Monday, 16 January 2012

The Call of the Wild - a review


In reading ‘The Call of the Wild’ by Jack London I was continuing the theme of brevity from ‘The Great Gatsby’. ‘The Call of the Wild’ is not even a novel but a short story of roughly 60-65 pages depending on edition.


The story is told entirely from the point of view of a dog named Buck, who is kidnapped and sold from his pampered city home and sent to serve in the Alaskan gold-rush but conquers not only the elements and toil but any attempts to break his pride.

Elegantly dealing with the themes of civilisation versus nature, cruelty and love, and the inexplicable thing that is instinct; London created an unforgettable tale (no pun intended), instinct that the author so aptly defines as “the memories of his ancestors become habits”. 

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