In the novel I felt a little discomforted whenever Buck killed anything not because there was blood, but because he held no respect for other dogs and freely took their lives. I wondered why this may be so significant in the novel and have came to realize that the canine world is not as disproving about killing than the human one.
When Bucks sled is attacked by rogue dogs Buck and the other dogs jump to defend themselves from their attackers. That would be normal in any normal persons life too, one would not just submit in a one on one confrontation with someone that is unarmed and homeless. However Buck just sort of went at those dogs and killed them in cold blood. Some of them could have been spared, such as the dog with the bleeding leg (19). However the troop pursued it and killed it even though it was nearly defenseless, a cold decision for mans best friend. I think that this coldness towards death could be caused by a logical process in a limited mindset. If an enemy approaches, ensure that the enemy comes out on bottom, and stays there. Dogs obviously have a smaller brain than humans, but the thinking process is almost the same. Only humans show empathy and forgiveness, where dogs can only detect threats. I don't know if you've thought a significant amount about this topic but I think that in some ways dogs are like machines in this way. Dogs like to chase balls, ergo a ball in the owners hand will result in a wagging of the tail. Such prossesing can be easily put together by programmers with any robot. If x happens, display y result in response to x.
However dogs are not necessarily machines. Dogs also have a key role of self preservation and are able to bond with other beings. That's why Buck was able to become such good friends with Mr. Thornton, is because dogs are able to trust in what they know is good for them. Machines thus far have been unable to freely trust what has not been programmed, everything is acquainted or an enemy, but no friends. Dogs are also able to learn about their owners from growth in their bonds of trust, such happens between Thornton and Buck, and be able to pull through things impossible before through encouragement in each other. That is something that I think will always pertain to something of flesh and blood.
Call of the Wild-Answering the Call
ReplyDeleteIn this section I would like to talk about how Buck enters the wild and takes on the mannerisms of a wolf. Under the care of John Thornton, Buck’s health flourishes and in a bet made by John Thornton, wins him enough money to go searching for gold. Along the way to the mining site Buck encounters an older timber wolf who tries to encourage Buck to leave the group (pg. 127-128). So far all through the book Buck had steadily been ‘hearing’ the call of the wild getting louder and louder. I think this symbolizes the fact the Buck is slowly becoming a wild dog, that one day, when he answers it he will not be a thoughtless killing machine like Dolly was, but a true hunter as he would have been were it not for domestication. Do you think this statement is accurate or there are some things about it that aren’t quite right? As he loses himself more and more to the wild and becomes more like a wolf and less like a dog, he starts going hunting for prey catching more than he needs and then releasing it just for the challenge. One day he tracks down a moose that was roughly three times bigger than him and would be the kind of target a small pack of wolfs would take down. After a fight lasting several days Buck finally kills the moose and ate him (pg. 133-134). As he was returning to John Thornton he started to have a bad feeling as if he knew something was wrong, when he arrived back at camp he discovered Thornton and all the others dead and some Yeehats have a celebration, as such he got extremely angry and killed about half the tribe without getting hit with a single spear (pg. 134-136). I think this is sad because the only person who Buck really loved and who loved him back died, however I think it was great the way Buck exacted his revenge, the Yeehats seemed to believe themselves indestructible and Buck quickly fixed that. Do you think Buck to the right course of action or do you think he should have run away? With John Thornton now dead though, though was nothing to keep Buck among civilization and he quickly ran off and became the leader of a wolf pack.