The Call of the Wild
1903
- gold discoveries
- bienestar
- lobos
- descubrimiento de oro
- crítica e interpretación
- american nature stories
- cartoons and comics
- feral dogs
- robo de mascotas
- pet theft
The story
As Buck, a mixed breed dog, is taken away from his home, instead of facing a feast for breakfast and the comforts of home, he faces the hardships of being a sled dog. Soon he lands in the wrong hands, being forced to keep going when it is too rough for him and the other dogs in his pack. He also fights the urges to run free with his ancestors, the wolves who live around where he is pulling the sled.
What it’s like
Sun-bled Klondike wilderness rendered in hard, plain prose: long passages of snow glare, frozen rivers, pine forest and the cold grey dawns of the trail, with the dogs' bodies, breath and harness given as much attention as the scenery. The voice is spare and muscular, sentences that move like a sled team, with campfire nights and the howl of distant wolves punctuating long stretches of toil. Its mood is stern and elemental, a bracing wildness with an undercurrent of melancholy and rough tenderness, more earnest than dreamy. The pacing is steady and episodic, built on journeys, hard labour and sudden bursts of violence. Expect cruelty to animals, brutal beatings, starvation, and several deadly fights and killings rendered with blunt directness, though there is no gore for its own sake and the violence is more frightening than lingering. This suits a long winter afternoon or a quiet night alone with a cup of something hot, for readers who want an adventure of endurance and a dog's slow reclaiming of his own wild nature rather than something gentle.
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