Reflection Essay on Call of the Wild

Mercy did not exist in the primordial life. It was misunderstood for fear, and such misunderstandings lead to death. Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the law; and this mandate, down out of the depths of Time, he obeyed. (Chapter 6). In the beginning of Buck's life, he resides in the Santa Clara Valley, on Judge Miller's farm. A large dog, he is the ruler of his domain, uncontested by other local dogs. Where he lives he is too comfortable and fears nothing. When he is forced into somewhere he doesn’t know with a whole set of rules, he isn’t such a leader now. Buck had strong natural instincts; "the dominant primordial beast was strong in him“. (Chapter 3).

Once he was forced to learn to survive in the new order, "instincts long dead became alive again". Buck's "sight and scent became primordially keen... is hearing developed... acuteness". The need to survive awakened "the old life within him, and the old tricks which they had stamped into the heredity of the breed... came to him without effort or discovery" (Chapter2). These changes he showed through actions. I think it first started when he started hunting food, or stealing it. This is a small example, but I think this is what really started him off, because of this little action it lead to Buck being more comfortable with his inner instincts. The second example is when he attacks, and kills Spitz.

Order custom essay Reflection Essay on Call of the Wild with free plagiarism report

450+ experts on 30 subjects Starting from 3 hours delivery

Get Essay Help

Spitz was the leader dog, who was a beast himself. Buck, not wanting a threat from Spitz and thinking he was an endangerment is the rage that sent Buck to kill him. This is truly the primordial beast coming out of him, and a big part of his transformation. When Buck’s owners are being killed, and his camp is being burned he goes full out, in killing some of the Indians. If you look back to when Buck was just a house dog, he didn’t have any of these instincts in him. That was the final action that really showed Buck turing into a beast in the wild, from the domestic house dog he once was.

To represent Buck’s changes I drew a picture of a dog similar looking to Buck, but with more wolf features. In the end of the story Buck does join a wolf pack, leaving him complete. The picture I drew also includes a dog paw print outside of the picture of him and scratches and a little blood. The picture represents Buck being stuck behind the domestic dog life and fighting and learning his way into a wild beast. The scratches represent him getting out from his old ways and his new ways, and the blood is included because him killing was a big part of him transforming also.