Buck's Journey in the Call of the Wild Essay Sample

In the story,The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, the protagonist, Buck, goes on a hero’s journey. The journey begins when Buck is stolen from his home where he lived as a king and is thrown into a world where he has to fight, learn, and adapt to his new environment. Buck's journey that he goes through in the story is extremely similar to the hero's journey because Buck goes through each step. The first step in the hero’s journey is the departure or calling. This fits perfectly into Buck's story because Buck lives like a king at Judge Miller’s place, but then he is stolen and brought to Alaska. He’s thrown into an environment where he has to fight to survive, and this is something Buck has never done before. The next part of the hero’s journey is the initiation which is when the hero is introduced to the new world and is searching for a mentor. This is shown in Buck's journey when he is thrown into Alaska and has to fight for his life. He was abused by the man in the red sweater, leaving him nobody to look up to and trust like he does later in the story. The third and one of the most important parts to Buck’s hero story is the trial, which is Buck’s fight with Spitz. Buck's fight with Spitz pushes Buck to not be the dog that just followed the pack around after the fight. Instead, Buck became the dog who led the pack, completely changing his personality and how he thought. This is one of Buck's most important steps in the hero’s journey.  Buck's great trial, the most personal one that made him the best person he could be, was John’s death to the tribe. At the beginning of the story all Buck wanted was to go back to Judge Miller's place, but as the story progresses he became more wild. Instead of returning, heading towards the symbolic call became a better idea to him. After John Thornton’s death, Buck didn’t have someone he was forced to serve anymore and he could be whatever he wanted, which to him was his call to the wild. The final part of the hero’s journey is the return or reintegration. This is seen at the end of “The Call of The Wild” when Buck has applied everything he has learned like how to fight, gather, and lead a pack. He goes off on his own with a pack of dogs, completing Buck’s hero journey and the story. 

The ending of “The Call of The Wild” is an extremely hopeful ending. If the reader just reads the end of the story they would see John Thornton die and assume it was a sad ending, but if the reader has read the whole story it’s the opposite. The ending has John Thornton die which that part may be sad but when John Thornton died Buck could now do whatever he wanted and use what he learned from all of his experience in The Wild. Bucks decided to go to the call which was him going with the pack of dogs and roaming for the rest of his life. Completing his hero’s journey and leaving the reader wondering what Buck's next adventures would be . This novella “The Call of The Wild”  is very inspirational and can be used in real life advice. Many of the things that Buck does to make him the best he could can be applied in real life scenarios.