Call Of The Wild: A True Hero

Throughout works of literature, past and present, there always have been heroes, but those heroes have different qualities and situations to conquer. But what guidelines do authors follow to create a hero? Buck, the hero in The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, is a good example of a hero created by an author with three points in mind. The three points that make Buck, among other heroes, great are him being able to be an ordinary dog still be the hero, his ability to adapt, and his mortality.
Buck, being an overly pampered dog, is still able to be a hero for the simple reason a hero can be anyone. Through the quote from Call of the Wild, “Buck lived at . . . Judge Miller’s place . . . There he was born and . . . lived there the four years of …show more content…
A quote from Call of the Wild that shows Buck’s mortality is,“This was the first time Buck had fail . . . Buck refused to move under the rain of heavier blows . . . Like his mates, he was barely able to get up . . . the spark of the life flickered and went down. It was nearly out” (Jack London 111-112). The quote gives the true idea of how mortal Buck is. He is not invincible and was an inch from death before John Thornton rescued him. But the quote illustrates that Buck’s strength is not infinite. Something else that is important is Buck, in his weakness, had just completely given up and was just going to let himself die but after his rescue Buck is able to win back the strength he lost and became even stronger. Another hero the shows her humanity is Meggie from Inkspell. A quote that shows this is ,“. . . she sobbed into his shirt . . . able to unload all her grief onto him, however heavily it weighed” (Cornelia Funke 603). Even though Meggie has a cool power and has good traits, she still has an emotional limit. Though she does meet it, she finds comfort in others that are with her, will support her, and those who she can lean on so that she can continue on with her mission. While Buck has his physical limit in his story and Meggie has emotional limits in her’s, they prove that heroes are mortal, have limits, and have to fight through to make it to the other side.
The three points that make Buck a hero are his normalness, his adaptations, and his physical mortality. All authors, some in a more subtle ways than others, use these points to create great heroes like Buck, Mack, Brian, and Meggie. And readers can look for these points and relate to the hero and maybe even see that they could be a