Leader Of The Pack

Leader of the Pack

As my classmate William Smith explains, "In the wild its the rule of the club and fang... We cannot

be having none of that in civilized environments, it would cause a ruckus... Thats why wild is wild and civil is civil..." One has to ponder on the wilderness and civilization and what happens to a creature when he is thrown into the wilderness and expected to adapt unexpectedly. In the novel, "The Call of the Wild," is a St. Bernard and Scotch Shepherd mix, named Buck. As I read the book, I found that Buck can be very loyal and trustworthy to his master, if his master is loyal to him. Buck learns this through civilization and when he is stolen into the wilderness he must learn how to survive and adapt to the ways of the rough country and their inhabitants the way a wild animal would. Through the use of wild creatures and people, London portrays how adaptation makes one strong and fit for their environment; that civilization is what makes them weak and if a great enough adaptation occurs, the organism will rise above all obstacles.

Due to his civilized upbringing in California, the unexpected change in environment and the sudden abuse altered Buck's views on people from then on. Judge Miller is a wealthy, retired judge who owns a spacious estate in California's Santa Clara Valley. Buck's St. Bernard father had been Judge Miller's devoted companion and Buck succeeds him in fulfilling this role of the companion and dog of the house. Buck was a St. Bernard and German Shepherd with brown-haired with white patches on his nose and chest. Buck was raised in northern California on Judge Miller's homestead, where he led a carefree existence free from any harm. Buck is able to wander everywhere on the property unhindered and unbothered by anyone else. Buck's time at the Judge's house was spent playing and not having to worry about anything; he was free. He knows neither anger nor hunger nor pain. In chapter one Buck is stolen by Judge Miller's gardener to payoff some debts and shipped to the wilderness and beaten on the way. Buck encounters men how do not show him the same love like Judge Miller showed him and is confused about what he has done to receive the cruel treatment. London examines,

"He was beaten (he knew that); but he was not broken. He saw, once for all, that he stood no chance against a man with a club. He had learned the lesson, and in all his afterlife he never forgot it. That club was a revelation. It was his introduction to the reign of primitive law...The facts of life took on a fiercer aspect; and while he faced that aspect uncowed, he faced it with all the latent cunning of his nature aroused" (London, 13).

Buck is faced here with the horrifying truth that each human is different and that he was not in California anymore with Judge Miller, he is not free. Because of these changes he must also change his attitude towards humans in order to survive. Buck starts to understand, "More tormentors, Buck decided, for they were evil-looking creatures, ragged and unkempt; and he stormed and raged at them through the bars. They only laughed and poked sticks at him, which he promptly assailed with his teeth till he realized that that was what they wanted" (London, 8). Buck is not used to attacking humans but he tries to growl and bite the men that are trying to beat him with the club, he also tries to understand what they want.

London portrays through Buck that leadership allows an organisms chance of survival to increase. Francios and Perrault have big expectations and goals and during their trails Buck adapts to his environment be becoming a leader to survive. An obstacle that stood in Bucks way of becoming the leader of the pack was Spitz. It was in his nature to want to be a leader and that is how he adapted to the environment he was in. His behavior is portrayed in chapter three,

"Buck wanted [to fight]...because it was his nature, because he had been gripped tight by that nameless, incomprehensible pride of the trail and trace -- that pride which holds dogs in the toil to the last