The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is
a very good novel although it was a very complex book to follow. It is an adventurous murder
mystery book. The fictional story takes place in England. The main characters are very
interesting from their attitudes to their physical appearance. The Hound of the Baskervilles is a
very interesting story; the main event in the tale is when Sir. Charles gets chased by a vicious
hound and Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson stop the hound before the great beast had a chance
to physically harm the baronet.
Sherlock Holmes is a very intriguing character from his actions to his great
detective mind. Nothing is left unchecked at a crime scene and everything he investigates he
does with great care. His partner, Dr. Watson, is also a very helpful person when needed at a
crime scene or for almost anything. Nothing fazes these fearless detectives; they always come
through in the face of danger. The baronet, other wise known as Sir Henry, is a weak hearted
man who still seems to pull through in danger and is very kind.
One of the most interesting events in the story is when Sir Henry gets fiercely
chased through the dark scary moor with the peek of the moon shining through the thick fog.
One of the other interesting events in the story is the murder on the moor; this murder happened
almost exactly the way Sir Henry was chased.
Another mystery is the story behind the Stapletons. At first they seem like another
brother and sister living on the moor, later Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes finally find out the
dark truth behind the Stapletons. The Stapleton siblings really were Mr. and Mrs. Stapleton and
were plotting to take over the Baskerville Hall from Sir Henry.
Overall I liked The Hound of the Baskervilles. At the beginning of this book it did
not look promising to be as adventurous and daring as I expected it to be. In the middle of the
story it gradually got better and better and then, finally at the end, it was very exciting and at the
same time frightening. I recommend this book for all readers who can follow along with very
complicated books.
The Call of the Wild
The Call of the Wild, written by Jack London, is about a dog sold into slavery by one of his master's greedy servants. The main character in the novel is a dog named Buck. He is a very large dog from the tip of his tail to the fur on his snout, very beautiful in appearance which is extremely deceiving for he is a fierce fighter and will never give up easily. The story mostly takes place in the Alaskan wilderness in the late 1800's, the time of the massive gold rushes. I think this book is very violent and I would not recommend it to anyone else, although it did have some very interesting features including adventure, action and suspense. The Call of the Wild, in my own personal opinion, is not suitable for children ages twelve and under due to some graphic violence throughout the book.
The novel begins in the quiet backyard of Buck's master, the Judge.
Buck is the gentle king of his hectic backyard and every dog knows it. He is happy until one of his master's greedy servants sells him to a merchant only to be sold again to dog runners in Alaska. He then becomes a sled dog to run the Alaskan trails in search of gold. During these grueling trips through the Alaskan trails, Buck makes some new friends and also makes some enemies. Buck fights for supremacy against the dog leader named Spitz. In the end, Buck emerges from the long awaited battle victorious and becomes the lead sled dog. After Buck became the leader no other dog challenged his authority either because he was a good leader or because no dog wanted to risk their own life for the lead spot.
After Buck gains his supremacy, the dogs are sold yet again to more people looking only for their own gain. Although Buck's new masters were nice, they lacked the necessary survival skills to be able to successfully cross the harsh Alaskan trails. Within the first few days food began to run scarce in their camp, and lacking hunting experience they started to starve. A little further into the adventure Buck's inexperienced masters arrived at a camp owned by John Thornton.
They stayed there for a night and in the morning when it was time to break their camp an over-worked, starvation plagued Buck refused to get up despite the blows from his master's club. Buck took several savage blows before John Thornton stepped in and said to Buck's master, “If you strike that dog again, I'll kill you,” the master protested and stated that it was his dog and he would do what he wished. Buck's master drew his long hunting knife and brandished it at Thornton. Good natured John Thornton pulled out the axe handle he had been whittling when they first came to his camp and knocked the knife out of the master's hand. The master then cut off Buck's harness and left him to stay with John. Thornton warned the inexperienced team not to go over the thin ice but Buck's former master would not listen and lead them all to their icy graves.
Buck, a slave no longer, then stayed and recuperated with John until they set off on yet another adventure in search of gold. On their trip they stopped in a town to re-supply where John, who was very proud of Buck, managed to get himself into a bet. The bet was that if Buck could pull a one thousand pound sleigh, John would win one thousand dollars. They hooked Buck up to the sleigh and to their surprise, Buck managed to pull it successfully and won one thousand dollars.
In the beginning Buck is a mostly tame dog, but further into the story he turns more and more like a wild dog searching for his own call of the wild. He starts to answer the call of the wild by hunting alone and going off by himself for several days to simply look around. On Buck's way back to camp he sees a wild wolf walking in the woods by himself.
He followed this wolf for a while and then proceeded to chase him until they started to run together side by side like brother by brother. Later, after his run with his wild brother, returning to camp Buck senses something terrible has happened and smells some unusual scents in the direction of the camp. When he arrives he finds that an Indian raid had claimed the lives of John Thornton and all his other companions. He then fends off a whole pack of wild wolfs. Several skirmishes later, one wolf comes up to Buck in a friendly way; it was his wild brother who had run beside him. After he reconnects with his wild brother, Buck answering the “call of the wild” joins the wolf pack.
In my own personal opinion, The Call of the Wild is not suitable for children ages twelve and under due to some graphic violence throughout the book. I think it had some good points including friendship through hard work, but over all it has too much violence for younger readers. Although I did not like the book, it lived up to its title The Call of the Wild, for in the end Buck truly answers his own call of the wild.
