The Call of the Wild Review - Jashan Takhar

What with having much more free time nowadays, I decided to explore some books I have known about but have never particularly appealed to me. Among these books was The Call of the Wild, written by Jack London in 1903. It follows Buck and his slow, sad, but sure transformation from a harmless form of entertainment for his owners to an entirely wild dog.

Initially, Buck is living his best life with a family that has shown him nothing but love and care. Within the first few pages, this happy part of Buck's life is driven to a halt. He is soon kidnapped (or dognapped) and sold off to dog traders, who throw him in a train for days without food and water. Buck becomes savage towards the dog traders but receives beatings to learn how to obey. He eventually arrives to Canada, where sled dogs are urgently needed due to gold hunting there. He is exposed to savage dogs, and eventually becomes a stronger, fiercer shell of the gentle sheepdog he used to be. He even takes down the leader of the sled dogs and takes charge himself. He is a good leader, but he and the other dogs are abused and almost worked to death. He is saved by a man named John Thornton, who treats Buck properly and lets Buck's survival skills develop naturally. Thornton and Buck's relationship grows amiably, with Buck even saving Thornton from drowning once, but is cut short when Buck comes to see his new friend dead. Buck takes revenge on the killers, a group of Yeehat Indians, and is soon referred to as the legendary "Ghost Dog" and fully turns to the wild.

The Call of the Wild's uniqueness comes from the story being told from Buck's perspective instead of a human's. The book was not in first-person, but rather in a third-person perspective that showed the world through Buck's actions and experiences. I was surprised by how depressing the book got at times. Buck is constantly mistreated and abused, but this all exposes him to the realistic and unforgiving nature of life and helps with his journey to answer the call of the wild. Buck's adventures are a perfect example of the rollercoaster of life. Loyalty, betrayal, happiness, sadness, revenge, and perseverance are all things Buck has experienced that he never would have been exposed to if he had never been kidnapped. The best message I could see in London's writing was that life is cruel, and to find one's way to success one has to endure much struggle. The Call of the Wild seems to heavily derive its ideas from the Darwinian phrase "survival of the fittest." London also stresses on the ultimate resolution of hard work and struggle, which is an absolute achievement and fulfillment of one's purpose in the world. In this case, Buck has finally achieved what he was meant to be, a wolf-dog who has returned to his roots. 

As for the physical writing of the book, it is surprisingly contemporary and easy-to-read compared to other books from the early 20th century. There were times where I felt a little bored with London's sometimes unengaging descriptions. I also thought that it would have been more creative and riveting if he had taken it one step forward and shown the even more of the story through Buck's eyes, like describing objects as a dog would perceive them instead of actual name of the object (for example, replacing "club" with "painful stick") would have better shown how Buck learned new information throughout the book. All in all, however, The Call of the Wild was an enjoyable read with a good message and I highly recommend it for any dog-lover. 

My rating:

8/10