The story sounds like just a dog tale at first--a dog, Buck, is kidnapped from his comfortable life in California and sold as a sled dog for the Alaskan gold rush. While he endures the wilderness and the other dogs, Buck learns that survival comes only with tooth and fang. This lesson brings him very close to his forbears, the wolves.
If you look deeper, Call of the Wild is as much a story of humans as it is a dog tale. Buck encounters various incompetent masters who try to break his spirit. Are we like this? But Buck also learns to trust a master who is gentle and gives love. We can be like this, too.
Call of the Wild is not a story for the squeamish or very young. By involving us in the characters' lives, Jack London tells the truth. It is a life-and-death war between the harsh land and the soul every day. There is blood, death, cruelty--but it's the truth.
网友评论