Bookreview of the Call of the
Written by Jack London, the Call of the Wild, a short adventure novel, was published in 1903 and set in Yukon, Canada during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The central character of the novel is a dog named Buck. The story opens at a ranch in Santa Clara Valley, California, when Buck is stolen from his home and sold into service as a sled dog in Alaska. He becomes progressively feral in the harsh environment, where he is forced to fight to survive and dominates other dogs. By the end, he sheds the veneer of civilization, and relies on primordial instinct and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild.
From the story,it was told in the third-person narration. And the author spent almost a year in the Yukon collecting material for the book. The story was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in the summer of 1903 and was published a month later in book form. The book’s great popularity and success made a reputation for London; much of its appeal derives from its simplicity as a tale of survival. As early as 1923, the story was adapted to film, and it has since seen several more cinematic adaptations.
Jack London was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone.
Some of his most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote of the South Pacific in such stories as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen", and of the San Francisco Bay area in The Sea Wolf.
The book the Call of the Wild is divided into seven chapters.Chapter One is Into the primitive,which tells us that Buck is stolen by the gardener's assistant, sold to fund the latter's gambling addiction, and shipped to Seattle.Chapter Two is The law of club and fang. In this part, Buck attacks the "man in the red sweater" but is badly beaten and taught to respect the "law of the club".From this chapter, we can learn that the nature is prepared for the strong.Chapter Three and Four tell Buck eventually beats Spitz in a fight "to the death" and becomes the leader of the team eventually. Chapter Five “the toil of trace and trail” tells us the team is sold to different men working the mail service. The dogs must carry a heavy load to the mining areas, and the journey they make is tiresome and long.Chapter Six “for the love of the man ”tells us the moving stories between Buck and his beloved owner Thornton. From this part, we can see the pure relationship between a dog and a man. They trust each other and are faithful to each other. In my view, they are more like a couple. However, through the harsh journey, Buck has awaken his instinct and he doesn’t belong to anyone, which implies the separation between Buck and Thornton. Chapter Seven “the sounding of the call”tell us that after the death of Thornton,Buck goes into the nature.
The Call of the Wild is about the survival of the fittest.The author places Buck in conflict with humans, in conflict with the other dogs, and in conflict with his environment—all of which he must challenge, survive, and conquer. Buck, a domesticated dog, must call on his atavistic hereditary traits to survive; he must learn to be wild. He learns that in a world where the "club and the fang" are law, where the law of the pack rules and a good-natural dog such as Curly can be torn to pieces by pack members, that survival by whatever means is paramount.
After finishing this book, I can’t calm myself down. Buck, as a brave and loyalty dog, is forced to change himself because of the hard environment. From Buck, we can see our human being’s shadow. When the circumstance changed, what would we do?Wait to die or change to survive? Buck has made his sample for us all. Indeed, I love this book. Buck is a great teacher. When confronted with difficulties, one should positively adapt himself to the situation in order to survive. And only when you become strong enough will you get the initiative.
As you can see, I have learned much from the book so I highly recommend this book to you, especially when you are in trouble. This book may have an inspiring function.
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