The Call of the Wild

Description

There may be an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life can’t upward push. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as an entire forgetfulness that one is alive. THE CALL OF THE WILD is a novel by American creator Jack London published in 1903. The story is set within the Yukon right through the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush a period when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The novel’s central character is a dog named Buck, a domesticated dog living at a ranch in California as the story opens. Stolen from his home and sold into the brutal existence of an Alaskan sled dog, he reverts to atavistic traits. Buck is forced to regulate and live on cruel treatments, fight to dominate other dogs, and live on in a harsh climate. In the end he sheds the veneer of civilization, relying on primordial instincts through lessons he learns, to emerge as a leader within the wild.