Call of the Wild | Teen Ink

Call of the Wild

June 5, 2014
By isabel barash BRONZE, Atascadero, California
isabel barash BRONZE, Atascadero, California
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

The book and movie The Call of the Wild is a story about a dog that learns about his own instincts. The book and the movie had some important scenes that were either additional or were taken out of the movie. In addition, there are scenes in the movie that do not exist in the book, and vice versa. The following are just a few of the differences and similarities from the book and the movie.

One of the differences in the book that the movie did not have was Dave, Spitz and Curly. They were all sled dogs with Buck. Curly was a friendly female dog that was killed by Spitz. Spitz is the leader of the sled until Buck came. He was a terrible harsh dog that other dogs feared. Buck ends up killing him in a fight they had. Dave was a poor dog who you could tell was mistreated or abused who died working. These were some of the big differences from the book.

Some more differences that the book did not have were Charlie and Jessie. They were both very important people in the movie. They both helped John Thorten on his way to find gold. Charlie was an Indian who was perhaps John’s best friend. John would have probably died without his help on how to navigate through the snow. Jessie was a pretty girl who john wanted to marry. These are both main characters that the book did not have.

The most important and biggest difference to me was the viewpoint. In the book, Buck told the story from his point of view. In the movie, it is out of John’s journals perspective. Personally, I like the book’s perspective better. I liked it better because this was the first book that I have read narrated by a dog. This characteristic is much less common in books, typically the book is told by a human point of view.

In the movie, there are not just differences there are also similarities. For example, John Thornton and Bucks love for each other is shown in the movie very similar as in the book. Another similarity is that in both, the movie and the book John was killed at the lakes by the Yeehats. Some of the scenes in the snow and in the forest were also portrayed very well in the movie. Likewise, the description of Hal and Mercedes was very well played in the movie. These two characters followed the book’s explanation very closely.

Therefore, as you can tell there are many similarities and differences in The Call of the Wild by Jack London. I think he did a great job on how Buck would have thought and his emotions. I also think the movie producers did a great job in reenacting the book. Personally, I liked the movie a lot more because I felt that the book is too long. I think, about half of the story was action and it was very confusing. The movie was definitely better because it added some characters that I really enjoyed.



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