Essay/Term paper: Another call of the wild

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Cliff Notes

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

forth 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 this call. 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.