Summary
He had a fine pride in himself, was even
a trifle egotistical, as country gentlemen sometimes become because
of their insular situation.
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Buck, a large and handsome dog who is part St. Bernard
and part Scotch sheep dog, lives on a sizable estate in California’s
Santa Clara Valley. He is four years old and was born on the estate,
which is owned by the wealthy Judge Miller. Buck is the undisputed
master of Judge Miller’s place, as the locals call it, and is beloved
by the Miller children and grandchildren. Buck has the run of the
entire place, confident of his superiority to the pampered house
pets and the fox terriers that live in the kennels.
But, unbeknownst to Buck, there is a shadow over his happy
life. The year is 1897, and men from all
over the world are traveling north for the gold rush that has hit
the Klondike region of Canada, just east of Alaska. They need strong
dogs to pull their sleds on the treacherous journey. Nor does Buck
realize that Manuel, a gardener on Judge Miller’s estate, is an
undesirable acquaintance. Manuel’s love of gambling in the Chinese
lottery makes it difficult for him to support his wife and several
children. One day, while the judge is away, Manuel takes Buck for
a walk and leads him to a flag station where a stranger is waiting.
Money changes hands, and Manuel ties a rope around Buck’s neck.
When the rope is tightened, Buck attacks the stranger, but he finds
it impossible to break free. The man fights him; Buck’s strength
fails, and he blacks out and is thrown into the baggage car of the
train.
When Buck regains consciousness, he feels himself being
jolted around. He hears the whistle of the train and, from having
traveled with the judge, recognizes the sensation of riding in a
baggage car. He opens his eyes angrily and sees the kidnapper reaching
for his throat. He bites the man’s hand and is thrown down and choked repeatedly,
then locked into a cagelike crate. He stays there for the rest of
the night, and, in the morning, his crate is carried out by four men.
Buck is passed from vehicle to vehicle, neither eating nor drinking
for two days and two nights. He grows angrier and resolves never
to let his tormentors tie a rope around his neck again.
In Seattle, Buck’s crate is lifted into a small yard with
high walls, while a stout man signs for him. Buck decides that this
new man is his next tormentor and lunges at him inside the cage.
The man smiles and brings out a hatchet and a club. He begins to
break the crate, and the other men step back fearfully. Buck snarls
and growls and leaps at the man with all his weight, but he feels
a blow from the club. It is the first time he has been hit with
a club, so he is both hurt and stunned, but he continues trying
to attack until the man beats him into submission. Once Buck is
exhausted and prostrate, the man brings him water and meat and pats
him on the head. Buck understands that he does not stand a chance
against a man with a club—it is his introduction into “primitive
law,” where might makes right.
Buck watches other men arrive, sometimes taking other
dogs away with them, and he is glad that he is not chosen. Buck’s
time finally comes when a French Canadian named Perrault buys him and
a Newfoundland bitch named Curly. They are taken onto a ship called
the Narwhal and turned over to another French Canadian named
Francois. They join two other dogs, Spitz and Dave, on the journey
northward, and Buck realizes that the weather is growing colder.
Finally, they arrive and step out onto a cold surface that Buck does
not recognize, never having seen snow before.
The facts of life took on a fiercer aspect
and . . . he faced it with all the latent cunning of his nature
aroused.
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Analysis
The meaning of chapter titles in The Call of the
Wild extends beyond a simple description of the plot. The
first chapter, “Into the Primitive,” is concerned not only with
Buck’s departure from civilization and his entrance into a more
savage, primitive world, but also with the contrast between civilized
life and primitive life. This contrast is strong throughout the
novel, and the story of Buck’s adventures in the Klondike is largely
the story of how he gradually sheds all the customs that define
his earlier life in human society to become a creature of the wild,
primal world of the north. Here, in the first days after his kidnapping,
he takes the first steps away from his old life and toward a new
one.
