Homer Winslow's 'The Call Of The Wild'

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Homer Winslow’s painting “Palm Tree: Nassau” relates in many ways to the novel The Call of the Wild. When observing this painting, the first thing that I noticed was the blowing palm trees. Even though the wind is harsh on the leaves, the tree still stands strong and tall. This reminded me of Buck, the main character of the book. Buck was a strong and diligent dog who desired to be the dominant male of the sled group. While trying to reach the alpha male position, he struggled due to the resistance of other competing dogs. Spitz was one of those competing dogs who tried to damage or “wind” Buck. Although Spitz and other dogs continually tried to knock Buck down, he still stood strong and tall. An excerpt that shows Buck conquering the strong winds is when he defeats Spitz. In Chapter 3, page 53 it states “The dark circle became a dot on the moon-flooded snow as Spitz disappeared from view. Buck stood and looked on, the successful champion, the dominant primordial beast who had made his kill and found it good.”…show more content…
Throughout the book, Buck and the other dogs had to travel across thin ice with freezing water just beneath it. One significant part of the novel is when Buck refused to lead the pack on top of the ice because it was melting very quickly. Buck’s owner Hal whipped the dogs anyways. Luckily, a man named John Thornton witnessed this and stopped the abuse and freed Buck. The pack continued on without Buck and died due to the arrogance of Hal and Charles. In Chapter 10, page 90, its describes the situation. “Dog and man watched it crawling along over the ice. Suddenly, they saw its back end fall into a rut, and a gee-pole with Hal clinging to it, jerk into the air. Mercedes’s scream came to their ears. They saw Charles turn and make one step to run back, and the a whole section of ice give way and dogs and humans

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