Dakota Swann                                                                                                             8th grade

The Call of the Wild

by Jack London

            The book The Call of the Wild  is about a  Saint Bernard and Scotch shepherd mix named Buck in the year of 1867 . Buck was a heavy weight good structured dog that could survive in the Artic. In the beginning of the book Buck lived with a family named the Millers. He is there because his father was owned by the Millers also. The Millers were great owners to Buck. They lived in a place called Santa Clara. Buck loved it there because of the sun. He especially loved the Miller daughters Mollie and Alice. But one day he was sold because of his owner Judge Miller. Judge Miller played a game called Chinese lottery. So when he lost the game, Buck was sold to  very despicable men named Manuel and another person whose name was not mentioned . They extremely cruel to Buck and eventually got tired of him. So the men sold him to two men named Francois and Perrault.

            Buck was taken to Dyea beach. Buck was going to be a part of pulling a sled with a few other dogs. The dogs pulled a sleigh for the two men to travel to places to make money or sell things. But when he got there a dog named Curly was killed in a fight.  When the two men and all the dogs rode up to the city of Canon, there were problems waiting for Buck. Buck was bigger than the other dogs  and did not get enough food to fill him up. With this situation he had to kill his first prey to survive. Buck felt that he let his domestic side go and that he was becoming an wild animal. While on this trip Buck made an enemy who was one of the dogs that pulled the sled with him. Then when they were about a hundred miles away from the city named Dawson a big fight started with the dogs and many were wounded. Then in Dawson, Buck had a fight with the toughest dog (his enemy) in the camp and won. But when they started to go back home Buck started to get home sick. After Dawson, the drivers began to get really tired and hungry because they put the dogs before them all the time. But then the dogs were given to Two men named Hal and Charles. Charles had a wife named Mercedes who was very annoying to Hal. But on the way to Dawson, They stopped at a camp that a man named John Thornton owned. But there at the camp Buck was really tired. So he sat down and did not get up even if Hal lashed him. Then Hal started to beat Buck with a club and then that is when John went into the action. John told him to stop or he would kill Hal himself. Then after that, John took Buck for himself.

             Buck loved John to all his might. Buck would do anything that John wanted him to do. Even though Buck was under weight and unhealthy from his past owners. John loved Buck as much as Buck loved him. He would always break out in tears when Buck did something that he appreciated. So when John and Buck went to town random people were asking how much Buck is worth so they could buy him. They thought he was a great dog that could help them to do heavy lifting. But John would not give him up. John broke out in tears to show how much he loved Buck.

             Then John and his two partners Pete and Hans planned a trip to get some gold. But where the gold is no one has come back alive. So on the trip there, Buck was the leader and loved what he did. Then after miles of running they found the place where the gold was. The men did all the work while the dogs did nothing. So Buck wandered off for periods of time and made a friend. His friend was a wolf. They met up with each other a lot to play and to hang out. Buck so them as brothers and not friends. He felt that he was also a wolf and not just a dog. As Buck was out for periods of time he began to kill his prey to eat. He loved to kill his prey because it made him seem more like a wolf. But one day But another dog from his camp was free and he did not understand. So Buck followed the dog and found that one of John's dogs were killed with arrows in his back. But then the dogs started to kill the enemy by biting their throats. Buck killed the leader and other men with the other dog that John had recently brought. Then after they found out that John was dead they went out on their own. They lived by themselves letting out their wolf side that has been in there for years.