In stories, characters change. In the book, “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London, Buck changes throughout the course of the story. At the start of the book in the 1890’s, Buck, a St. Bernard-Shepherd mix, lives in California, has a carefree life and does whatever he feels like. Then, he is captured and becomes a sled dog in the Yukon territory, where life is much, much harder. At the end of the book, he realizes that he wants to go wild and leaves humanity and domestication behind.
In the beginning, Buck has an easy life with little to none worries. He lives in a warm, green, “sunkissed” valley in Santa Clara, California. Buck does whatever he wants, “…for he was king, – king over all creeping, crawling, flying things of Judge Miller’s place. Humans included” (2-3). There is nothing challenging Buck where he lives. He has full control over his life and what he did. Without any challenges, Buck’s life is almost “boring.” In all, Buck had an easy life at the beginning of the book.
When Buck becomes a sled dog, his life becomes harder. There is not enough food or rest. There are many problems for him to worry about. Buck’s life was “no lazy, sun-kissed life…, with nothing to do but loaf and be bored. Here was neither peace, nor rest, nor a moment’s safety” (13). After becoming a sled dog, Buck is challenged a lot by the other dogs. They steal his food and fight him. He cannot do whatever he wants and has almost no control over his life. After all, Buck is forced to pull the sled everyday and was forced to come to the Yukon in the first place. Buck does not have a “boring” life anymore, for it is very difficult. All in all, Buck’s life became much harder as a sled dog.
At the end of the book, Buck, realizing that humans can be cruel, decides to go off into the wild and join a wolf pack. Buck’s last sled dog team had horrible and demanding drivers. They wanted to drive across ice, and Buck would have drowned with the rest of the pack if his owner and friend, John Thornton, had not saved him. But when “John Thornton [died, the] last tie was broken [from humanity]. Man and the claims of man no longer bound to [Buck]” (96). Once Buck’s beloved owner dies, he is ready to be done with the human race. As a sled dog, all he had seen was violence and death. Men whipped and clubbed Buck and other dogs to submission, dogs fought to the death, food supply was always short making every dog go hungry, and a dog could go at any minute. Buck fought the leader, Spitz, to the death, watched his team of dogs drown, and got torn apart in a husky raid. This makes Buck realize that men and anything relating to men can be cruel. Overall, Buck decides to become wild when his owner dies as all the good men have passed out of his life.
In conclusion, Buck becomes a different character throughout the course of the book. What starts off as an easy life turns out to be a life of hard work and labor. Then, Buck decides that humans are not meant for him and he wants to live with other fellow canines. Would you still run away from humans if you were Buck?
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