“The Call of the Wild,” published in 1903, is Jack London’s best-known literary work. It was inspired by the year he spent in the Yukon as a twenty-one-year-old man. The novel tells the story of Buck, a dog stolen from an idyllic life in sunny California and sold into the harsh, cold wilderness of the North American frontier, where he must learn the laws of survival.
In the novel’s introduction, Buck lives a privileged life in Santa Clara Valley, California. A large, strong crossbreed of a St. Bernard and a Scotch Shepherd, Buck enjoys comfort and security under the care of his owner, Judge Miller. However, his life changes forever when Manuel, the judge’s gardener, kidnaps him to pay off gambling debts. Buck is sold to a dog trader and shipped north to be used as a sled dog. The gold rush in Canada’s Klondike region has driven up the demand for strong dogs, and Buck is soon plunged into a world where survival is governed by strength and cunning.
The story’s rising action begins when Buck is shipped to Seattle in a crate, mistreated and starved. When he is released into a yard, he faces “the man in the red sweater,” a dog-tamer who brutally teaches him the law of club and fang—submission to strength. He is only treated nicely when he obeys the man with the club. This harsh encounter marks the beginning of Buck’s transformation, as he realizes that survival in the wild is primarily a question of power.
One of Buck’s first lessons comes from Curly, a kind Newfoundland dog he befriends abroad, the ship that transports them north. A pack of huskies swiftly kills Curly after her friendliness towards a dog is mistaken for aggression, and the dog attacks her. From this, Buck learns that kindness can be fatal in the wild, and he learns never to fall victim to such violence. This marks the beginning of the novel’s central conflict—the tension between the civilizing influence of human society and the call of the wild.
Like Rudyard Kipling’s, London’s mastery of anthropomorphism makes Buck’s journey deeply relatable. Buck’s experiences with men and other dogs are told so readers are convinced of his human-like thoughts and emotions while also understanding the primal instincts he must awaken to survive.
Buck is sold to two mail carriers, Francois and Perrault, who work for the Canadian government transporting mail across the Yukon trail. As part of their sled team, Buck meets the lead dog, Spitz, and the other pack members: Dolly, Pike, Joe, Teek, and Koona. A rivalry develops between Buck and Spitz, and Buck begins challenging Spitz’s authority at every turn–an act that usually leads to a fatal outcome in a pack. In a climactic battle, Buck kills Spitz and takes his place as the lead dog, proving his dominance and embracing his wild instincts further.
As Buck becomes the leader, he drives the sled team to record-breaking speeds. The Canadian government reassigned them to a new task after Francois and Perrault covered the Yukon in this record time. However, the team is sold again, this time to a mail carrier who drives them relentlessly in the service of the mining community. This harsh treatment eventually leads to the death of one of the dogs, Dave, who is shot when he becomes too sick to continue.
Eventually, the worn-out sled team is sold to three Americans: Mercedes, her husband Charles, and her brother Hal. Inexperienced and stubborn, they ignore warnings about the dangers of improper provisioning, overloading the sled, and overworking the dogs. Their poor decisions result in the death of most of the dogs, with only Buck and four others surviving the fourteen dogs they started with. When they reach the camp of John Thornton, an experienced outdoorsman, he warns them of the dangers of continuing their journey across thinning ice. The American team is heedless and is bent on continuing. A starved and exhausted Buck senses the danger ahead and refuses to move. Hal whips him, but Thornton intervenes, freeing Buck. Thornton’s warning proves true as the ice collapses under the weight of the Americans’ sled, and they drown.
A subtle but powerful critique of human society runs throughout the novel. While nature is often brutal and indifferent, London shows that much of the dogs’ suffering is driven by human greed, particularly the frantic search for gold in the Klondike. The gold rush, a wholly human affair, sets the stage for the callous treatment and exploitation of dogs.
This point in the story marks Buck’s fortunes changing and the story’s turning point. With Thornton, Buck finds a kind and loyal master, forming a deep bond of love and trust. Buck even saves Thornton’s life when he falls into a river and later wins a bet by pulling a half-ton load on a sled 100 yards, earning Thornton $1,600. With this money, Thornton and his partners embarked on a journey to find gold in the wilderness, bringing Buck along.
Buck’s instincts continue to draw him toward the wild during this time. He befriends a wolf and is tempted to join its pack, but his loyalty to Thornton keeps pulling him back. The novel’s central theme of nature versus nurture is at its height here as Buck teeters between his deep love for his master and the undeniable pull of his ancestral instincts.
The novel’s climax occurs when Buck returns to camp one day to find Thornton and his companions murdered by a group of Yeehats, a Native American tribe. In a fit of rage and grief, Buck avenges his master by killing several of the men.
With Thornton dead, Buck is finally free of all ties to the human world. In the story’s falling action, he follows his wolf friend to join the new pack, but even here, he has to fight for his place in this new social group. He answers the call of the wild, joining the wolf pack and becoming the legendary “Ghost Dog,” known for his vengeance against the Yeehats.
“The Call of the Wild” is a thrilling adventure that deeply reflects the tension between civilization and the natural world. London’s ability to evoke the raw, primal forces within animals and humans makes this novel an ever-fresh classic.
The novel’s resolution sees Buck fully integrated into the wild, where he becomes a part of the legend circulating among the natives. His journey from domesticated pet to wild, untamed creature is a powerful exploration of the forces of nature and survival.
