The Call of the Wild John Thornton characteristics

Manuel A Mexican; one of the Judge's gardener's helpers. Because of his mounting gambling debts, Manuel steals Buck and sells him to a ring of dognappers.

The Man in the Red Sweater An unnamed person whom Buck remembers for the rest of his life because this is the person who teaches Buck the lesson that "a man with a club was a lawgiver, a master to be obeyed."

Perrault and François Two Frenchmen who are Buck's first new masters. They work for the Canadian government, delivering dispatches to outposts throughout the frozen North.

A Scotch Half-Breed Buck's second master; he delivers mail in the North. He is a competent master, but because of the demands made on him, he has to overwork the dogs.

"Black" Burton A vicious man who attacks Thornton; he, in turn, is attacked by Buck.

An Ape-like Man A "hairy" man with a bent back; he accompanies the Scotch half-breed on the mail routes.

Charles An inept middle-aged master of Buck's; Charles comes from the South, and he does not understand the ways of the North or how to handle dogs.

Mercedes Charles's wife; she attempts to live in the North as if she were on an "extended social camping trip."

Hal Mercedes's brother; he carries a whip, a gun, and a knife, and he is cruel to Buck.

John Thornton The man who rescues Buck from Charles, Hal, and Mercedes; he is the man to whom Buck becomes immensely devoted.

Hans and Pete John Thornton's partners; they accompany him on his expedition for the lost gold mine.

Matthewson The man who bets Thornton that Buck cannot pull a thousand-pound loaded sled.

Jim O'Brien John Thornton's friend; he lends Thornton a thousand dollars to make the wager with Matthewson.

The Yeehats A fierce tribe of Indians who murder John Thornton and his partners, Hans and Pete.

Animals

The following animals play an important role in this novel and have characteristics very similar to those of human beings (called anthropomorphism):

Buck This dog is the "main character" of the novel. Buck's father was a huge Saint Bernard, and Buck's mother was a huge Scotch shepherd dog. The central concern of The Call of the Wild is Buck's transformation from a civilized dog of the South to an animal capable of coping with the most adverse conditions in the Far North. Buck is used to illustrate London's idea of the "survival of the fittest" and the retreat to the potential primitive or primordial beast that lies within each animal or individual. This is also a magnification of the philosophy of naturalism, a philosophy which London was often concerned with in his writings.

Curly Buck's friend and companion on the arduous boat trip to the North. Curly is described as a "good-natured Newfoundland." Curly does not survive long, however, and Buck learns a painful lesson when he sees how easily Curly is killed while trying to be friendly with another dog.

Spitz The dog that kills Curly; not unexpectedly, Spitz becomes Buck's most bitter enemy. Later, Spitz is killed by Buck in a dog fight which is central to the novel. Buck's victory entitles him to take over the commanding power position that once belonged to Spitz. Buck's fight-to-the-death with Spitz illustrates Buck's ability to survive among even the most primitive elements.

Dave, Billee, Joe, Sol-leks, Dolly, Pike, and Dub Other dogs that serve on the dogsled team with Buck.

This guy is great. Not only does he probably look like a cross between Paul Bunyan and the Brawny paper towel dude, but he's perhaps the greatest fictional dog owner ever. (He saves Buck from certain death a few times...and Buck returns the favor.) Thornton's a frontiersman's frontiersman, a bro of few words, and would make even Hawkeye from The Last of the Mohicans look like a bit of yuppie.

Yeah. We're a little in awe of him:

John Thornton asked little of man or nature. He was unafraid of the wild. With a handful of salt and a rifle he could plunge into the wilderness and fare wherever he pleased and as long as he pleased. Being in no haste, Indian fashion, he hunted his dinner in the course of the day's travel; and if he failed to find it, like the Indian, he kept on traveling, secure in the knowledge that sooner or later he would come to it. So, on this great journey into the East, straight meat was the bill of fare, ammunition and tools principally made up the load on the sled, and the time-card was drawn upon the limitless future. (7.3)

You read that right: Thornton only needs a handful of salt and a rifle to survive. We were thinking we did pretty good during that forty-eight hour blackout—it was tough, guys: we had to eat all our ice cream before it melted.

But who is Thornton, besides awesome?

He's one of the main human characters in the book, and, while he's important in the life of Buck, we don't know much about his personal history. In one sense, Thornton's role in the story is to help us learn more about Buck—Thornton’s there so we can understand this mysterious call of the wild and why Buck feels torn about whether to stay with humans or go into the wild.

Thornton is both the greatest thing that’s ever happened to Buck and the one thing holding back from his true destiny as a wild dog pack leader. One the one hand, Buck is devoted to Thornton in a way that he's not devoted to anyone or anything else:

Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time. This he had never experienced at Judge Miller's down in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley. With the Judge's sons, hunting and tramping, it had been a working partnership; with the Judge's grandsons, a sort of pompous guardianship; and with the Judge himself, a stately and dignified friendship. But love that was feverish and burning, that was adoration, that was madness, it had taken John Thornton to arouse. (6.3)

On the other hand, Thornton's presence is preventing Buck from going off into the wild and answering "the call" that he hears so often:

Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and as often as he heard this call, mysteriously thrilling and luring, he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire and the beaten earth around it, and to plunge into the forest, and on and on, he knew not where or why; nor did he wonder where or why, the call sounding imperiously, deep in the forest. But as often as he gained the soft unbroken earth and the green shade, the love for John Thornton drew him back to the fire again. (6.11)

But Thornton's struck down in his mountain-manliest prime, and Buck's freed to answer the call of the wild and go find some new bros. Buck might be shedding dog-tears over Thornton's death, but he's finally able to go run with his wolf pack.

What is John Thornton's role in Call of the Wild?

What is the characterization in The Call of the Wild?

What are characteristics of buck from Call of the Wild?

How did John Thornton show his love for buck?