Second Quarter Blog 3

Up to now in Jack London's Call of the Wild, Buck has been with three different owners. The first were the men Francois and Perrault, the second being a Scotsman who carries mail, and the third a trio of Hal, Charles, and Mercedes who are first time owners of sled dogs. Now that Buck is in command of his team, he begins to uncover more of his inherited instincts in the wild that he didn't realize before. This idea of Buck becoming more of a dog of leadership and one with nature expresses the connection to the period of Romanticism. The death of one of the teammates, Dave, contributes also to Romanticism in the emotions all the dogs feel with his passing and nature. Dave is shot because of the mistreatment the Scotsman enforces on the dogs, which is going farther and carrying more with less rest and time to recuperate. Dave's death also reminds the reader of the lesson Spitz taught Buck about the law of club and fang. With Buck and the rest of his team being so worn down from the exertion the Scotsman puts on their bodies, they dogs truly want to just rest. But the dog's inner pride about the work they are doing compels them to keep going. This portrayal of the dog's loyalty connects to Romanticism through the way London expresses the dogs emotions, which seem human like. 
The next owners the Buck and his team are sold to are three people who are inexperienced with sled dogs and traveling in the snow. The dogs being completely worn out does not help with these three being inexperienced. Because they do not know how to take care of the dogs, they overfeed them the first few weeks which leads to the dogs starving because there is no food left to eat. Also, the three overpack the sled, which causes the sled to be too heavy to pull. Because the dogs are so exhausted they cannot move the sled, so Hal tries to whip the dogs into pulling the sled but does not work. The overpacking of the sled causes the dogs to become even more tired with the load they carry each day until they eventually either die or stop doing what the three say. The representation of Hal, Charles, and Mercedes by London reflects the idea of the negative side of civilization through their characteristics of vanity, foolishness, stubbornness, and ignorance.