Maya is a captive. In Grandmother's house in California, she is forbidden from playing or having friends, every word and action is strictly monitored, and even her memories of her mother have been erased--except within the imaginary world she has created. A world away, in the rugged Wyoming wilderness, a tobiano paint horse called Artemisia runs free, belonging only to the stars. The mother of a new foal and the lead mare of a harem band in a land where survival is precarious, she embodies the spirit of the wild--and she holds the key to Maya's memories. How Maya's and Artemisia's lives intertwine, like a braided rein, is at the heart of this richly drawn adventure about freedom and captivity, about holding on and letting go.
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There's much discussion of love—more specifically, the love between dog and owner. Buck feels more for Thornton than he ever has for a human before—including when he was leading the good life back in sunny California. He shows his love by biting Thornton gently. He starts hearing this same "call from the wild;" he has this yearning to go live in the woods and hunt and howl. To demonstrate how loyal Buck is, Thornton tells him to jump off a cliff. Buck starts to do it, but Thornton pulls him back. It was the least he could do.
The dogs finally finish their exhaustive journey. They’re in a shoddy state. They meet characters who become their new owners: Hal, Charles, and Mercedes. These people (especially Mercedes) have enough luggage for about eight people because they don’t know how to pack light. These wise old guys watching Hal, Charles, and Mercedes pack all their stuff onto the sled keep insisting their sled's too heavy.
Hal and Charles are arrogant, proud, and not so nice. They refuse to take advice, and the dogs aren’t able to pull the heavy load. Mercedes starts coddling the dogs, insisting that the men don’t hurt the dogs. Buck is attacked by three huskies at once, and his head and shoulders are slashed; even as he fights the wild dogs, Spitz continues to nip at him. Eventually, outnumbered, the sled dogs run out onto the frozen lake and regroup in the woods. ... Francois kills the mad dog with an ax, and Buck is left exhausted from running.
The main character of the story is Buck he is a husky dog that lived at a big house in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley; Judge Miller's place. The Judge was at a meeting and the boys were organizing a club on the same night Manuel was doing something. Buck followed the boys and saw the man talking Manuel when they exchanged money. The man tied a rope around buck's collar and he was very not pleased. "In quick rage he sprang at the man, who met him halfway, grappled him close by the throat, and with a deft twist threw him over on his back." (page 4) He was taken in a cage from the man to a saloon-keeper to a man in a red sweater who own other dogs too. Once he was brought to the man in the red sweater he opened Buck's cage and had a hatchet and a club in his hands, Buck's eyes turned into a bloodshot red. "And buck was a truly red-eyed devil, as he drew himself together for the spring, hair bristling, mouth foaming, a mad glitter in his bloodshot eyes." (page 8) The character is dynamic because when he meets other dogs his mood from being kidnapped changes into something else.
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