In Jack London’s Call of The Wild, the protagonist, a sled dog by the name of Buck, used to be a house dog before being taken to Canada to be used as a sled dog. He eventually reverts back to some of his more primitive instincts when he is forced to survive with little help in the north. Spitz is the lead dog and is extremely aggressive to Buck. This irritates Buck and he begins to want the lead spot on the team. After finally killing Spitz during a fight, Buck is made team leader. Chapter three’s title is, “The Dominant Primordial Beast.” This is where Buck wins the fight. Buck finally shows his true colors in the fight. Showing that even though he was a house dog for so long, he still can revert back to his fighting instincts when he needed to. Even one of their sled drivers, Francois, knew it, “Lissen: some dam fine day heem get mad lak hell an’ den heem chew dat Spitz all up an’ spit him out on de snow.” (Pg.29).
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Great American Novels 
2 replies on “A Dog’s Fighting Instinct”
That is a super interesting concept of “reverting back to primitive instincts” and how this can be applied to may different things! This speaks to the concept of how can people truly change? I feel like people can work to change their old habits but they have an innate character and characteristics that they cannot truly change, even if they try their hardest. So taking this concept of how Buck reverted back to his old habits and killed Spitz, do you believe that humans are capable of truly changing? or do you think that when we are put into a situation where we have act, our innate instincts will show rather than the ones that we try to create?
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I believe that humans are capable of change, especially when there are significant consequences. I think that when a person is in a certain situation of fight or flight, it may come down to risk and reward. Past experiences, cultural influence, training, and confidence in skills will greatly affect the person’s choice to decide the risk and reward in that moment.
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