A Novel Review of The Call of the Wild
written by Jack London
In 1903, Macmillan had published the 231 page story titled “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London. London tells the remarkable story of Buck, Jude Miller’s rich and pampered St.Bernard-Sheepdog and his transformation from a domesticated dog to a “primordial beast.” It all started one afternoon in sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley, when what Buck thought was simply an afternoon stroll with Manuel, the gardener’s assistant, changed his life forever. Manuel sold Buck to a strange man to serve as a sled dog for the Klondike Gold Rush. After being put in a crate, starved for several days while being taunted by strange men, and traveling quite a distance, Buck meets “the  man in the red sweater.” The man releases Buck from the crate and upon his release, Buck makes his attack. Each time Buck jumps toward the man, he is stricken down by the man’s club. Here Buck learns that he is no longer in charge.
Buck watches dogs get unloaded from crates, taught the law of the club, and eventually leave with other strange men. Perrault and Francois, a pair of broken-english speaking French-Canadian men, who worked for the Canadian Government, become the dogs’ new masters. The two men bring the team of dogs to the great white north. Although Buck was born and raised in the comfort of the South, he quickly adapts to his surroundings. Buck learns that he must be as brutal as the other dogs if he wishes to survive in this new life and that he must now live in constant alertness. Through many brutal experiences, Buck earns the title of leader of his team. After becoming an amazing leader and “whipping” his team into shape through multiple and extremely productive runs, Buck is sold by Perrault and Francois to a Scotch Half-Breed man.
Buck quickly earns the title of pack leader of his new team and goes through the monotonous journey of a mail delivery dog. The dogs were worked extremely hard and eventually became weak, however, the men took great care of them and ensured all of the dogs were okay before calling it a night. When Buck had finished completing the long and gruesome duties with the mail delivery service, he was sold to two men named Hal and Charles.
Buck despises the new people due to their incompetence to correctly manage the team. The dogs are overworked, starved, beaten, and some are killed during the entire time spent with them. The team stops at John Thornton’s where Hal boasts about proving those who gave advice to them wrong, when they were actually right considering the amount of dogs that died. John Thornton agrees with what others have said and advises them not to continue their journey, but Hal refuses to listen and begins whipping the dogs to get them to start moving. Each of the dogs except Buck managed to get up. After watching Buck get stricken several times, John Thornton threatens Hal and cuts Buck free. Thornton takes Buck into his care while the three continue on their journey. Thornton and Buck watch as the entire team disappears after the bottom of the trail drops out.
Thornton welcomes Buck into his home. While living under John’s care, Buck realizes what love is. The three main ways Buck has proves his love for John is by protecting him when he got punched, saving him from drowning in the the river, and pulling one thousand pounds for a hundred yards by himself so that John can pay his debt.
Thornton, Pete, Hans, and their team of dogs head out to the East in search of the Lost Mine. During their journey they had found gold and set up camp. One night while at the camp, Buck heard the mysterious call and found a wolf. Upon seeing Buck, the wolf fled and Buck chased after it. The wolf realized that Buck had no bad intentions and encouraged him to run alongside him. The two ran for quite a while until they stopped and Buck decided to return to John Thornton. Buck kept longing to see the wolf, so he went out into the forest, but instead of finding the wolf he had found a herd of moose. Buck instantly saw the bull as the ultimate prey and stalked and tormented it for four days until he claimed his victory through its death.
Buck decided to go back to John Thornton. Upon arrival at the camp, he had found his entire team had been killed, including John Thornton. He had heard voices and followed them until he found the Yeehats, the Indians that had killed his team. Buck was furious and attacked them, killing multiple men util they retreated into the forest.
When night came, Buck heard the call. He watched as the wolves came into the valley. He fought off many of them until he was greeted by the timber wolf which ran alongside him. He was then welcomed into the wolf pack. A legend is eventually told about a ghost dog that returns to the valley each year and howls a mournful howl, whom we can only assume is Buck returning to the site of John Thornton’s death to mourn for the loss of the one he loved.
The story is set mainly in the North during the time of the Klondike Rush. London provides clear descriptions of the areas in which Buck traveled and resided. Through these descriptions, the reader is able to imagine what Buck and his team’s journey was like.Being set during the time of the Klondike rush, the reader is able to understand the reason for Buck’s long journey through the great white north.The multiple settings and their descriptions in this story are most appropriate in making the reader comprehend the situations more easily and feel as if they were actually present throughout the entire story.
When it comes to characterization, Jack London did an outstanding job. Through his descriptions, the reader is able to clearly see each of the sled drivers with whom Buck resided and each of the sled dogs and the characteristics that made them stand out. Examples of these characteristics include Sol-leks missing an eye, the man’s red sweater, Francois and Perrault’s broken english, Mercedes’ constant whines and complaints and many more throughout the story. Through London’s descriptions of events, we are able to watch Buck and his team go through an immense change of personality resulting in a better understanding of each other.
The most important literary element in this story in my opinion is the plot. The sequence of events in this story was very well planned out. Each event allowed his inner “primordial beast” to grow or revealed a new lesson to him. Each time he was sold to new drivers he had new lessons to be learned and new dogs to overcome. The plot is an essential part of the story in showing Buck’s transformation.
There were many small conflicts in this story which include Buck fighting the man in the red sweater, his rivalry and fight with spitz, his struggle to hold on to his life while with Charles, Hal, and Mercedes, and many more. Buck, as the protagonist of the story, overcame each conflict in the story. The main conflict of the story was adapting to his new life and all of the challenges that came with it. At the end of the story, Buck had overcome the main conflict by fully adapting to the savageness of the northern lifestyle and becoming “wild” once again by living in the forest among the wild timber wolves.
The themes of this story, in my opinion, are the power of native instincts and the struggle to achieve mastery or leadership. Buck starts off at “the bottom of the food chain” and fights his way to the top and earns the title and  position of pack leader. Each challenge and harsh lesson learned brings out a hidden savageness that comes from his ancestors. This story teaches the reader that through patience and constant determination, they will be able to reach whatever it is they aim to accomplish. It also provides the lesson that when all “urbanized”  things or actions, examples in Buck’s case include the fire place and swimming pool that Judge Miller’s place, are taken away we still have lessons and traditions from our ancestors. London probably wanted the reader to understand that they can change as tie passes, but they must never forget where they originally came from.
Through Jack London’s writing style in this particular story, we are able to better understand each character that is introduced and each event that occurs. Through vivid descriptions, the reader can understand the mood to be serious throughout most of the story. There are times however, when Buck is mournful, proud, defensive, and observant. Each time a new character was introduced, London would pause from talking about the plot and mention a certain characteristic that the main character has observed. Other things such as the broken english that Perrault and Francois spoke gives a little life to the story so that it isn't too serious. In conclusion on this topic, I feel that London’s writing style shows his capability to bring life to a serious situation or story, and at the same time, teach valuable lessons to the readers.
“The Call of the Wild” is definitely an appropriate title for this story. As Buck endures the hardships that being a sled dog during the Klondike Gold Rush brings, he begins to revert back to a wild dog. At night, Buck sometimes hears a call coming from the forest and yearns to go out and respond to it, but he can’t bear leaving Thornton. When his team and his beloved John Thornton are killed, Buck is finally able to answer the call, resulting in him becoming wild just like those inhabitants of the forest.
There are quite a few literary devices used throughout this story, but the main one would be anthropomorphism. London gives Buck human characteristics so that we can see through his point of view and watch as he changes throughout the story. Toward the end of the story, Buck begins to have occasional flashbacks about his old life. This particular literary device helped to remind the reader how far Buck has come since then. Another literary device used toward the end of the story would be foreshadowing. Buck has heard the mysterious call coming from the forest more than once and he yearns for it, yet he refuses to respond. The call becomes more “persistent” and Buck begins to hear it more often. This foreshadows how Buck will eventually have to respond to the call and officially become “wild.”
On January 12, 1876, Jack London was Born. At the age of 9, London discovered a book titled Signa by Ouida. This event is said to be the start of his career. By the time he was 17, London decided that he wanted to attend college and study to become a writer. Hard work and intense studying got him accepted into the University of California, Berkeley. Some of Jack London’s most famous pieces of literature include To Build a Fire, The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea Wolf, and others. Many of London’s stories take place during the time of the Klondike Gold Rush, which is due to him participating in the gold rush with Captain Shepard, his sister’s husband. London died on November 22, 1916.
“…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…” -HL Mencken, the www.guardian.com Paragraph nine. I strongly agree with citation. London’s writing style and the elements used find a way to “involve” the reader in the story. While reading this story, his descriptions of each character and event made me feel as if I was witnessing everything that went on. London found ways to keep the story serious, yet bring so much life to it at the same time.
“The Call of the Wild achieved instant success and remains one of the most beloved American novels.” -Nathaniel Rich www.thedailybeast.com American Dreams: ‘The Call of the Wild’ by Jack London Paragraph twelve, sentence one. I definitely agree with this review. As a teen in the 21st century, classic American literature is the last thing on my mind. However, after reading this story, I can definitely say it instantly became one of my favorites. Not only has it become one of my favorites, but it also makes me want to start reading similar books.
This novel made me realize how important my heritage is and how my family and I have lost certain traditions throughout the years, but it is never too late to begin those traditions again. I also learned that through constant determination and hard work, anything is possible. I also learned that who we are now, may not be who we are a few years from now. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves an adventure with lots of action. Someone who wants a fresh start can also use this book as inspiration. Overall this story was truly an amazing piece of literature and I would recommend it to anyone who wants something a little “new” in their life.