Taina Hernandez

Mrs. Clark
English 12th
February 12th, 2016
Place and Space Critical Analysis: Call of The Wild
Your fear is 100% dependent on you for your survival is a quote stated by Dr. Steve
Maraboli. Sometimes your worst fears are what you are going to fight against; your worst fears
motivate you to choose a better path for yourself, your worst fears teach you that your instincts
are your allies. When we are confronting fears and struggles we tend to let our survival instincts
guide us. This is seen in the The Call of The Wild by Jack London which uses homelessness,
place as a way of understanding, and place as home to teach the reader that in order to survive
one has to rely on our animal instincts.
London portrays how homelessness causes ones survival instincts to ignite. Home is a
unit of space organized mentally and materially to satisfy a persons real and perceived basis
biosocial needs and beyond that, their higher aesthetic-political aspirations (Cresswell 109). In
other words homelessness is best defined as taking someone from a place where they feel
comfortable and safe. Buck goes through this same situation, he was sold by his owners
gardener, he was stolen away from his home, where he was safe and comfortable (London
5).Further in page 5 Buck is held by the stranger and he starts growling and fighting him. He
does not trust him and that leads him to defend himself as a way of survival. Buck originally was
a calm and obedient dog, who trusted people he knew, but put through an uncomfortable

situation with strangers was not so amusing to him. Buck is starved and beaten, which he is not
used to. One of the dogs travelling with Buck stole his food the first time he got a meal (London
7). The other dog seem friendly, but Buck was contradicted when his food was stolen and he had
to fight the other dog for food, which he had never done before. Buck was faced with such
struggle and trickery that he had to do something he never thought he could. Us humans can
relate to this type of behavior, if a person went through this same situation they would obviously
stop trusting people and will, eventually become an animal in order to survive. In this situation
ones perspective will change drastically.
In the book, Bucks perspective of survival changes based on the type of place he is in.
Place as a way of understanding a place is not a piece in the world but it is actually a way of
understanding the world(Cresswell 11). Buck realizes that what he is surrounded of is a
completely different environment filled with Savages. He experiences the death of Curly, a
female dog whom he had become friends with. She was furiously killed by 30 dogs (London 9).
Buck realizes that to survive in this world, he will have to make sure that he never goes down in
a fight, he promises himself that he would never let himself go to that path (London 11). He also
starts hating Spitz, the leader of all the dogs, because he was laughing at Curlys fate. In that
moment he knew that he hated Spitz, and every dog that killed Curly (London 12). His point of
view was entirely altered once he saw the cruelty and savageness that enclosed him. He knew
that he could not be a kind dog, that he had to pull out his teeth to go through this. From that
moment and on Buck was no more a civilized and respectful dog, he became the animal as he
was supposed to be. This happens to a lot of people in the world who are accustomed to one
home and environment, but once something happens to them it all changes and makes them a
different person.

The author portrays how Bucks true home, the wild, is calling him everywhere he goes.
Home is an exemplary kind of place where people feel a sense of attachment and rootedness
(Cresswell 24). Even though Buck was a domestic dog who lived the good live, he knew that the
simple life wasnt his home. When he lived with humans he had described himself as the King,
but then he realized that it wasnt truly his home (London 3). He soon realizes when his instincts
started to kick in. His instinct forces him to kill Spitz in order to become the leader of the other
dogs, he gained respect and power (London 24). Every day he felt like the wild was his home, he
learned to adapt and he liked it. John Thorton becomes Bucks new master who treated him right,
Even though Buck is happy with Thornton, his wild instincts still remain strong, and he fights as
fiercely as ever (London 51). Buck got so used to living as the animal he is that at night he went
to the wild to hunt and fight with other wild dogs. This can happen to people who change
environment, they tend to adapt and no matter what they wont go back to where they were,
theyll make that place they are their home. At the end of the day Buck found a way to overcome
his fears of not being able to survive, he became his own salvation and his own competition.
In the book The Call of The Wild the author demonstrates how the main character goes
through necessary changes in order to survive. Buck changed from a domestic and peaceful dog
to a violent and leader dog. The book showed how sometimes people need a little push to see
reality and adapt into it, which was what Buck did. Jack London teaches us to rely in our animal
instinct to survive through the characteristics of homelessness, place as a way of understanding
and place as home. There will be many rough paths in life, but if you trust your instincts you will
overcome it all.

Works cited
London, Jack. The Call Of The Wild. N.Y: Dover, 1990. Print.
Cresswell, Tim. Defining Place. Blackwell, 2004. Print.