The feeling of read the Call of the Wild
旅游英语1012 董兴会（2010128520124）
The Call of the Wild is one of the masterpieces of Jack London.The hero Buck is a dog.The dog is not only an animal but has features of human beings.By comparing Buck\'s attitudes and behavior to its masters with the way the masters treat Buck, and analyzing Buck\'s response to John Thornton\'s death, we can see that the author exprees the desire for loyalty in this novel.Firstly, I want to talk something about Jack London.Whose life symbolized the power of will, was the most succeful writer in America in the early 20th Century.His vigorous stories of men and animals against the environment, and survival against hardships were drawn mainly from his own experience.An illegitimate child, London paed his childhood in poverty in the Oakland slums.At the age of 17, he ventured to sea on a sealing ship.The turning point of his life was a thirty-day imprisonment that was so degrading it made him decides to turn to education and pursue a career in writing.And his experiences of searching for gold in the Klondike left their mark in his stories.His work embraced the concepts of unconfined individualism and Darwinism in its exploration of the laws of nature.He retired to his ranch near Sonoma, where he died at age 40 of various diseases and drug treatments.He is the best known for his books The Call of the Wild; although it is a story about a dog, Buck, it vividly depicts the life in the primitive north where people rushed for gold and fortune.
White Fang, and the Sea-Wolf, and a few short stories, such as \"To Build a Fire\" and \"The White Silence.\" In fact, he was a prolific writer whose fiction explored their geographies and their cultures: the Yukon, California, and the South Pacific.He experimented with many literary forms, from conventional love stories and dystopias to science fantasy.His noted journalism included war correspondence, boxing stories, and the life of Molokai lepers.A committed socialist, he insisted against editorial preures to write political eays and insert social criticism in his fiction.He was among the most influential figures of his day, who understood how to create a public persona and use the media to market his self-created image of poor-boy-turned-succe.He left over fifty books of novels, stories, journalism, and eays, many of which have been translated and continue to be read around the world.The call of the wild is London’s most read book, and generally considered his best, the most masterpiece of his so-called “early period”.The story was set in 19th century Klondike Gold Rush, in which sled dogs were bought at generous prices.Buck was a domestic dog in Judge Millers home and living a comfortable life until he was sold secretly by the poor gardener and became a sled dog.Buck was a Bernard dog weight one hundred and forty pounds, tall, strong and heavy muscled.He couldn’t accommodate to the harsh condition at first.Then he wanted to fight, to escape, to go back to his cozy home, but in vain.The man in red taught him the law of stick and club-one must first adjust himself to his surroundings and learn the rules, and only after that he can do what he wants to do.The club of the man in red called back Buck’s nature as a dog.When he firstly served for Francois and Perrault, two couriers, he showed his superior ability to adapt to the environment and smartne to learn everything he wanted to learn.Curly’s death astonished him and taught him to be cautious.And before he had recovered from the shock caused by the tragic paing of Curly, he was harneed as a sled dog and step by step wanted to be the leader.But the leading dog, Spitz, was already an excellent one, who also considered Buck as enemy and potential competitor.At last, when Spitz once punished him, hurling backward Buck, he knows the time had come.He killed Spitz and took his place.When they pulled into Dawson, Buck was sold as usele thing to three gold diggers, who weren’t veteran in sledding and even didn’t know how to get to their destination.Food was eaten up on half of the way.So Charles, who is one of the three, decided to kill Buck when he couldn’t get up.However, when he aimed at Buck, John Thornton sprang upon him, knocked him down and told him that if Charles stroke Buck, Thornton would kill him.Thus, Thornton took Buck away.He was the only true friend of Buck.But Buck was a thing of the wild, especially when the calling of wolf from the hills.Once when he came back from hills, he found that Thornton was killed by Indians.What would you do if you were Buck when you beloved friend was killed? Buck became a nut and killed those headsmen and stayed with Thornton for two days and nights, never leaving Thornton out of his sight.And then a nearby wolf howl captures his ears, and he follows the sound to an approaching wolf pack, battling several of these creatures to prove his worth.From this story I know something about the dog.Buck is a dog who leads a comfortable life in a California ranch home with his owner, a judge, until he is stolen and sold to pay off a gambling debt.Buck is taken to Alaska and sold to a pair of French Canadians who were impreed with his physique.They train him as a sled dog, and he quickly learns how to survive the cold winter nights and the pack society by observing his teammates.Buck is later sold again and paes hands several times, all the while improving his abilities as a sled dog and pack leader.Eventually, Buck is sold to a man, his wife, and her brother who know nothing about sledding or surviving in the Alaskan wilderne.They struggle to control the sled and ignore warnings not to travel during the spring melt.As they journey on, they run into John Thornton, an experienced outdoors man, who notices that all of the sled dogs are in terrible shape from the ill treatment of their handlers.Thornton warns the trio against croing the river, but they refuse to listen and order Buck to mush.Exhausted, starving, and sensing the danger ahead, Buck refuses.Recognizing him as a remarkable dog and disgusted by the driver\'s beating of the dog, Thornton cuts him free from his traces and tells the trio he\'s keeping him.After some argument, the trio leaves and tries to cro the river, but as Thornton warned the ice gives way and they drown.As Thornton nurses Buck back to health, Buck comes to love him and grows devoted to him.Thornton takes him on trips to pan for gold.Thornton and his friends go to their camp and continue their search for gold, while Buck begins exploring the wilderne around them and begins socializing with a local wolf pack.One morning, he returns from a three-day long hunt to find his beloved master and the others in the camp have been killed by some Yachats.Buck finds some of them in the camp and kills them to avenge Thornton, later finding other members of the tribe, then returns to the woods to become alpha wolf of the pack.Each year he revisits the site where Thornton died, never completely forgetting the master he loved.From this story, I also know through Buck’s experiences living in the wild, Jack London wants to tell us that the world is dominated by those who are much stronger and more powerful than common people, and only the stronger ones could exist.This is the law of club and fang.Buck gradually realizes the law and begins to obey the law after he is stolen and taken to the wild.The savage environment which is full of tricks, dangers and deaths turns him to be more powerful and cunning.Finally, he becomes the leader of his team.Similar to the wild, our society becomes crueler and crueler, and living in the society becomes harder and harder.If you want to exist, to have a good life, you should be tough enough to stand the sufferings; you should keep alert, watch and learn; you should make yourself stronger than others.This is the law of living.On the other hand, the dogs in the book are all loyal to their masters.For example, a man makes a wager with Thornton over Buck\'s strength and devotion.Buck wins the bet by breaking a half-ton sled out of the frozen ground, then pulling it 100 yards by himself.
In addition, all dogs have sense of honor.They are all proud of being sled dogs, and devote themselves to the work.For example, Dave, who is going to die, still insists on working.“Sick as he was, Dave resented being taken out, grunting and growling while the traces were unfastened and whimpering broken-heartedly when he saw Sol-leks (another dog) in the position he had held and served so long.For the pride of trace and trail was his, and, sick to death, he could not bear that another dog should do his work.” Both loyalty and honor are based on love which is what touches me deeply.Because of love to Thornton, Buck does such thing that seems impoible to accomplish.Because of sense of honor, Dave insists on working till he dies.
As we know, Buck answers the call of and returns to the wild finally.In my opinion, the call is not from the wild though Buck often hears the howl of the wolves.Instead, it is from the bottom of Buck’s heart.The call is the will or the instinct which makes him wants to be him: A wolf.I think every one of us has a call in our hearts.The call is our dream, goal or something we really want to do. However, under the preure of society, we often have to give up our dreams or goals, and do things we are unwilling to do.So we should learn something from Buck: Just follow the call, and be yourself.
