Portrait of Love by Jack London Throughout the novel The Call of the Wild, Buck finds himself having to face a great deal of obstacles. Buck is a half-St. Bernard, half-sheepdog who is stolen from a home in California. He was then sold as a sled dog to the Arctic where he would begin his adventure. Buck faces many challenges that may be related to humans. The two experiences that everyone lives are love and death. According to Jack London in The Call of the Wild, love and death are described as bitter, sweet and deadly. Buck is thrown into a brutal world where he struggles to survive. Buck meets Curly, a Newfoundland. They become friends on their journey north. There was no warning, just a leap in like a flash, a metallic snap of teeth, a leap out as quick, and Curly's face was torn open from eye to jaw (London 44). After Buck's friend Curly is killed, Buck vows not to have the same fate. Buck's first encounter with the loss of his friend showed him how dangerous his journey will be, where love will ultimately leave a bitter feeling. As Buck's journey continues, he gets a taste of how bittersweet death can be. Dogs and humans respond to the call of their wild nature and their terrifying environment in a violent, bloody, and ongoing struggle for survival (Mann 1). The harsh environment creates a sense of survival of the fittest. The men beat the dogs to get them to their destination. Dogs fight to survive and, in some cases, fight to be dominant. Buck fights and kills Spitz, who was leading the dog. Buck stood by, the successful champion, the dominant primal beast who had made his kill and found it good (London 99). After killing the spitz, Buck assumes the leadership position. This shows i...... middle of paper ......ed.Works CitedLondon, Jack. The Call of the Wild and Other Stories. New York: Macmillan Company, 1903.Woodward, Servanne. “The Nature of the Beast in the Fiction of Jack London.” Beast 1 (May 1989): 61-66. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Tom Burns. vol. 108. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Network. November 24, 2013.Tavernier-Courbin, Jacqueline. "Buck as mythical hero." "The call of the wild": a naturalistic response. New York, NY: Twayne Publishers, 1994. 80-95. Rpt. In Review of Children's Literature. Ed. Tom Burns. vol. 108. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Network. November 24, 2013. Mann, John S. “The Theme of the Double in The Call of the Wild.” The Markham Review 8 (Fall 1978): 1-5. Rpt. in twentieth-century literary criticism. Ed. Paola Kepos. vol. 39. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Network. November 24. 2013.