9/11/2023 0 Comments Could at least keep it a buck likeBuck is much larger than this wolf, and so he chases the wolf into "one blind channel" after another, but he does so only to let the wolf know that he intends it no harm. unlike any noise made by a husky dog." One time, he even follows the sound and comes upon an open place in a grove where he sees a lean timber wolf howling at the sky. Sometimes, according to London, Buck springs up from sleeping with a start, and from the forest, he hears a long-drawn howl, ". It becomes, finally, almost irresistible. Employing the philosophy of Naturalism, London is apparently trying to juxtapose the dream of the "ape man" as being symbolic of the primitive element in all humankind thus, this figure represents a kind of primitive ancestor calling to Buck, imploring him to respond and to return to the call of the wild.Īfter his dream of the hairy man, Buck becomes ever more entranced by the call of the wild. He is aware of some kind of primitive yearnings which he cannot identify. It causes strange and unknown feelings to rise within him. The overwhelming memory which Buck has of this hairy man concerns Buck's being constantly frightened and, along with the memory of this ape-like figure, is the call of the wild, a call which Buck constantly hears in the forest. Buck spends many long hours close to the fire, and he remembers the "short-legged hairy man" who appeared in Chapter 3. The men pan for gold, and, in London's words, "they heaped the treasure up. Then, in the spring, they find the place where the large, legendary gold nuggets are supposed to be. Months pass, and, as London says, they "twisted through the unchartered vastness where no men were." Once they do find the shambles of an old hunting lodge, and there they find remnants that indicate that other men have been here before. Meanwhile, Buck devotedly follows his master in search of the lost gold mine, and, likewise, he is brought closer and closer to the primordial wilderness and its primitive existence.Īs they travel, they almost always rely on their own ingenuity for food, and when food is scarce, they go without. In this particular quest, Thornton, Hans, and Pete move farther and farther away from civilization, and thus they are immersed deeper and deeper into nature's primordial conditions. In each search, the participants have to undergo many trials and tribulations, but it is the quest itself that is, ultimately, as important as the discovery. clinching their testimony with nuggets that were unlike any known grade of gold in the Northland."Įven though the lost mine might be fictitious, or nonexistent, yet John Thornton and Buck are delighted to start out on a journey through "infinite wandering in strange places." The search for the lost gold mine is a traditional search which fills many adventure novels of Western literature likewise, the search for the fabled Fountain of Youth, as well as the search for the Holy Grail, are other quests well known in Western literature. Yet the legend of the lost mine persists: "Dying men had sworn to it. Thus, he and Pete and Hans are able to pay off their debts, which they do, and then the three of them take off in search of a fabled lost gold mine, a mine which many have heard of, and many have searched for, but most have died searching for it. Returning to the narrative, we realize anew that John Thornton is now in possession of sixteen hundred dollars. This final chapter, then, will present yet another view of Buck: his complete reversion to the primitive, or in the terms of this novel, his final surrender to the "call of the wild." In the last chapter, we saw proof of how thoroughly Buck became a creature of deep loyalty and admiration to a man fully deserving this devotion. In contrast, in the last half of the novel, we have seen him almost destroyed by the incompetency and ineptness of three people of the Southland - Hal, Charles, and Mercedes. So far, this novel has depicted Buck's complete transformation from the Southland civilized dog, living in the peaceful society of Judge Miller's estate in Chapter 1 into a dog that, through his strength and instinct and cunning, is quickly able to master the law of club and fang, and then in the middle chapter of the novel, we saw Buck becoming the master of the entire dogsled team.
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