Monday, February 16, 2009

Answering "The Call of the Wild"

Dogs snarling. Teeth baring. Growls echoing. Jack London illustrates the dogs' fights with a clarity I've scare encountered. His novel, The Call of the Wild, has been my favorite assigned novel in class this year.

Jack London's Buck, though a dog, was an easily relatable character. Buck learned quickly how to survive in the brutal wild of the Yukon. I remembered my own changes as I entered the savage high school I now attend. Buck kept you rooting for him through the whole novel.

Jack London's style was very compelling. His descriptions of every aspect were full of clarity and vividness. They were exact and appealing without being flowery and fussy.

The Call of the Wild was a book that could aimed be toward both genders. It was full of violence and danger and thrill for the restless, antsy boys. Girls could just as easily fall in love with the loyal, loving Buck.

I would recommend The Call of the Wild to anyone-girl or boy, child or adult.

The Tragic Tale of Antigone

Juliet=Antigone?

It always begins with feuding families and forbidden love. Reading Sophocles' Antigone, I couldn't help but notice the blatant similarities between this play and of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Having previously read Bill Shakespeare's play, the plot of Antigone seemed very familiar. Haemon and Antigone's opposed relationship was near identical to that of Romeo and Juliet's. Also, both twosome committed suicide to deal with the toils proposed by their families. 

Unlike Romeo and Juliet, Sophocles was written in a language much easier to decipher and comprehend. The language gave way to the time period through 'pop culture' references of the age through myths and legends of the people. 

While often moving, I would not recommend Antigone for leisure reading. The work is too short to connect to the characters and is lacking the compelling romance of Shakespeare's ever living classic.