book review the call of the wild by jack london

The Call of the Wild

By jack london.

Jack London’s The Call of the Wild is an undisputed classic of the genre. It takes an unlikely protagonist who readers can’t help but sympathize with, and puts him through a series of unfathomably treacherous situations.

Article written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

Throughout the book, readers learn what it takes to survive in the Yukon alongside Buck, a dog stolen from his home in California and forced into service as a sled dog. The power of the natural world and its draw for all living creatures, human and non-human, is at the heart of the novel. 

Civilization and Wilderness in The Call of the Wild 

After reading the novel ‘ The Call of the Wild ‘ by Jack London , readers are meant to walk away questioning civilization and with a newfound interest in, and respect for, the natural world. It’s hard to finish Buck’s story without admiring his appreciation for nature (despite all the suffering he’s forced to endure). 

This major theme of the novel should appeal to all readers. While the protagonist is a dog, readers can easily place themselves in Buck’s place and imagine what it would be like to be forced to live a wild life, very removed from that which you previously enjoyed. And if, perhaps, you might experience the same type of joy in freedom and nature as Buck does. 

Buck as a Protagonist 

If you’ve never read ‘ The Call of the Wild ,’ the immediate realization that the main character is a dog is surprising. London made this unique choice (as a dog-lover all his life) as a way to depict humanity and nature from an unusual perspective. No one understands the contrast between civilization and the wild as a dog does, London suggests in his novel. 

Buck lived a life of luxury, one that was interpreted permanently when he was stolen and sold as a sled dog. He had no choice (as a human being likely would) over what happened to him and where he went. He traveled from master to master and was forced to endure starvation, freezing cold, and a constant battle for dominance with the other dogs. 

While he suffered, he also learned a great deal (as the reader does). His initial horror at the Yukon and the brutal murder of Curly results in his learning a series of powerful, unforgettable lessons. Any weakness (like kindness or friendship) can lead to your demise. 

Jack London’s Style 

While the book is best known for Buck’s character and for its usual setting (not to mention its prestige as one of the first adventure fiction novels), London’s writing style is commonly overlooked. London never won any literary awards of note during his career, but today, his writing stands among the greats, particularly for its effortless descriptions of the natural world and Buck’s realization of his own instinctual wildness. 

While London never forces an appreciation for nature (or fear of its power) on the readers, it comes along nevertheless. His direct but lyrical style of writing makes it impossible not to appreciate the beauty and terror of the Yukon and feel, right along with Buck and the other characters in the novel , amazement at what it takes to survive. 

Buck’s introduction to truly wild living is a process that begins after he arrives in the North and lasts throughout the novel. It’s not until the end, when he finally joins a pack of wolves, that he fully gives up his lingering affection for the civilized world. He turns away from the comforts that we all know so well and willingly determines to live a life of struggle and survival. 

It’s not just the struggle to survive and the ability to fully give in to his instincts that attracts Buck though; it’s also the freedom and beauty that comes along with it. London writes: 

There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive. This ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist, caught up and out of himself in a sheet of flame; it comes to the soldier, war-mad in a stricken field and refusing quarter; and it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf-cry, straining after the food that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through the moonlight.

Here, he demonstrates Buck’s newfound attachment to the wild as he “sound[s] the old wolf-cry” and enters the wildness willingly. The idea that one forgets they’re alive when they are most alive is an interesting one. It is also an example of London’s more lyrical prose. Set alongside a direct description of Buck leading the pack, it creates a fulsome emotional landscape that has attracted readers for decades. 

Final Thoughts 

While not every reader may love the story of ‘ The Call of the Wild ,’ it does contain an inescapable universal appeal in its depiction of civilization and wilderness. It asks you to reconsider the world you live in, what it means, and what you’re missing from your base, instinctual self. 

Buck rediscovered his own instincts, willingness to survive, and a way of living that he was initially very distant from so too many readers as they navigate the pages of Jack London’s novel. 

The Call of the Wild Review: Jack London's Adventure Fiction Novel

Book Title: The Call of the Wild

Book Description: 'The Call of the Wild' is an adventure fiction novel that follows Buck, who is sold as a sled dog in the Yukon and is forced to fight for survival.

Book Author: Jack London

Book Edition: Puffin Classics Edition

Book Format: Paperback

Publisher - Organization: Penguin Young Readers Group

Date published: May 1, 2003

Illustrator: Charles Livingston Bull

ISBN: 978-0-14-244005-3

Number Of Pages: 232

• Writing Style
• Lasting Effect on Reader

The Call of the Wild Review

The Call of the Wild is an unforgettable novel that pioneered the adventure genre. It follows Buck a privileged California dog who is stolen and sold as a sled dog in the Yukon. His struggle to survive leads to a newfound appreciation for the natural world and his own wild instincts.

• A unique main character
• A meaningful conclusion
• Beautiful, lyrical prose
• Less interesting dialogue
• May leave readers wanting more
• Some examples of cruelty towards animals

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About Emma Baldwin

Emma Baldwin, a graduate of East Carolina University, has a deep-rooted passion for literature. She serves as a key contributor to the Book Analysis team with years of experience.

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The call of the wild, common sense media reviewers.

Thrilling, violent tale of dog's survival in 1890s Alaska.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Offers a portrait of the Klondike Gold Rush of the

Dogs thrive when they can follow their powerful in

Buck's final owner, John Thornton, is rough but mo

Men and dogs are beaten and killed, and attack and

"Hell" is used several times. A biracial character

Men smoke pipes. Men also receive "invitations to

Parents need to know that Jack London's classic novel The Call of the Wild was originally published in 1903. It traces the journey of a dog named Buck from domestic family life to pulling sleds during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s, and then heeding the pull of his natural instincts to return to the wild…

Educational Value

Offers a portrait of the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s, including details on how dogsled teams work, and the hardships experienced by the people and animals.

Positive Messages

Dogs thrive when they can follow their powerful instincts.

Positive Role Models

Buck's final owner, John Thornton, is rough but more decent and compassionate than any other humans in the story. His kindness and respect for Buck's nature engenders the dog's loyalty and love. One character is half-French Canadian and half-Native American, described in negative terms. At one point Native Americans attack, killing dogs and men. The only woman who figures in the story acts like a spoiled child, by turns overfeeding the dogs (which leads to insufficient food and starvation later) and overworking them.

Violence & Scariness

Men and dogs are beaten and killed, and attack and kill each other. Men beat dogs with clubs and whips. Dogs fight to the death and tear out the throats of men and other dogs. Lots of bloody details.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

"Hell" is used several times. A biracial character is referred to as a "half-breed."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Men smoke pipes. Men also receive "invitations to drink" alcohol, but drinking is not depicted.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Jack London's classic novel The Call of the Wild was originally published in 1903. It traces the journey of a dog named Buck from domestic family life to pulling sleds during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s, and then heeding the pull of his natural instincts to return to the wild. This is a story of survival and includes a great deal of brutality that may be upsetting to animal lovers. Dogs are clubbed and whipped. Animals fight each other to the death, and tear out the throats of dogs and men. The book also has some bigoted and sexist portrayals of humans. At one stage in Buck's story, he's owned by two men who are described as "... a black-faced giant called Francois. Perrault was a French-Canadian, and swarthy; but Francois was a French-Canadian half-breed, and twice as swarthy." Native Americans commit a ruthless attack in the book as well, killing dogs and men. And the only woman who figures in the story acts like a spoiled child, by turns overfeeding the dogs (which leads to insufficient food and starvation later) and overworking them. Ultimately, however, this is a story about the power of a dog's natural instincts, and the dignity that animals deserve. The book has been adapted for film, most recently in the 2020 movie starring Harrison Ford .

Where to Read

Community reviews.

• Parents say (16)
• Kids say (63)

Based on 16 parent reviews

Makes Abusing Animals Seem Normal

What's the story.

In Jack London's THE CALL OF THE WILD, family dog Buck is kidnapped and transported to the Yukon in Canada to be a sled dog during the Klondike Gold Rush. At first Buck tries to fight back, but he's soon beaten into submission. As he passes through a succession of owners, he finds that ancient instincts from his wolf ancestors are awakening within him, helping him survive in the brutal wilderness of the North. Buck becomes a leader and a formidable hunter who's attuned to his senses and the wilderness around him.

Is It Any Good?

Jack London's muscular and poetic novel is a thrilling adventure story that explores the relationship of dogs with humans, and dogs with the natural world. As Buck increasingly heeds the instincts of his wolf ancestors, he becomes both more alive and more truly himself. However, not every dog in the story has the power to survive in the wild, and many of the humans are ill-suited for the harsh conditions they face. By exploring the brutality of an untamed environment through the eyes of a dog, London reveals much about human and animal behavior. The Call of the Wild may not be well-suited for sensitive young animal lovers, but it's a powerful story that makes readers think.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how attitudes toward animals have changed in the century since The Call of the Wild was written. How are animals treated in the book? How would this book be received if it were written today?

How do you feel about the way Native Americans are portrayed in this novel?

This book is written with a third-person narrator, but from Buck's point of view. Why do you think Jack London used the dog's perspective? How did this help the author tell the story?

Book Details

• Author : Jack London
• Genre : Animals
• Topics : Adventures , Cats, Dogs, and Mice , Wild Animals
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Larousse Kingfisher Chambers Inc.
• Publication date : January 1, 1903
• Number of pages : 208
• Last updated : January 15, 2019

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The 100 best novels: No 35 – The Call of the Wild by Jack London (1903)

The Call of the Wild, a short adventure novel about a sled dog named Buck (a cross between a St Bernard and a Scotch collie) will be one of the strangest, and most strangely potent, narratives in this series.

Its author was a one-off, too. Jack London was a maverick, macho young man, the son of an itinerant astrologer and a spiritualist mother. As a boy, he led a criminal life, specialising in the piracy of oysters in San Francisco Bay. As a writer, he blazed briefly, lived hard and dangerously, and died from drink and drugs aged just 40, having written more than 50 books in 20 years.

London is the archetype of the American writer as primeval hero, the forerunner of Hemingway , Dos Passos , Kerouac and possibly Hunter S Thompson . To George Orwell , he was "an adventurer and a man of action as few writers have ever been". A devotee of Kipling's Jungle Book , London found his literary voice writing about a dog that learns to live at the limit of civilisation. He was inspired to embark on his dog story as a means to explore what he saw as the essence of human nature in response to a wave of calls to American youth urging a new start for the turn-of-the-century generation. London's mythical creature became his answer to the complex challenges of modernity.

The reader discovers Buck, a domesticated prize dog, as the effete pet of a Californian judge. When he is stolen by his master's gardener to settle some gambling debts, Buck passes through a sequence of owners representing the highs and lows of humanity. Sold into a kind of canine slavery as an Alaskan sled dog, Buck ends up in the Yukon of the 1890s Klondike gold rush, a milieu familiar to the writer. Eventually, he becomes the property of a salt-of-the-earth outdoorsman named John Thornton who recognises Buck's qualities and with whom the dog enjoys a deep, and affecting rapport.

Among many adventures, in extremis, Buck saves Thornton from drowning, but when his master is killed by Yeehat Indians, he gives in to his true nature, answers the call of the wild and joins a wolf pack: "Man, and the claims of man, no longer bound him." Here, London is not just writing about dogs. He is expressing his belief, which owes something to Rousseau, that humanity is always in a state of conflict, and that the struggles of existence strengthen man's nature.

London's chapter titles – "Into the Primitive", "The Law of Club and Fang" and "The Dominant Primordial Beast" – might appear to set London's literary agenda. But what projects The Call of the Wild towards immortality is London's urgent and vivid style, and his astonishing identification with the world he's describing. His capacity to involve his readers in his story, regardless of literary subtlety, is what many generations of American writers became inspired by. For this alone, he deserves to be remembered.

A Note on the Text

The Call of the Wild was first serialised in the Saturday Evening Post in the summer of 1903 and was an instant hit. Jack London had already sold the rights to the novel outright for $2,000 because he wanted to buy an old sloop for sailing. Accordingly, the story was first published as a volume in America by Macmillan and Company whose editor, George Brett, played a crucial role in London's success as a writer.

London achieved overnight acclaim. Inevitably, there was envy. A forgotten writer named Egerton Ryerson Young claimed that London had plagiarised his 1902 book, My Dogs in the Northland . London acknowledged the influence and deflected the charge, saying he had already corresponded with Young on the subject.

HL Mencken , a most perceptive critic, wrote: "No other popular writer of his time did any better writing than you will find in The Call of the Wild … Here, indeed, are all the elements of sound fiction: clear thinking, a sense of character, the dramatic instinct, and, above all, the adept putting together of words – words charming and slyly significant, words arranged, in a French phrase, for the respiration and the ear."

Three more from Jack London

The People of the Abyss (1903); White Fang (1906); The Road (1907).

• The 100 best novels

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Book review: “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London

In November, 1902, Jack London wrote his non-fiction investigative book The People of the Abyss about the life of the poor of the East End of London. He’d spent seven weeks living there a few months earlier.

Of the city’s 6.2 million residents, one in 14 lived in grinding oppressive poverty. Or, as the writer put it:

“ At this very moment, 450,000 of these creatures are dying miserably at the bottom of the social pit called ‘London.’ ”

A month after writing The People of the Abyss , London was at work on the novel that made his name, The Call of the Wild . Both books were published in 1903.

A rejection of civilization?

To my mind, there is a direct connection between the two books, and it has to do with a little-discussed aspect of The Call of the Wild .

In his non-fiction book, London detailed the world that civilization made — a world in which nearly half a million “creatures” were left on a human trash heap, left to find their way for as long as they could struggle, left to a miserable life and an early death.

In his novel, London told the story of the un-taming of Buck — of his travels deeper and deeper into his primitive self until, in the end, he is joyously alive and full in his wildness.

In my reading, The Call of the Wild seems to be — subtly and, perhaps for London, subliminally — a rejection of a human civilization that permits the horridness of the lives of the city of London’s poor. The novel’s subtext appears to me to be that the life of Buck is a model for human beings — that health and joy and freedom can only be found in wildness.

A paean to freedom

As I suggest, this may have been subconscious for London. Even so, his visit to the East End may have primed him to create Buck’s story. On a conscious level, he may not have made the connection. But, it seems to me, it’s definitely there.

Another possibility is that, as a struggling writer, trying to keep body and soul together, he didn’t want to write a direct challenge to the status quo, and, for that reason, hid the subtext of his novel.

To write more clearly about the need for wildness would have been akin to promoting anarchy, advising the poor to rebel, preaching chaos in which those with the strongest bodies and wills — not the richest or best-connected — would triumph.

Either way, no reader of The Call of the Wild can see Buck’s evolution (or is it a devolution?) into a kind of wolf as anything but a good thing. The novel is a paean to the freedom of the wild, the freedom to howl at the moon and hunt with the pack, unrestrained.

“The decay of his moral nature”

The goodness of Buck’s transformation is signaled early when he watches another dog steal a piece of bacon from behind the human master’s back and then, “to survive in the hostile Northland environment,” cleverly thieves his own hunk of bacon, a transgression for which another dog is punished.

“This first theft marked…[Buck’s] adaptability, his capacity to adjust himself to changing conditions, the lack of which would have meant swift and terrible death. “It marked, further, the decay or going to pieces of his moral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle for existence. “It was all well enough in the Southland, under the law of love and fellowship, to respect private property and personal feelings; but in the Northland, under the law of club and fang, whoso took such things into account was a fool, and insofar as he observed them, he would fail to prosper.”

In the anarchy of the wilderness, Buck is learning that the only rule is to do whatever is necessary to survive.

And, while human society might think of itself as living under “the law of love and fellowship,” those “creatures” in the East End knew much better “the law of club and fang.”

By contrast, the three tenderfeet — middle-aged Charles, his wife Mercedes and her brother Hal —buy Buck and his worn-out team and then arrogantly expect Nature to adapt to the rules of civilization that they have lived all their lives.

Unlike the earlier men who served as the team’s masters, these three are sloppy, selfish and soft. And all three die with their dogs when their sled falls through the thin ice they’d been warned about — warnings they looked down on.

Buck survived because the woodsman John Thornton came to his defense just before the three went onto the ice.

Like Buck, Thornton was a man who lived a wild life and loved it. And loved Buck with a love that was reciprocated.

Despite the increasingly strong tugs of a pack of wild wolves on Buck, the dog remains with Thornton until, on one return to the camp, he finds the man dead, slain in an attack by a Native American tribe.

Interestingly, London depicts these Indians unusually for his time. They aren’t described as inhuman savages. Instead, they have a lot in common with the wolf pack toward which Buck is pulled.

They are wild, but that is good. The tribe and the pack share the same wilderness, the same dangers and the same rich life as an interconnected part of Nature.

Patrick T. Reardon

Written by : Patrick T. Reardon

For more than three decades Patrick T. Reardon was an urban affairs writer, a feature writer, a columnist, and an editor for the Chicago Tribune. In 2000 he was one of a team of 50 staff members who won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. Now a freelance writer and poet, he has contributed chapters to several books and is the author of Faith Stripped to Its Essence. His website is https://patricktreardon.com/.

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Jack London - Call of the Wild

“call of the wild is a book that anyone who adores the outdoors should read.”, no major spoilers.

Originally serialised for the Saturday Evening Post over the Summer of 1903 before being published in book form, Jack London’s modern classic Call of the Wild tells the story of a pampered dog named Buck, a St. Bernard-Scotch Shepherd mix, who enjoys his lazy and spoiled life living on a ranch in sunny California. Buck’s carefree life is soon turned upside-down when he’s stolen and forced to begin a new life as a sled dog for prospectors travelling from Alaska to Canada during the Klondike Gold Rush.

On surface, Call of the Wild appears to be a simple tale about a domestic dog getting in touch with his wild side, but the novel has much more to say than that. This is a book that explores nature VS nurture, man’s relationship with the wild, survival of the fittest, pack mentality, violence, modernity, instinct, love, hate, cruelty, and listening to one’s own heart, to name but a few. There’s certainly a great deal to unpack in this relatively short novel.

Call of the Wild may seem like a children’s book, an easy mistake to make since some editions include illustrations, but this is one book you’ll want to hold off on reading to your young ones at night, at least until they reach a certain level of maturity and understanding. I’ve no doubt this story paved the way for titles such as Watership Down and may have been inspired by the likes of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. This is not a cuddly story about a dog, and it’s loaded with violent imagery and heavy themes throughout.

I don’t want to go any further into the details of the plot, as I found it to be incredibly absorbing and there are plenty of twists and turns along the way. Buck is initially scared and confused by the new life he finds himself in, but it’s not long before he begins to become an integral member of his pack, and soon he has his eyes on becoming the leader. Our canine protagonist soon discovers humans can vary as much as dogs, and disaster strikes for him and his pack after they’re sold to an inexperienced and arrogant trio of prospectors who vastly underestimate the dangers of sledding. The main narrative focuses on Buck’s transformation from a soft, domesticated dog, into an untamed and bristling hound who has become attuned to his wild instincts. Indeed, by the end of the novel, Buck is more wolf than he is dog.

While Call of the Wild focuses heavily on animals and nature, I couldn’t help but feel London was really using animals as a stand-in for people. Prior to writing the book, London spent much of his time in the Yukon, and his experiences there inspired much of this book. Like Buck at the beginning of his journey, humans have generally become soft to the world around us. Dump the average person in the middle of Alaska and they’d probably soon be dead, I know I would be, and yet, like domesticated dogs, our ancestors were tough survivors who endured long enough to get us where we are now. Call of the Wild repeatedly asks how far removed are we from our wild instincts, are they still buried deep within us somewhere, what would it take for them to reawaken, and could we ever turn back once they’ve taken hold? It seems one need only take a look at prison life to see how tough environments filled with danger can quickly revert us back to a pack mentality where only the strong survive, in order to answer these questions.

London’s book also examines man’s relationship with nature, and how our attempts to dominate and master it are ultimately useless and lead only to pain and destruction. Characters like the spoiled and arrogant Charles, Hal, and Mercedes are prime examples of this, while those who don’t attempt to resist nature and go along with it find the path to be much easier going, as seen in the character of John Thornton. Written in the opening years of the 20th century, London would’ve been witness to the ever increasing industrialisation of America and the death of frontier life in the Old West. I’ve no doubt all of this would’ve been playing on London’s mind as he pieced together this story and, in some ways, Call of the Wild can be seen as a reaction to the apparent domestication of America.

Reading Call of the Wild, I was also surprised at how London explores Buck’s primitive nature that lies within in him and calls back to his ancestors. There are a number of passages that describe Buck sensing the presence of his ancestors, and the ancestors of modern man, and I was struck at how accurately London appears to understand the science of evolution and natural selection. No doubt London learned plenty about such ideas through experiences of his own travels but, given that Charles Darwins’ The Origin of Species was published only a few decades before London began work on Call of the Wild, and given that there are still people today who refute the idea of evolution, I’m genuinely impressed at how competently London explores these themes.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that, despite being over 100 years old, London’s writings have aged a lot better than many of his peers when it comes to issues of race, gender, and social politics. I’m not about to pretend that London doesn’t use any terms and phrases that are rightfully unacceptable today, but I never got the feeling he intended his non-white characters to be any more or less flawed than the white one. No, this book doesn’t read like London was a super socially aware guy, at least not by modern standards, however its certainly aged better than many books that came after it and, given that Jack London was a white man born in the late 1800’s, he comes across as surprisingly progressive.

Call of the Wild is a book that anyone who adores the outdoors should read. You should also add it to your reading pile if you’ve any interest in dogs or nature in general. I’m amazed that such a short story can contain so much to unpack, and it’s the sort of book I look forward to reading again in future, I’m sure there’s plenty I’ve missed on my first go-around. As my first Jack London novel, I see why he’s so highly regarded in the world of literature and I look forward to reading his other works.

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Added 24th January 2020

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The Call of the Wild

Jack London | 4.04 | 339,674 ratings and reviews

Ranked #7 in Alaska , Ranked #11 in Dog — see more rankings .

Rankings by Category

The Call of the Wild is ranked in the following categories:

• #86 in 11-Year-Old
• #88 in 6th Grade
• #56 in Adventure
• #33 in Adventure Fiction
• #53 in American Literature
• #12 in Animals
• #95 in Canada
• #94 in Classic
• #87 in Free e-Book
• #83 in Gold
• #48 in Nature
• #69 in Project Gutenberg
• #74 in Public Domain
• #71 in Spelling
• #49 in Survival
• #54 in Wildlife

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The Call of the Wild

Jack london.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1903

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” Again Buck knew them as things heard in that other world which persisted in his memory. He walked to the centre of the open space and listened. It was the call, the many-noted call, sounding more luringly and compellingly than ever before. And as never before, he was ready to obey... The last tie was broken. Man and the claims of man no longer bound him.”

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The Call of the Wild by Jack London

• Release Date: 1903
• Genre: Book2Screen , Classics , Coming of Age , Essential Reading , Literature , Survival
• Author: Jack London

About Call of The Wild:

‘Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and . . . he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire, and to plunge into the forest.’

Half St. Bernard, half sheepdog, Buck is stolen away from his comfortable life as a pet in California and sold to dog traders. He soon finds himself aboard a ship, on its way to Northern Canada. Surrounded by cruelty, Buck’s natural instincts and behaviour begin to emerge as he works as a mail carrying sled dog, scavenging for food, protecting himself against other dogs and sleeping out in the cold snow.

Sold to a group of American gold hunters who are inexperienced living in the wilderness, the dogs are treated badly and as misfortune besets them, Buck is saved by John Thornton. Indebted to his new master, Buck remains by Thornton’s side, saving him from drowning and protecting him with fierce loyalty throughout their time together. However, Buck can not deny the strong lure of the wilderness around him.

Exciting and action-packed, THE CALL OF THE WILD explores the timeless relationship between man and dog, and the inevitable draw of primitive instincts that pull Buck away from civilization and humanity towards the lawless and harsh wilderness.

A poignant and triumphant tale of a great creature in the wild. He feels the bitterness and savagery of men and his pack, there has been a dividing line in his relations with humans by no fault but their own due to their constant usage of this canine Buck in work, in pulling in the snow, they have not shown any kindness, but there is hope he will soon be blessed with some. One man shows a kindness that helps Buck, who has had a life of toil and enduring of hardships, its a warming to the heart to see man and animal bonded in humility and kindness. Humans can be cruel and unkind to each other, and many guilty of worser crimes to animals in the wild and those under their control as a pet, they are more vulnerable and have no voice. Jack London here has given them a voice in this story and White Fang. He has successfully placed us in their point of view, in the shoes of the main protagonist Buck. An inspiring story that will continue to last through time. Jack London is another author that I recently hold high up there in the sphere of great writers, he writes with great insight into the world, the behaviours, the human condition and here the animal dilemma. I read this story way too late in my life, I only wished that I learned of these great stories of his when i was in my youth. This story has revived for me the importance of justice and kindness to the animal kingdom and the freedom to an animal of the wild. Author Joe Lansdale recommends this author and has said in an interview that Jack London had inspired him in his youth as a writer and I can now see why. If all this is not enough reason to read this or to remind one of its greatness, then read what the author E. L. Doctorow said in his preface of this story…

“Man and dog are here together put back into prehistory, one of the moments of metaphorical abutment in which the book abounds. The law of the club and the law of the fang are one and the same, which is to say that in this primeval life of nature man and dog are morally indistinguishable-the call of the wild calls us all. We are dealing in this instance with not a literal dog but a mythopoetic thesis. It is perhaps his fatherless life of bitter self-reliance in late-nineteenth-century America that he transmutes here-though this is not the way it does us any good to read it. It seems more relevantly his mordant parable of the thinness of civilisation, the brutality ready to spring up through our institutions, the failure of the human race to evolve truly from its primeval beginnings. It derives from Jack London’s Marxism the idea of the material control of our natures, and from his Darwinism the convictions that life triumphant belongs to the most fit. This is not a sweet idea for a book, it is rather the kind of concept to justify tyrannies and the need of repressive social institutions to keep people from tearing themselves to bits. But London’s Nietzchean superdog has our admiration, if the truth be told. For as grim as its implications are, the tale never forgets its sources as a magazine frontier romance. It leaves us with satisfaction as its outcome, a story well and truly told. It is Jack London’s hack genius that makes us cheer for his Buck and want to lope with him in happy, savage honor back to the wild, running and howling with the pack.”

“Bucks first day on the Dyea beach was like a nightmare. Every hour was filled with shock and surprise. He had been suddenly jerked from the heart of civilisation and flung into the heart of things primordial. No lazy, sun-kissed life was this, with nothing to do but loaf and be bored. Here was neither peace, nor rest, nor a moment’s safety. All was confusion and action, and every moment life and limb was in peril. There was imperative need to be constantly alert; for these dogs and men were not town dogs and men. They were savages, all of them, who knew no law but the law of club and fang.” “And not only did he learn by experience, but instincts long dead became alive again. The domesticated generations feel from him. In vague ways he remembered back to the youth of the breed, to the time the wild dogs ranged in packs through the primeval forest and killed their meat as they ran it down. It was no task for him to learn to fight with cut and slash and the quick wolf snap. In this manner had fought forgotten ancestors. They quickened the old life within him, and the old tricks which they had stamped into the heredity of the breed were his tricks. They came to him without effort or discovery, as though they had been his always. And when, on the still, cold nights, he pointed his nose at the star and howled long and wolf like, it was his ancestors, dead and dust, pointing nose at star and howling down through the centuries and through him. And his cadences were their cadences, the cadences which voiced their woe and what to them was the meaning of the stillness, and the cold, and dark. Thus, as token of what a puppet thing life is, the ancient song surged through him and he came into his own again; and he came because men had found a yellow metal in the North…” “The dominant primordial beast was strong in Buck, and under the fierce conditions of the trial life it grew and grew. Yet it was a secret growth. His newborn cunning gave him poise and control. He was too busy adjusting himself to the new life to feel at ease, and not only did he not pick fights, but he avoided them whenever possible. A certain deliberateness characterized his attitude. He was not prone to rashness and precipitate action; and in the bitter hatred between him and Spitz he betrayed no impatience, shunned all offensive acts.” “All that stirring of old instincts which at stated periods drives men out from the surrounding cities to forest and plain to kill things by chemically propelled leaden pellets, the blood lust, the joy to kill-all this was Buck’s, only it was infinitely more intimate. He was ranging at the head of the pack, running the wild thing down, the living meat, to kill with his own teeth and wash his muzzle to the eyes in warm blood. There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive. This ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist, caught up and out of himself in a sheet of flame; it comes to the solider, war-mad on a stricken field and refusing quarter; and it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf cry, straining after the food that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through the moonlight. He was sounding the deeps of his nature, and of the parts of his nature that were deeper than he, going back into the womb of Time. He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars and over the face of dead matter that did not move.” “It was beautiful spring weather, but neither dogs nor humans were aware of it. Each day rose earlier and set later. It was dawn by three in the morning, and twilight lingered till nine at night. The whole long day was a blaze of sunshine. The ghostly winter silence had given way to the great spring murmur of awakening life. This murmur arose from al the land, fraught with the joy of living. It came from the things that lived and moved again, things which had been as dead and which had not moved during the long months of frost. The sap was rising in the pines. The willows and aspens were bursting out in young buds. Shrubs and vines were putting on fresh garbs of green. Crickets sang in the nights, and in the days all manner of creeping, crawling things rusted forth into the sun. Partridges and woodpeckers were booming and knocking in the forest. Squirrels were chattering, birds singing, and overhead honked the wild fowl driving up from the south in cunning wedges that split the air.” “This man had saved his life, which was something; but, further, he was the ideal master. Other men saw to the welfare of their dogs from a sense of duty and business expediency; he was to the welfare of his as if they were his own children, because he could not help it. And he saw further. He never forgot kindly greeting or a cheering word, and to sit down for a long talk with them (gas he called it) was as much his delight as theirs. He had a way of taking Buck’s head roughly between his hands, and resting his own head upon Buck’s, of shaking him back and forth, the while calling him ill names that to Buck were love names. Buck knew no greater joy than that rough embrace and the sound of murmured oaths, and at each jerk back and forth it seemed that his heart would be shaken out of his body so great was its ecstasy. And when, released, he sprang to his feet, his mouth laughing, his eyes eloquent, his throat vibrant with unuttered sound, and in that fashion remained without movement, John Thornton would reverently exclaim, “God! You can all but speak!” “The blood longing became stronger than ever before. He was a killer, a thing that preyed, living on the things that lived, unaided, alone, by virtue of his own strength and prowess, surviving triumphantly in a hostile environment where only the strong survived. Because all of this he became possessed of a great pride in himself, which communicated itself like a contagion to his physical being. It advertised itself in all his movements, was apparent in the play of very muscle, spoke plainly as speak in the way he carried himself, and made his glorious furry coat if anything more glorious. But for the stray brown on his muzzle and above his eyes, and for the splash of white hair that ran midmost down his chest, he might well have been mistaken for a gigantic wolf, larger than the largest of the breed. From his St. Bernard father he had inherited size and weight, but it was his shepherd mother who had given shape to that size and weight. His muzzle was the long wolf muzzle, save that it was larger than the muzzle of any wolf; and his head, somewhat broader, was the wolf head on a massive scale.” “There is a patience of the wild-dogged, tireless, persistent as life itself-that holds motionless for endless hours the spider in its web, the snake in its coils, the panther in its ambuscade; this patience belong peculiarly to life when it hunts its living food; and it belonged to Buck as he clung to the flank of the herd….”

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A 1903 Review of Jack London's The Call of the Wild

"jack london seems to possess an intuition of the dog life, and the dog heart".

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He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars.

“Jack London’s news story, The Call of the Wild , is the romance of Buck, a great dog. Buck’s sire was a St. Bernard, and his mother was a Collie, and he was shaggy, big of body, strong of muscle and stout of heart. He was stolen from a California ranch and taken to live in the far glacier land of the North, where he was put in a team with work dogs and made to carry the Yukon mail. Jack London seems to possess an intuition of the dog life, and the dog heart, an insight which must have come from intimacy and communion with some big, noble, shaggy friend; and the story is related with a simple, direct, dramatic force which enchains interest; and which is art. The Republic unhesitatingly recommends The Call of the Wild as a story of quality, not surpassed by Bob, Son of Battle , and not approached by any other similar tale.

“During the four years of his puppyhood in California, Buck had lived the life of a country gentleman, fond of activity, of the water and the hunt, but ignorant of hardship and toil. Stolen and taken into the Yukon country, his character changed and he became hard under the hard conditions of life, a leader and master among dogs, turning back toward savage instincts. As time goes on he hearkens more and more to the ‘Call of the Wild’ until, at last, after years fraught with incident and adventure, he yields himself to the mastery of primitive instincts—to the wild, both without and within himself—and reverts to savagery in the great wilderness of the North. The change from gentleman to savage is effected gradually and traced with absorbing interest. Hamilton Wright Mable says truly: ‘The story has a deep psychologic interest, and may be read as a striking parable; but it is, above all, an absorbing tale of wild life, full of pictorial power and abounding in striking incidents of frontier town, camp and adventure.’ ”

–The St. Louis Republic , August 8, 1903

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The Call of the Wild

Jack london, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Buck , a proud and strong St. Bernard mix, lives a princely existence on Judge Miller's estate in Santa Clara. Living an insular life, he has no idea that the discovery of gold in the Klondike has created a demand for dogs like him. Manuel , a gardener on the estate desperate for money, kidnaps Buck, selling him to a dog trader . The man throws Buck into a crate on a train headed north.

Four day's later Buck's crate is unloaded from the train. At first chance, he leaps out, attacking a man in a red sweater . The man stuns Buck with his club , beating him into submission, until Buck learns to obey. Buck spends his days watching other dogs suffer the same treatment, until two Canadian couriers, François and Perrault , purchase him, Curly , Dave , and Spitz for their sled dog team. They sail on The Narwhal to Dyea, Alaska, where Buck encounters snow for the first time.

Within hours of making landfall, Buck sees Curly attacked by a husky, then trampled by the rest of the sled dogs. Her death teaches Buck a valuable lesson about the law of club and fang . He learns to always strive for his survival by never letting his guard down. Buck's lessons continue on the trail, where François harnesses him to the traces for the first time. Under the tutelage of Perrault and the dogs Spitz and Dave, Buck transforms into a working sled dog. He learns not only from their experience, but also from the wild instincts awakening within him.

Mastering his ability to scavenge, steal, and fight, Buck's desire to dominate the sled dog team increases, and his rivalry with the lead dog, Spitz, intensifies. Yet conditions on the trail postpone their imminent showdown. A pack of mad huskies attack the camp, Dolly subsequently goes mad from rabies, and the team struggles crossing treacherous stretches of thin ice. Buck also instigates a mutiny among the weaker dogs. One night, while Buck leads the team on a rabbit hunt, Spitz makes his attack. The rivals spar for supremacy of the pack, but Buck manages to break Spitz's leg, claiming victory.

Buck becomes a masterful leader, making record runs across the Klondike. Yet demands for more mail force François and Perrault to hand over Buck and his team to a Scottish courier , who wears them down with heavy mail loads. On the trail, Dave falls ill, compelling the Scotsman to shoot him out of mercy. Exhausted from this journey, the team is handed over to Hal , Charles , and Mercedes , American fortune seekers, who mistreat Buck and his team terribly. They force them to toil under dense loads, starve them, and beat them incessantly.

Barely alive, Buck's team arrives at White River, where the ice is starting to melt. A local camper, John Thornton warns Hal against crossing, but Hal belligerently beats his animals into moving forward. Buck, sensing danger, refuses to rise. Hal, incensed, beats Buck with his club. Thornton tackles Hal and cuts Buck out of the traces, saving him from the brink of death. Hal, humiliated, proceeds towards the riverbank, while Buck and Thornton watch the sled fade into the distance and suddenly drop beneath the ice.

As Buck recuperates under Thornton's care, he develops a deep affection and loyalty for his "ideal master.” Buck demonstrates his devotion for Thornton many times over, defending him in a bar fight, saving him from drowning, and winning a $1600 bet for him by pulling a sled loaded with one thousand pounds.

With the winnings, Thornton takes Buck deeper into the Klondike in search of a lost mine. While Thornton pans for gold, Buck, haunted by visions of a caveman and the wild's beckoning call , explores the forest. He runs with a timber wolf and hunts prey on his own, but returns to Thornton's campsite when he senses that a catastrophe has occurred.

Seeing the Yeehats dance over the ruins of the camp confirms Buck's suspicions that they have murdered Thornton. Driven by rage, he launches into an attack, killing the chief and overturning the law of club and fang . Buck answers the call when a wolf pack initiates him into their ranks. He runs with them, eventually becoming their leader and a legend.

"The Call of the Wild" Summary

By Jack London

classics | 164 pages | Published in 2008

Life is good for Buck in Santa Clara Valley, where he spends his days eating and sleeping in the golden sunshine. But one day a treacherous act of betrayal leads to his kidnap, and he is forced into a life of toil and danger. Dragged away to be a sledge dog in the harsh and freezing cold Yukon, Buck must fight for his survivial. Can he rise above his enemies and become the master of his realm once again? With an inspirational introduction by award-winning author Melvyn Burgess, The Call of the Wild is one of the twenty wonderful classic stories being reissued in Puffin Classics in March 2015.

Estimated read time: 5 min read

One Sentence Summary

A domesticated dog in the Yukon wilderness rediscovers its primal instincts and struggles for survival.

Table of Contents

Introduction, brief synopsis.

"The Call of the Wild" is a classic novel by Jack London, first published in 1903. The story is set during the Klondike Gold Rush and follows the journey of a domesticated dog named Buck as he is uprooted from his comfortable home in California and thrown into the harsh and unforgiving wilderness of the Yukon territory. Through his experiences, Buck must adapt to the brutal realities of survival and ultimately embrace his primal instincts to become a leader among the wild sled dogs. The novel is a timeless tale of adventure, resilience, and the enduring bond between humans and animals.

Plot Overview and Setting

"The Call of the Wild" is primarily set in the Yukon territory during the late 19th century. The story begins at a prosperous estate in California, where Buck, a powerful and well-loved St. Bernard-Scotch Collie mix, lives a comfortable life as the pet of Judge Miller. However, Buck's life takes a drastic turn when he is stolen and sold into the brutal world of the Klondike Gold Rush. He is soon introduced to the harsh reality of life as a sled dog, where he faces cruelty, violence, and the harsh elements of the Yukon.

Main Characters

Below are the main characters in "The Call of the Wild" along with brief descriptions of each:

Summary of Different Story Points over Chapters

Chapter 1-2: buck's life in california.

Buck lives a comfortable life as a pet on Judge Miller's estate in California.

Chapter 3-4: Stolen and Sold into the North

Buck is stolen and sold into the brutal world of the Klondike Gold Rush, where he is introduced to the harsh reality of life as a sled dog.

Chapter 5-6: Adaptation to the Wilderness

Buck learns to adapt to the harsh wilderness of the Yukon and grows stronger as he faces the challenges of his new life.

Chapter 7-8: The Sled Dog Life

Buck experiences the brutality and hierarchy of the sled dog world, including conflicts with the lead dog, Spitz.

Chapter 9-10: Bond with John Thornton

Buck forms a deep and meaningful bond with prospector John Thornton, who treats him with kindness and respect.

Chapter 11-12: Embracing Wild Instincts

Buck begins to embrace his primal instincts and becomes a leader among the wild sled dogs.

Chapter 13-14: The Call of the Wild

Buck hears the call of the wild and feels the pull of his ancestral roots, leading him to make a fateful decision.

Main Events

"The Call of the Wild" is filled with significant events that shape the course of Buck's journey, including his kidnapping, sale into the sled dog trade, adaptation to the harsh wilderness, conflicts with other dogs, and the formation of a deep bond with John Thornton. These events ultimately lead to Buck's transformation from a domesticated pet into a primal and dominant leader in the wild.

Themes and Insights

• Primal Instincts : The novel explores the theme of primal instincts and the innate drive for survival and dominance in the wilderness.
• Companionship : The enduring bond between humans and animals is a central theme, as seen through Buck's relationship with John Thornton.
• Adaptation and Resilience : The story highlights the resilience and adaptability of living creatures when faced with extreme challenges.

"The Call of the Wild" offers insights into the depths of the human-animal connection, the transformative power of nature, and the indomitable spirit of survival. It also serves as a reflection on the allure of the wild and the primal instincts that lie dormant within all living beings.

Reader's Takeaway

Readers of "The Call of the Wild" will be captivated by the gripping tale of Buck's transformation from a pampered pet to a fierce and untamed leader in the wild. The novel provides a powerful portrayal of the human-animal bond and offers profound insights into the instinctual nature of survival and the call of the wild.

"The Call of the Wild" is a timeless classic that continues to enthrall readers with its vivid portrayal of adventure, resilience, and the enduring bond between humans and animals. Jack London's masterful storytelling and insightful exploration of primal instincts make this novel a compelling and thought-provoking read for audiences of all ages.

The Call of the Wild FAQ

What is the genre of 'the call of the wild'.

The genre of 'The Call of the Wild' is adventure fiction.

When was 'The Call of the Wild' first published?

'The Call of the Wild' was first published in 1903.

Who is the author of 'The Call of the Wild'?

The author of 'The Call of the Wild' is Jack London.

What is the setting of 'The Call of the Wild'?

The setting of 'The Call of the Wild' is the Yukon during the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush.

Is 'The Call of the Wild' suitable for children?

'The Call of the Wild' is generally considered suitable for older children and young adults due to its themes and content.

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The Call of the Wild

By jack london read by jeff daniels, category: teen & young adult fiction | teen & young adult classics | teen & young adult action & adventure | audiobooks.

May 25, 2010 | 190 Minutes | Young Adult | ISBN 9780307710277 --> Buy

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May 25, 2010 | ISBN 9780307710277 | Young Adult

190 Minutes

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About The Call of the Wild

Jack London’s The Call of the Wild was written in 1903, but Buck’s gripping adventure makes for a thrilling listen on audio more than 100 years after it was first published.             This gripping story follows the adventures of the loyal dog Buck, who is stolen from his comfortable family home and forced into the harsh life of an Alaskan sled dog. Passed from master to master, Buck embarks on an extraordinary journey that ends with his becoming the legendary leader of a wolf pack.             “To this day Jack London is the most widely read American writer in the world,” E. L. Doctorow wrote in The New York Times Book Review . Generally considered to be London’s greatest achievement, The Call of the Wild brought him international acclaim when it was published. His story of the dog Buck, who learns to survive in the bleak Yukon wilderness, is viewed by many as his symbolic autobiography. “No other popular writer of his time did any better writing than you will find in The Call of the Wild ,” said H. L. Mencken.

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Also by jack london.

About Jack London

Jack London—his real name was John Griffith London—had a wild and colorful youth on the waterfront of Oakland, his native city. Born in 1876, he left school at the age of fourteen and worked in a cannery. By the time… More about Jack London

Product Details

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