Throughout the novel The Call of the Wild, we follow a dog named
Buck through his journey through the Klondike. We experience a
transformation in him, as he adapts to the cold, harsh land where
he is forced to toil in the snow, just to help men find a shiny
metal. Buck seems to almost transform into a different dog by the
end of the book. In this essay, I will go over what Buck was like,
how and why he was forced to adapt to his new environment, and
what he changed into.
When we first met up with Buck, he lived in the Santa Clara
Valley, on Judge Miller’s property. He was the ruler of his
domain, uncontested by any other local dogs. he was a mix between
a St. Bernard and a Scotch Shepherd dog. He weighed one hundred
and forty pounds, and he carried every one with utmost pride.
Buck had everything he could want. Little did he know, he would
soon have it all taken away from him. One night, while the judge
was away at a raisin grower’s committee meeting, the gardener,
Manuel, took Buck away from his home. Buck was then sold, and
thrown in a baggage car. This would be the beginning of a new,
cruel life for Buck.
On his ride to wherever he was going, Buck’s
pride was severely damaged, if not completely wiped out by men who
used tools to restrain him. No matter how many times Buck tried to
lunge, he would just be choked into submission at the end. When
Buck arrived at his destination, there was snow everywhere, not to
mention the masses of Husky and wolf dogs. Buck was thrown into a
pen with a man who had a club. This is where Buck would learn one
of the two most important laws that a dog could know in the
Klondike. The law of club is quite simple, if there is a man with
a club, a dog would be better off not to challenge that man. Buck
learned this law after he was beaten half to death by the man who
had the club. no matter what he tried, he just couldn’t win.
Buck was sold off to a man who put him in a harness connected to
many other dogs. Buck was bad at first, but eventually, he learned
the way of trace and trail. Buck had to learn many things if he
was to survive in this frigid land. He had to learn to sleep
under the snow, and to eat his food as fast as possible so as not
to have it stolen. At about this point in the book, we see Buck
start to go through a metamorphosis of sorts. He transforms from a
house dog to a more primitive, savage version of his former self.
It was as if hundreds of years of knowledge, learned by his
ancestors, were dug up and brought out. Buck proceeded to lose all
the fat in his body and replace it with muscle. Buck was no longer
Judge Miller’s pet.
He was a machine of survival and triumph. Most
Southland dogs like him ended up dead because of their inability
to conform. Buck was born to lead the team, but one dog would do
everything possible to try and keep him down. This dog’s name was
Spitz. Spitz was a white wolf dog who was a proven champion in
confrontation and was as crafty as they come. It was clear that he
and Buck would not work well together. When dogs have
confrontation in the Klondike, only one survives. This was because
of a law called fang. The law of Fang is such that, when two dogs
fight and one is knocked to the ground, that is it. The rest of
the spectators will instantly pounce on the downed dog and make
quick work of it.
All of these unspoken rules had turned Buck into the Best dog to
ever roam the Klondike. Buck did eventually fight Spitz and send
him to his death. After all of the transformations and cruelty he
had been through, you would think that Buck would never be able to
trust another human. He was being starved to death by a gold
seeking group who had not brought enough food for the dogs. When
Buck could finally not move another step, a man from the group
started to beat Buck. As the blows grew less and less painful, and
he was fading farther and farther, Buck knew he was dying. While
Buck was being beaten, a man named John Thornton came fort and
took Buck from his attacker. The man nursed Buck back to health,
and from that day forward, Buck lived for that man. Buck loved him
with all his being.
After being with this man for quite some time, Buck started to
hear a call from far away. He started paying more and more
attention to thiscall. He went out for days at a time searching
for it’s source. This call was the call of the wild. He had a will
to go off and be with other dogs. He felt the urge to be free from
man and catch his own food. One day, Buck finally left for good.
He was excepted by a pack of wolves who treated him like a wolf
himself. And so the transformation was complete. Buck had changed
from a dog, to a beast of nature.
