The Conflict between Buck and Hal

34 The man called Black Burton wakes up the sleeping lion inside of Buck. Throughout the year, John Thornton is the man whose Buck’s life revolves around on. After a long time, Buck gets another external conflict in a form of physical violence, as Hammond 2010 has stated. However, Buck is not the recipient of the physical violence this time, John is, and Buck defends John and attacks Burton. Buck’s loyalty toward John Thornton is strong. As a year past on, Buck grows to be a more mature and stronger dog. He has learned both the ways of house-dog and sled-dog. As a house-dog, he is demanded to be loyal to his master and has a good nature. As a sled-dog, he is demanded to be strong enough to pull a sled, and to attack at times when he needs to. As a grown-up dog, he is getting better at switching between the two automatically. Buck’s encounter with Black Burton shows that even a year without a fight or any threat, Buck is still a fighter.

g. The Conflict between Buck and the Yeehats

Months come and pass, and in the fall of the year, John Thornton, his mates, his dogs, and Buck are looking for the Lost Cabin, a place of which legend speaks about its gold mine. While John Thornton and his mates are working on the gold, the dogs do not have something to do. Buck entertains himself by hunting and wandering in the woods. Sometimes, he spends the night in the woods, but he always comes back to the camp when the night falls, for Buck cannot seem to be far away from John Thornton. One time, Buck spends four nights in the woods because this time his prey is big and it takes time for him to kill the prey. Buck comes back to the camp to find the rest of the team is slaughtered. From the center of the camp itself Buck hears the sound of many 35 voices, rising and falling in a sing-song chant. Buck found Nig laying outside of the camp on his side, dead, an arrow protruding from either side of his body. A hundred yards away, one of the sled-dogs John Thornton had bought in Dawson is also dead. Stepping forward, Buck finds John Thornton’s partner Hans dead, feathered with arrows. From that point, Buck starts to lose his head. Hammond 2010 states that not only with another character or nature a character might get external conflict from, but also from society, the quotation below shows the external conflict Buck gets from the local Indian tribe, the Yeehats. He sprang at the foremost man it was the chief of the Yeehats, ripping the throat wide open till the rent jugular spouted a fountain of blood. He did not pause to worry the victim, but ripped in passing, with the next bound tearing wide the throat of a second man. He plunged about in their very midst, tearing, rending, destroying, in constant and terrific motion which defied the arrows they discharged at him p. 101. The quotation above shows the greatest fury Buck ever feels. The fury is so big that Buck can take down most of the Yeehats in just a few minutes. Buck takes most of the Yeehats down in spite of the fact that Buck has not found John Thornton’s body yet. Buck starts to kill most of the Yeehats. Buck’s loyalty toward John Thornton is so big that he does not even think twice about taking the Yeehats – whose armed up with arrows and spears – down by himself. This time, the external conflict he gets from the Yeehats makes him lose someone who is dear to him. Hence, Buck’s fury does not stop at the camp, he chases after the running Yeehats into the woods, and afterward discovers the rest of the team’s body, including John Thornton’s. And truly Buck was the Fiend incarnate, raging at their heels and dragging them down like a deer as they raced through the trees. It was a fateful day for the Yeehats. They scattered far and wide over the country, and it was PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 36 not till a week later that the last of the survivors gathered together in a lower valley, and counted their losses p. 101. The quotation above shows Buck’s intention to finish every last of the Yeehats, he chases them into the woods and hunts them down. There are only several Yeehats who escaped from Buck. Meanwhile, the Yeehat’s purpose behind the attack is never known. Since the time Buck leaves Judge Miller’s house, he rarely meets a good master. John Thornton however, is the one master that Buck is longing for. John Thornton loves Buck, he treats Buck nicely and never hurts Buck. With the death of John Thornton, Buck has no desire to look or wait for another master. For him, John Thornton is his true and last master. His tie to a man breaks and he does not feel like he belongs to anyone. This conflict between Buck and the Yeehats which make Buck loses his master is one of the things from several things which push Buck to go into the wild. The next section will talk about the motivations of Buck which encourage him to go into the wild.

B. The Motivations of the Main Character

Thompson 2014 divides motivation into two types, namely the intrinsic motivation and the extrinsic motivation. Hence, the analysis will be divided into two sections, the first section is the intrinsic motivation, and the second section is the extrinsic motivation.

1. The Intrinsic Motivation of the Main Character

Thompson 2014 states that an intrinsic motivation is a motivation that comes from inside of a character. Furthermore, Thompson also mentions that 37 when someone is intrinsically motivated he enjoys the process of achieving the goal while determined to make himself more competent and qualified. In the story, Buck gets an intrinsic motivation in a form of a hairy man from his own imagination which makes him to want to go into the wild.

a. Buck wants to be Free like the Hairy Man

Buck gets his first imagination of the hairy man when he is with Perrault and Francois. The imaginary hairy man always comes when he rests by the fire. That time, he only sees the physical appearance of the hairy man. However, the second appearance of his imaginary hairy man comes when he is with John Thornton. The imagination comes strong in Buck’s mind, every detail of the man and his behavior. Did they walk by the beach of the sea, where the hairy man gathered shell- fish and ate them as he gathered, it was with eyes that roved everywhere for hidden danger and with legs prepared to run like the wind at its first appearance. Through the forest they crept noiselessly, Buck at the hairy man’s heels; and they were alert and vigilant, the pair of them, ears twitching and moving and nostrils quivering, for the man heard and smelled as keenly as Buck p. 91. According to Thompson 2014, an intrinsic motivation is always followed by an enjoyment that will be experienced by the character. From the first time Buck starts to imagine the hairy man, Buck always enjoys watching the hairy man and all his activities. Buck’s imagination of the hairy man is so vivid. The hairy man himself resembles Buck in many ways. The hairy man hears and smells as keen as Buck does. The hairy man eats fish straight from the sea, without cooking it. The hairy man, in short, is how Buck imagines himself, he is the reflection of Buck. While the skills and behavior resemble Buck a lot, the freedom felt by the