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, ruled over all of the dogs that were there. Buck was Judge Miller’s inseparable partner, until a man named Manuel, who was one the gardener’s helpers, committed a horrible 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 dog/best friend. 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 instead of risking their lives in the freezing cold; meanwhile, taking a crew of dogs and having to feed them and having to stop each night can kill the dogs if not treated right.

The plot continues when the family packed too much on the sled. It was too much for the dogs to pull and it was mostly unnecessary baggage. The driver told the dogs to start. They pulled as hard as they could but the sled didn’t budge. Luckily, a local came along and told the family to throw away their tent. They started and finally got somewhere. As the sled made a sharp turn, some of the access baggage tipped over and the trip was barely completed because of the harsh weather, inadequate supplies, and poop management skills of the dog handlers. This was a beginning of a bad start of Buck and the family.

Perhaps the only sane one in the group was John Thortnon. When the family started to repeatedly beat on Buck, Thornton became enraged and threatened to kill the man. Shortly after, Thornton unhooked Buck from the sled, nonetheless the rest of the family left John Thornton. As the sled took off, it slid on a lake and then began to sink. This situation left me to think about what it would feel like to be a dog in those days. It leaves a horrible scene in my mind because seeing a whole crew of sled dogs sink in freezing cold water is very hard to imagine.

This situation left John and Buck to fend for themselves. As time pasted, John and Buck became the best of friends. The rest of the book concludes all of the good times that John and Buck have together.

In this book, Jack London makes Buck look like a human being instead of a dog. It is not that realistic because Jack London makes the dog feel human emotions. An example of this is at the end of the book when Buck discovers that John Thornton is dead because of the Indians. It said in the book that Buck felt and remembered all of the times that they have spent together. I think that Jack London uses a writing style that everyone can understand.

Overall, I think that The Call of the Wild is an exhilarating and an exciting novel. It is packed with drama and adventure. Throughout the chapters, this book takes you through many stages of a dog’s life. I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in reading about dogs and the arctic. I think that this book has to do with the love from a dog to a man than anything else in the book. Overall, I think that this is a great book and I recommend that you read it.