------ Book report of The call of the wild
T he call of the wild is, Jack London's classic 1903 story of Buck, a courageous dog fighting for survival in the Alaskan wilderness, is widely considered to be his masterpiece. Sometimes wrongly considered simply a children's novel, this epic vividly evokes the harsh and frozen Yukon during the Gold Rush. As Buck is ripped from his pampered surroundings and shipped to Alaska to be a sled dog, his primitive, wolflike nature begins to emerge. Savage struggles and timeless bonds between man, dog, and wilderness are played to their heartrending extremes, as Buck undertakes a mystic journey that transforms him into the legendary "Ghost Dog" of the Klondike. Above all, …show more content…
I consider it one of the best and fascinating books I've ever read.
Summery of the book:
Buck is a privileged, dignified dog who is taken from his southern Californian home and shipped to Alaska during the 1890's Gold Rush. Along the way, Buck is mistreated by a series of owners, and he learns to survive as a member of a dog sled team. As a result, Buck soon realizes that in these more primitive settings, "the law of club and fang" overrides the rules of civilized society. With each new experience Buck regresses, or reverts to a more primitive state. Finally, an experience of loss challenges Buck's last ties to civilization.
Thoughts after reading:
Having read the book, I was lost deep in meditation. I began to think all sorts of questions about the main character----Buck. His fighting and struggles against both the exterior severe natural environment and the interior instinct tied with the call of the wild, constructed the main frames of the story. During the processes of receding from the civilized world to the wildness, Buck experienced cruelty and brutality. And in this competitive world, in order to survive, he must adapt to it. He became more swift, more cunning, and spontaneous. As a dog, Buck has his own characters, psyches, emotions and thoughts, he accomplished his conquer not only through strength but also wisdom. Consequently, I was extremely fascinated and charmed by him. To some extent, what was written in the story does have their reflections in the reality. There are certainly cruel competitions in the current society, in order to achieve one's long-dreamed aims, one also have to fight bloodily. However Buck's courage, striving, patience and persistence inspired me. And I believe, as the saying goes, victory belongs to the most persevering.
As to the writing of the author, a most distinctive feature, I think, is the employment of abundant, vivid, accurate depicting words when picturing a particular scene, background or a series of actions.
As a result, while reading, you can easily and clearly envision the icy and tempestuous vicinity of Alaska as if you were standing right beside them watching what's happening exactly. The call of the wild from the instinct of Buck served as the major theme through the development of the plots, as well as the conjunction connecting separated parts into an integration. Though Buck experienced blood and tears, he choose to endure instead of withdraw. He learned lessons of the law and regulations the world of his ancestors. Alter the torment and panic of a good beat from the red sweater, he inscribed the law of clubs deep in his mind, and understood sometimes, subordination was more efficient than retaliation. Of course, the miserable death of the mild-tempered Curly shocked him considerably. It was not fairy play, " once down, it was the end of you!" Due to the harshness of the climate and the heavy workload, Buck learned the cunningness to get more food without punishment and get out the most nutrition from what he didn't like to eat, though, to sustain his 140 pounds heavy body. He killed the huge dear several times larger of his size and fight fiercely with Spiz, and finally beat him. He feels the call of the wild in his blood. Sometimes he would think about the Judge Miller's big house, but more often, he was obsessed with the "far more potent memories of his heredity that gave things he had never seen before a seeming familiarity; the instincts (which were bur the memories of his ancestors become habits) which had lapsed in later days, and still quickened in him, quicken and revive again." The author used many similar expressions to emphasize the central idea, as well as to guide the developments of the story as the call of the wild strengthens in buck's
heart.
Something about Jack London: Jack London (18751916) was a productive writer. In his over fifty works, three categories can be divided, books describing people living in the nature, and books describing those in the cities, as well as theses. Among them there are The son of the wolf, The call of the wild (1903), the White fang (1906), Love of life (1907), Lost face (1910), The iron heel (1908), The people in the abyss (1903), Martin Eden, and so on, which are very influential in the American literature as well as the whole world.
Jack London's life was quite legendary; he was first named John Griffith. his abundance of experiences was not common in writers. Because of poverty, he gave up study after primary school and began to work. He did many things, from newspaper boy to worker of can company and even street hooligan. Theft as the California bay, and the patrolman, and in 1897, he joined the great "Gold Rush", which provided resources for his creation. And then, he began his writing career. He wrote a lot about the life of the working class whom he was familiar with, and was even threatened and arrested. But his books received success. Out of melancholy and illness, he committed suicide in 1919,5, like the character he created----Martin Eden.
Class4, freshman
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