Adversity In The Call The Wild

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We, as people, like to think we know everything about ourselves. We believe we know how kind we are, how dramatic we are, how resourceful we are. We think we know how good we are at everything, or at least how good we would be. We as a people think we know much more than we do. But, how then, do we find ourselves contemplating who we have become? How do we know what we are good at, other than silly tests we take at school and what our friends say we can do? It’s because we often don’t realize how much we can change in so little time. We sometimes don’t realize what we can do until we’ve done it with lots of pressure weighing down on us. We don’t realize how courageous we might be until we’re forced to be so. Adversity, although not the…show more content…
In the story The Call of the Wild by author Jack London, the protagonist Buck lives the sheltered, pampered life of a rich man’s dog. He is the pride and joy of one of the wealthier members of Californian society. But he is soon kidnapped and shipped off to Alaska, where he is forced to become a sled dog and brave the harsh climate for the benefit of greedy humans. But, it’s in this icy world that Buck becomes the dog he always had the potential to be. One of the first scenes of the book is a perfect glimpse into this. He has always lived a life with an owner who loved him. Now, he’s stuck with a cold, aloof man who cares more about his paycheck than the dogs he takes care of. Buck tries to rebel against his unfair treatment. He tries to hurt the man- but the man retaliates. He is beaten viciously by him, and he learns two lessons that day- to respect those with more power than him, and to fight only when it’s necessary. These lessons carry through with him throughout the rest of the story. Later in the story,…show more content…
It’s only here that it turns into a diamond. Never subjecting it to such a fate will shelter it from so called “hardship” but it will remain coal, unimproved, with nothing else to make it, it. It seems silly to talk about coal when discussing the effect of adversity on personality and talent, both concepts that really don’t apply to sedimentary rocks, but there is a point to make- someone cannot achieve their best without challenge, without something that makes them to go farther, and work harder than they have ever had to. Have you ever seen what an athlete needs to do to train? They work harder every time they practice- because they’re never going to improve if they don’t find themselves exerting effort. The rest of us are the same- we have to work harder to improve. We need to face pressure if we want to turn into something bigger than
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