The synopsis states, “Buck, a powerful dog, half St Bernard, and half sheepdog, lives on Judge Miller’s estate in California’s Santa Clara Valley. He leads a comfortable life there, but it comes to an end when men discover gold in the Klondike region of Canada and a great demand arises for strong dogs to pull sleds” (The Call Of The Wild: Plot Overview SparkNotes).
In my opinion, The Call Of The Wild is a really good book because it goes over a common situation which is the abuse of power, and the author, Jack London, illustrates this very well by explaining the importance of how human beings exploit natural resources to get what we want which in this story is gold. The abuse portion is mainly on dogs because sled dogs are a great transportation source for carrying items so since that there was gold found in the Klondike some people like Hal got greedy so they didn’t really care about the dogs that much and instead just forced them to work their way to the destination without any care or attention since that all three owners just want money. Friendship eventually comes into play due to Thornton showing up in the middle of the book and saving Buck from drowning in the freezing water because of Hal (Buck’s abusive third master), ignoring Thornton’s warnings about the ice being dangerous to cross. As the story progresses, towards the end Thornton and Buck grow to like each other, and the big moment, in the end, will honestly make readers sad and also reassured.
I hope that the readers understand that this isn’t just full of adventure and bonding, but it’s also about the dog going through a very rough situation, eventually ending up with the right master, and also having to make a decision of either staying with his master or leaving for the wild to join his kind.
This story has honestly earned a very rare 10/10 for great detail, great characterization, and a spectacular storyline that is entertaining the whole way through. Please, please, please read this story it will 100% be worth it. I am definitely going to check out the original film and the remake that came out.
The book is overall very adventurous and goes into great detail about the special bond between a man and his dog so I definitely recommend this story. The book should definitely be added to our library as a side note and teachers who haven’t read this story before.
