This is a story about a dog named Buck who
lives on a beautiful estate in California,
but is sold off as a sled dog.
After being badly beaten by a dog trainer,
Buck is used to pull mail in the Arctic.
Although the work is tough, he learns quickly
and soon takes over the sled team by killing
the previous leader.
The dog team is sold off to different sled
drivers and nearly worked to death.
They are in need of rest, but because of mismanagement,
the strength of the dogs gets drained out
of them until they are killed off one by one.
Fortunately, Buck is saved by a man named
John Thornton, a kind man with a heart for
animals.
John takes in Buck and helps him recover.
Buck, having been mistreated by others in
the past, is apprehensive at first, but then
grows to love John.
In fact, Buck pulls a 1,000 pound sled to
win John a bet.
John takes Buck and the rest of his dogs into
the back country, searching for a mythical
Lost Cabin.
During this search, Buck wanders into the
forest by himself and meets a wild wolf, which
sparks a primal instinct within him.
One night, after returning from the forest,
Buck sees that John has been killed by a group
of local Indians.
In the end, with nowhere else to go, Buck
integrates into the local wolf pack, becoming
a part of local Indian mythology.
First, this story discusses the relationship
between domestic and primal instincts.
Buck is introduced as a soft dog, living a
luxurious life on the grounds of a mansion.
But when he is taken and placed in the wild
with other dogs, something within him changes.
Yet, these changes are not foreign to him.
It's like these instincts are already a part
of him, just unearthed.
And what makes this more relatable to readers,
who don't necessary experience that call of
the wild in our highly modernized society,
is how these primal instincts may have more
to do with morality than grunts and cavemen
drawings.
The story suggests that often to survive,
moral nature must die.
As Buck tries to assimilate to his new outdoor
lifestyle, he is timid and almost polite,
to the point where the other dogs eat his
food.
However, he soon learns to steal food to survive.
In fact, he learns that it is easier to steal
than not to steal.
But why would readers enjoy a story about
non-talking dogs?
It's because of the applicability of the story
to humans through the style of writing.
As written, readers are placed in the head
of dog, trying to understand the sled dog
culture.
And as the story goes on, readers discover
how humanized Buck's personality is.
Buck is relatable as a character.
Any person who has worked in a job that they
didn't necessarily want can understand the
struggles Buck goes through in this story.
It's a frustration derived by helplessness,
anger, and fear, all human emotions, yet felt
by a dog and projected to a level of relatability.
