As a small child, I grew up knowing the legend of Balto, the courageous tale of a dog who saved a town of children from dying by delivering a very much needed vaccine. Here is another tale of a dog, and his own path to greatness. “The Call of the Wild” was written by Jack London in 1903 as a series in the Saturday Evening Post, the book was then published in it's entirety later on. London spins a tale of courage, love, loyalty, faith and strength in the one hundred and thirty nine pages that transport the reader into California, and then into the harsh reality of Alaska and the Klondike region of Canada. A particularly moving passage for me was on page thirteen, and reads as follows:
“He was beaten (he knew that); but he was not broken. He saw, once and for all, that he stood no chance against a man with a club. He had learned a 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, and he met the introduction halfway. 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.”
This quote, for me, sets the tone for the rest of “The Call of the Wild.” Every thing Buck would learn, and strive for would stem from this pivotal moment. The entire time I found myself rooting for the protagonist Buck, as he fought within himself, against his primitive nature, as well as the many masters he has. The truly amazing thing is that Jack London based “The Call of the Wild” off of his experiences in the Canadian wilderness as a gold prospector, as well as his ideas about the natural world and the primitive side of mankind. “Call of the Wild” has not been challenged/banned in the United States, rather it was banned in Italy (1929), Yugoslavia (1929), and burned in Nazi bonfires (1933), on the grounds that London's writing was “too radical.” But where would we be if there were no radical writers? If you think about it- the literary world would be akin to a bowl of day old, cold, plain oatmeal. It is writers like Jack London who spur the writers of tomorrow to dare to push the envelope and to write outside the conventional boundaries of writing. London is one of my favorite American writers, having also written “The Sea Wolf” and “White Fang”, and I encourage any of you who love a good adventure, to pick up Jack London's “The Call of the Wild.”
So thank you Jack London, for weaving a tale which illuminates the good and bad of human nature, and for letting us know that it's okay to walk on the wild side every now and again.
A thought for the evening:
A dog may be man's best friend, but you don't have to feed a book.
- BookBender
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