Book review of The Call of the Wild

The Call of the Wild is a book written by Jack London, a realistic writer from America. It was published in 1903. The book focuses on a dog called Buck and it’s extraordinary life adventure. The book presents the principle of wild to people and obscurely reveals the coldness of capitalist society in America at that time. The book conveys a cruel story of Buck. Initially, Buck was a pet dog in a noble family. However, he was traded to Alaska where he worked as a sled dog. There, he learnt the principle of the wild, began to doubt the moral principle in human society and gradually left it behind. Buck started showing his unique strength, and therefore, he was traded again and again. But none of the owners really cared about Buck except the last owner John Thornton. Buck could feel love from Thornton and his dog. At the same time, Buck heard the howl of wolves frequently and felt some kind of connection between himself and the wolves. At last, when Buck found that Thornton got killed, he decided to follow the call of the wild and live with the wolves. Unlike other stories of animals that mainly focus on their loving behaviors, The Call of the Wild focuses on Buck’s wildness and it tries to reveal the wild and cold aspect of human society. The author personified the dog Buck to reflect human behavior. From the story, I can see human behavior from the description of the dogs. People violate moral principles for personal benefits and interests just like dogs cheating for meat in the sled team. People start to doubt their belief when they are required to adapt to a new situation just like Buck giving up his morality. Such things are somehow necessary to earn one’s living in the society where the author lived, which was still under fast development, so the author did not criticized it but presented it in a rather calm way. As is described in the book, at that time, human fought like animals to seek status, following the law of jungle. However, lots have changed through the years. In today’s well developed society, we see such thing as immoral and even illegal. On one hand, we are encouraged to follow the moral rules and laws and try to seem nice. On the other hand, we are tied to the existed frame, giving up the natural part of life. In a word, we need to make a good balance between wildness and morality, controlling the excessive desire but chasing our dreams persistently.