The Call of the Wild by Jack London was first published in 1903. London transforms an ordinary dog into a wolf. The quote “For the pride of trace and trail was his, and sick unto death, he could not bear that another dog should do his work” creates the theme of survival of the fittest.
This novel illustrates the life event of a Californian dog facing the challenges of the Alaskan wilderness to survive. Buck had a great life in the Santa Clara Valley living the life of luxury with Judge Miller’s family. He was born as a half Saint Bernard and half Scottish Shepard and raised by the Judge for four years until he was stolen during the Klondike gold rush. Buck was sent to Alaska to work for gold diggers.  He had been sold from master to master. During those times, a normal old dog had turned into a ferocious wolf.

While Buck was being transformed, he had to endure treacherous tasks. He was beaten by a man with a club and had seen many deaths of his fellow sled dogs. He had been attacked by a dog named Spitz and had to murder him to take the position as a lead dog.  As the journey progressed, Buck’s inner killer instinct kept growing.  Buck finally met a master that he loved and he was John Thornton. Buck went mining with him, carried a thousand pounds of weight so they could win money, and even saved him from a river. John Thornton was later on murdered by an Indian tribe a Buck was left all alone. He went out into the wild and would revisit John Thornton once a while.

This book is one of my favorites just due to the fact that London doesn’t use a human as a hero; therefore, he uses an animal. London portrays emotional conflicts and dangerous events which makes it interesting. My favorite event from the novel was when Buck had pulled a thousand pound sled and I was dismayed. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves adventurous and action filled novels.