Survival (Man vs. Wild)

Published in 1903, Call of the Wild is Jack London's most popular book. It is sometimes seen as a book for young adults, but is a dark trip into human nature and a species that can be noble as well as incredibly cruel and insensitive. The protagonist, Buck, is a dog that is kidnapped and placed into servitude as a sled dog during the 19th century Klondike Gold Rush. It is Bucks loyalty and instinct to return to his owners that forms the plot of the book -- and the assumptions the reader is able to make about the inhumanity of humans and the very real loyalty and humanity Buck shows.

Hatchet is a 1987, three-time Newbery Honor book for young adults dealing with survival, and is the first of four novels using the same characters. The gist of the plot follows 13-year-old Brian Robeson who...
[ View Full Essay]