Call of the Wild Review

     The Call of the Wild by Jack London captured my attention at the beginning of the book and kept it all throughout the story with the unique array of different characters portrayed by the author. London really outdid himself making a believable character that fits almost every archetype that one could think of.
     Buck would be the hero. He finds himself thrown into the midst of something he never asked for or deserved and forced to do thing he would have never dreamed of and still made it out on top. He shows extreme bravery in many different situations such as when he fights for his life against Spitz, his rival, or when he jumps in to avenge the brutal murder of his favorite owner, John Thornton. He let nothing stand in the way between him and what he believed to be right.
     Spitz is the aggressive antagonist. He fought until his last breath against Buck and proved to be a formidable foe. Neither one would submit to the other and both wanted the position and the power and respect that came with it. Spitz would do anything and everything to fight or aggravate Buck, including stealing his food, intercepting his hunts, and purposefully stealing his bedding places. Both of these characters are believable because almost everybody has something or someone that gets on their nerves and fights everything they do. For Buck and Spitz, these people were each other.
     On the human side of things, Francois and Perrault are adventurers and tough guys. They practiced tough love when it came to their team of dogs. One had to earn their respect, not just expect to receive it. They were fair and just in their rule over the team, such as when they whipped Spitz for stealing Buck's food or when they scolded both Buck and Spitz for fighting. They didn't put up with any inappropriate or foolish behavior, but neither were they superfluously cruel or mean to the dogs. Though not very demonstrative, they made sure the dogs were healthy and well fed and that they were not suffering in their work. For example, when Buck was new to the team and his paws were all mangled and bloody from the amount of work he had done, they made makeshift shoes for him to wear so that he would not be in pain. Because of these ministrations, Buck was able to keep working at a pace that impressed everybody.
     London used lots of detailing and different personalities in his novel to create realistic and varied characters. I would recommend this exciting and interesting novel to anyone who enjoys animal books or even someone who just enjoys a good, short classic. I found this book enjoyable and I hope that you do too. :)

The Will to Live

     The will to survive is an instinct that none can escape from. It affects every living thing at some point in time and can change the views and actions of even the most obdurate of people. Good examples of the zeal to survive are found in both the story of the Titanic as well as in The Call of the Wild by Jack London.
     The story of the Titanic  is one that is commonly known amongst most people. However, few really realize how the ill-fated ship shows a good example of a human being overtaken by the will to survive. In the movie, there are many different people shown as the ship is going down. Many of them, normally perfectly nice people, resorted to fighting and killing others in order to save themselves and get a spot on the lifeboats. These are very obvious examples of how how the will to survive affects humans. However there were a few that didn't fight to escape death but instead accepted and embraced it. Most would assume that this is because they had given up and no longer had a zeal to survive. I don't believe that this is so. There is a point in every beings life where it is time to die. As confusing as it may sound, death is an ever-existing part of life. They merely accepted that is was no longer their destiny to live and accepted fate. Every person was affected by the will to survive.
     The Call of the Wild is also a good example of the zeal to survive. However, this shows more of how the will to survive affects the animal kingdom. Buck, the main character, is put into many situations where the only options are kill or be killed. He always chose to kill. One such example would be when he was in the final fight with Spitz, his rival. Spitz was winning at first but Buck refused to give up. His will to survive was greater than the temptation to give up. In the end, because he refused to give up, Buck lived and defeated Spitz. Spitz also had a great will to survive, growling and fighting until he physically could not any longer.
     The will to survive affects every living being in the world. None can escape it and most don't want to. It is the instinct that saves our lives in a dangerous situation and guides us when lost. This one little instinct has the power to control the actions of every living thing. So the question is not if it would affect you in a sticky situation. The ultimate question is : How far would it make you go to save your life?

John-John & Marlo (anthropomorphism poem)

Marlo moans and she groans
as they're out on the trail.
She starts wired, gets tired,
and insists that her legs are about to fail.

John-John puts on a show
and screams "Come on! Lets go!"
and to Marlo says, "Get out of my way, slow poke!"
He trots on ahead and gets stuck in the sand.
He yells out to Marlo, "Come give me a hand."

Marlo just laughs and says, "Not in this lifetime.
Watching you struggle is my new favorite pastime."
When John-John gets free, they both scurry on home
and never again did they ever try to roam.
   
               The End :)