“He was sounding the deeps of his nature, and of the parts of his nature that were deeper than he, going back into the womb of Time.”
Buck is a dog with a good life, living on a farm with an owner that makes sure his basic needs are met. His life changes drastically when one of the workers sells Buck without the owner knowing since dogs are in high demand to help men heading to Alaska for the gold rush. The first thing his new owner, whose only desire is to re-sell him for a profit, does is break the dog’s will by beating Buck into submission. Buck learns quickly, but as sad as that part is in the book, it’s not the worst moment in Buck’s life.
I listened to The Call of the Wildon Overdrive for my library’s adult summer reading program. It was a Bingo sheet that required reading a classic. It’s been a few decades since I’ve read The Call of the Wild, and I honestly couldn’t remember the differences between this story and White Fang, so I thought it would do me good to read it again. I’ll be reading White Fangsoon so I can definitely remember the differences between the books.
Buck is bought by some wonderful owners whose job is to deliver mail along the Yukon Trail. Buck is part of a sled team and has to deal with the dynamics of the other dogs he works with. He is the second dog and the first dog is always looking for a fight and a reason to get rid of Buck by killing him. When they finally do face off, Buck comes out on top. The dogs are run ragged by doing the trail so many times that when the dogs are finally given a break and sold to another owner, they don’t have the stamina to pull that crew back to Alaska. Buck has one more owner after that, but I don’t want to give the ending away.
The Call of the Wild is a well-written, captivating story. I would definitely say it is for high school readers or older due to the heartbreaking things that happen to the dogs. It’s a great reminder that the creatures that live alongside us are due care and love. Getting a reminder of how they might view our world is a good thing.
What is your impression of The Call of the Wild? Share on the blog!