily be read in one sitting. The story should continue on with Buck's life in the wolf pack or by having more adventures happen throughout the story because it just didn't last long enough. Second, once the reader begins to like a character, that character dies or Buck finds himself with new owners. The best example of this would be when Buck changes hands for the last time and John Thorton becomes his new master because right then the rest of the team dies. Right before that, the reader really starts to get to know the team and like them. Another good example would be when John Thorton dies. The length and the way that characters would enter and leave the story so abruptly all took away from the story.
Overall, Jack London did a great job of writing The Call of the Wild. The use of third person narration, Buck's evolution, the realism of the story, and the way he made it both interesting and exciting all helped to make this an excellent tale. But he should work on the way that he disposes of his characters.