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62 Call of the Wild Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best call of the wild topic ideas & essay examples, 📍 simple & easy call of the wild essay titles, 💡 most interesting call of the wild topics to write about, ❓ call of the wild essay questions.

• Jack London’s The Call of the Wild The purpose of the essay is to summarize the story of The Call of the Wild, describe its characters and themes, express the opinion regarding the background story behind key characters’ relationship, and get an […]
• White Fang: “The Call of the Wild and White Fang” by Jack London His loyalty is portrayed when he opts to stick to his masters in spite of the misery he underwent on their account.
• Virtue and the Destructive Drive in “The Call of the Wild”
• “The Call of the Wild” Analysis and Connection to Western Frontier Charachteristics
• Human Morality in Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild”
• The Biting of the Snow- Buck’s Evolution Through “The Call of the Wild”
• Comparison of “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London and “Black Like Me” by John Howard Griffin
• The Vivid Image of Buck in “The Call of the Wild”
• The Mood and Tone of Death in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• Buck’s Development as a Sled Dog in Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild”
• The Journey of Buck in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• Animal Rights in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• Buck Is Allegorically Viewed as a Human in “The Call of the Wild”
• Primitivity and Instinctual Acceptance in Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild”
• The Impact of Differing Environments on Buck’s Character in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• An Analysis of Survival Instincts in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• The Two Different Sides of Buck’s Identity in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• An Analysis of the Symbolism in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• A Literary Analysis of the Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin and “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• The Aspects of the Character Progression in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• The Bond Between Humans and Dogs in Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild”
• How “The Call of the Wild” Is Actually a Testimony of Charles Darwin
• Critical Theories of Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild” and “White Fang”
• Trancendentalism in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• Characterization of Buck in Jack London’s Epic Tale “The Call of the Wild”
• The Love for Nature in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• The Effects of Group Influence in “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding and “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• Nature Versus Nurture in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• Struggle for Dominance and Mastery in Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild”
• Similarities and Differences of “The Call of the Wild” and “Of Mice and Men”
• Compare and Contrast: “The Call of the Wild” Book and Movie
• Excitement of the Gold Rush in “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• Why Does the Title “The Call of the Wild” Represent the Story’s Main Theme?
• What Type of Masters Are Francois and Perrault in “The Call of the Wild”?
• What Role Does Atavism Play in Buck’s Development as a Wild Animal in “The Call of the Wild”?
• To What Extent Does London Anthropomorphize Buck—That Is Present Him Like a Human Being in “The Call of the Wild”?
• Why Is the Novel “The Call of the Wild” a Good Example of Naturalistic Writing?
• Who Is the Better Master in “The Call of the Wild”?
• How Does the Call of the Wild Affect Buck’s Behavior Throughout the Novel?
• Why Is the Title “The Call of the Wild” So Significant?
• How Was London Able to Use Anthropomorphism to Express His Ideas About Human as Well as Canine Nature in “The Call of the Wild”?
• How Does Buck Feel About the Man in the Red Sweater in “The Call of the Wild”?
• Is London Necessarily Suggesting That Women Had No Place in the Klondike in “The Call of the Wild”?
• At the End of “The Call of the Wild”, Do You Believe That Every Dog Would Be Happier Living Free in the Wild?
• Why Does Buck Dream of Ancient Man in “The Call of the Wild”?
• What Is the Role of Work in “The Call of the Wild”?
• How Does the Personality of Buck Change With the Setting of “The Call of the Wild”?
• What Is Meant by Naming Certain Chapters “The Toil of Trace and Trail,” “Into the Primitive,” and “The Dominant Primordial Beast” in “The Call of the Wild”?
• When the Dogs Are in John Thornton’s Camp, Why Do the Dogs Besides Buck Give in to Hal’s Whipping and Pull the Sled in “The Call of the Wild”?
• Why Does Dave Beg to Remain at the Traces, Even Though It Will Kill Him in “The Call of the Wild”?
• What Does London Mean by the Title “The Call of the Wild”?
• How Is Buck Affected by the Various Masters That He Has in “The Call of the Wild”?
• Why Do You Think London Chose to Have John Thornton Massacred in “The Call of the Wild”?
• What Did Buck Learn From His Experience in the Northland in “The Call of the Wild”?
• How Did Buck Get From California to the Point When He Was Joining the First Dog Team in “The Call of the Wild”?
• What Kind of Dog Is Buck When We First Meet Him in “The Call of the Wild”?
• Why Does Buck Feel That It’s Necessary to Steal and Fight in “The Call of the Wild,” Even Though He Doesn’t Want To?
• How Did You Feel About Buck Becoming Wild in “The Call of the Wild”?
• What Do Mercedes’ Possessions Symbolize in the Difference Between Civilization and the Wilderness in “The Call of the Wild”?
• What Changes in Buck When He Realizes That Johnthornton Is Dead in “The Call of the Wild”?
• What Does It Mean to Be Civilized in “The Call of the Wild”?
• What Acts Were Buck Forced to Do While He Was Living as a Sled Dog That He Thought He Would Never Have to Do in “The Call of the Wild”?
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• The Call of the Wild: Novel Summary
• The Call of the Wild: Novel Summary: Chapter 1
• The Call of the Wild: Novel Summary: Chapter 2
• The Call of the Wild: Novel Summary: Chapter 3
• The Call of the Wild: Novel Summary: Chapter 4
• The Call of the Wild: Novel Summary: Chapter 5
• The Call of the Wild: Novel Summary: Chapter 6
• The Call of the Wild: Novel Summary: Chapter 7
• The Call of the Wild: Character Profiles
• The Call of the Wild: Metaphor Analysis
• The Call of the Wild: Theme Analysis
• The Call of the Wild: Top Ten Quotes

The Call of the Wild: Essay Q&A

Essay Q&A

1. How is Buck different at the end of the novel than he was at the beginning? The short answer is that at the end of the novel Buck is a wild animal, whereas at the beginning he was a tame pet. But as a pet, Buck had considerable status on Judge Miller's ranch. He occupied a privileged position. The ranch was almost like a paradise for him, and he had the run of the entire estate. He was born there and he ruled over the other dogs. He is described as an aristocrat and compared to a country gentleman, so comfortable was his life. Even more than that, he was a "king over all creeping, crawling, flying things of Judge Miller's place, humans included" (chapter 1). At the end of the novel, Buck is also a king of sorts. He runs at the head of the pack, and he has achieved a mythic status amongst the Indians. But the difference is that he has now earned his status. Before, at Judge Miller's ranch, he was born to the life he lived. It was an inherited position; he did not have to do anything to win it or to preserve it. But after he was tossed headlong into the harsh world of the north, where the "law of club and fang" prevailed, he had to fight to establish himself. First he had to learn how to survive, and then how to establish mastery. His battle with Spitz was a major turning point, since it established his right to be the lead-dog. Then, as the call of the wild grew stronger in him, he had to learn how to survive as a wild animal, hunting for his food and using all his strength and cunning. Finally, he had to make contact with the wolf pack and establish mastery over them, which he first did by killing one of the wolves, injuring others and then fighting off the entire pack until they acknowledged his status. By the end of the novel, Buck is a king, just as he was in his former life in California, but this time he has earned his crown. He is a king not by privilege but by right. 2. What is atavism, and why is the term relevant for the novel? Atavism is defined in Webster's dictionary as "resemblance to a remote ancestor in some characteristic which nearer ancestors to not have." It also means to revert to a primitive type. Atavism is the key to Buck's transformation from pet to leader of the wolf pack. Some of the things Buck learns when he goes north are by observation and experience, such as when he realizes he has to submit to the man with the red sweater because he is no match for a man with a club. Likewise, he learns some survival strategies by observation, such as when he discovers that Billee has dug a hole in the snow for warmth. But the more primitive, savage qualities Buck displays result from atavism. He could not learn all that he does if he did not have the qualities of his wild ancestors latent within him. These qualities are gradually called awake by circumstances and environment. This is such a key point that London emphasizes it again and again. Buck is able to tap into the collective memory and instincts of his ancestral breed. He does not have to learn everything for himself. He just activates the knowledge that is deep inside him. He first experiences this in chapter 3, when he runs at the head of the dog-pack that hunts the rabbit: "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." In the deadly battle with Spitz, that comes shortly after, Buck finds himself on familiar ground. He does not have to learn how to fight. In the moments before the battle begins, to Buck "it is nothing new or strange, this scene of old time. It was as though it had always been, the wonted way of things." Again, in chapter 6, as Buck sits by John Thornton, he is connected to the past that stretches back far beyond his own individual life: "He was older than the days he had seen and the breaths he had drawn. He linked the past with the present, and the eternity behind him throbbed through him in a mighty rhythm to which he swayed as the tides and seasons swayed." Since the novel is also a human allegory, this suggests that for humans also, civilization is a veneer that hides the latent primitive qualities that may emerge when circumstances demand it. 3. Discuss the role played by Charles, Hal and Mercedes. Charles, Hal and Mercedes are Americans who have recently traveled north in search of gold. They appear only in chapter 5, when they buy Buck and his mates at Skagway. The trio are introduced as a contrast to Buck's previous owners, Perrault and Francois, who were rugged, practical, hardened but fair men. In contrast, Charles, Hal and Mercedes are examples of people from the so-called civilized world who fail to adapt to the harsh realities of the north. When they try to get their trip underway, it turns out that they do not know what they are doing. Hal may have opinions about art and drama, but these do not help anyone when what is needed are a few sticks to make a fire. When the trio stupidly overload the sled because they want to take all the creature comforts they have been used to, the dogs are unable to move it. Hal does not understand the situation and thinks the dogs are lazy. He tries to whip them into action. Then the out-of-their-depth southerners make a crucial mistake by simply adding more dogs to pull, failing to realize that one sled cannot carry enough food for fourteen dogs. They have all their calculations neatly worked out on pencil and paper, but they lack the necessary experience to make it work in practice. When they make a complete mess of things, and the dogs starve, they are so busy quarreling amongst themselves and complaining about their own misery, that they are callous to the sufferings of the dogs. London's story is historically accurate in this respect. During the gold rush of 1897, there was great cruelty to animals, both dogs and horses. A passage from a book by Arthur Treadwell Walden, who joined the gold rush in that year, can be applied to the characters Hal, Charles and Mercedes: "The cruelty to animals was something terrible, and strange to say it was not practiced on by the so-called rougher element who knew something about handling animals. The worst men were those who in former life were supposed to be of the better class. These men lost their heads completely." (A Dog-Puncher on the Yukon, 1928, excerpted in Understanding The Call of the Wild: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents, edited by Claudia Durst Johnson, Greenwood Press, 2000, p. 204.) In including these three pitiful characters in the story, London suggests that in some respects the civilized world, which appears to breed vanity and stupidity, is less to be respected than the primitive world. The fact that Mercedes is simply a nuisance throughout, behaving childishly when she is told she cannot take all her belongings with her, may be London's way of saying that women were not suited to travel in these regions, under these harsh conditions. The dire end that Charles, Hal and Mercedes meet is a warning to others that the north is no place for the unprepared. 4. How does the novel deal with the theme of slavery and freedom? The novel suggests that the values of Western civilization ensure that men are enslaved either by their own materialism, or because of their exploitation by others. It also suggests that freedom can be found by reverting to nature, in contrast to civilization. In the beginning, the assistant gardener Manuel betrays Buck because he needs money to support his gambling habit. He is enslaved to the love of, and the need for, money. This in a sense can be seen as the primal "sin" that thrusts Buck out of his paradise on Judge Miller's ranch. And it is the lust for money that sends hordes of men to the Klondike seeking gold. In the very first paragraph of the novel, London suggests the absurdity of this quest for wealth which arose simply "because men had found a yellow metal." As a result of the materialism of men, Buck spends much of his life in slavery. Although he develops as much independence as he can, his welfare depends entirely on the whims of his human masters. The symbols of his slavery are the harness and the traces that bind him to the sled. He can never be his own master as long as such conditions endure. A significant moment comes at the end of chapter 5, when Buck first encounters John Thornton. After Thornton beats Hal in a fight, he takes his knife and "with two strokes cut Buck's traces." (The traces are the straps that connect the harness to the sled.) This symbolizes Buck's transition to a new state of freedom. He stays with Thornton out of love, even though he is free to go. They are more like friends and equals than master and slave. Eventually, when Buck finally departs for the wild, it is an act of freedom on his part. When Thornton is dead, there is nothing to hold Buck back. He is free to act entirely according to his own nature. London was a socialist who opposed private ownership of land and property. Perhaps part of his intention in writing the novel was to demonstrate that materialism, the desire for wealth, is incompatible with freedom. Western civilization, in this view, depends on one group, the strong, exploiting another group, the weak. Buck is only free when he steps back from civilization and becomes part of nature, in a community of wolves that moves together as a pack. 5. What did psychologist Carl Jung mean by the terms "persona," "shadow," and "self," and why are they relevant for The Call of the Wild? In Jungian psychology, the persona is the face that people present to the world, the socially acceptable aspect of the personality. The term literally means "mask," which suggests that something quite different may lie behind it. This is the shadow, which is the more primitive, instinctual side of the psyche. Jung described it as "the uncivilized desires and emotions that are incompatible with social standards or our ideal personality, all that we are ashamed of, all that we do not want to know about ourselves" (Frieda Fordham, An Introduction to Jung's Psychology, Penguin, 1970, p. 50). The self is the sum of all the qualities of the psyche, working together in an integrated fashion. It can be thought of as psychic wholeness. The Call of the Wild can be understood in these Jungian terms, if we remember that although Buck is a dog he has human qualities and can be allegorically understood as a human. At first, Buck is not psychically whole. He is not aware of it, but he is living out only the persona side of his psyche. He is a "good dog" who behaves in a way that a pet is supposed to behave. He fulfills the social role that is allotted to him. But when he is kidnapped, he enters a new realm of the psyche, the shadow. He behaves in a more instinctual, primitive and brutal fashion. This should not be understood in a negative fashion. Buck is simply accessing another, deeper aspect of his being, which is also part of the collective unconscious of his breed. As a "civilized" dog, he was only half-alive. He needed to get in touch with the other side of his being and to integrate it with his conscious persona. Had he failed to do this, he would not have survived in a world in which the "law of club and fang" ruled. In the Arctic, Buck's persona is expressed through his social role as leader of the dog-team, but this is a role that demands also the expression of the shadow. Finally, when Buck breaks free of all restraints on him, he becomes the embodiment of the self, the fully integrated psyche. Perfectly in tune with all the impulses of his own nature, he is free to be absolutely himself and nothing else, and this is why he is held in awe by the Indians and is the undisputed leader of the wolf pack.

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The Call of the Wild

62 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Compare and contrast Buck and Spitz . How are they alike? How are they different? Through their character arcs, what message is London giving the reader about the characteristics necessary for surviving in the wilderness?

The Call of the Wild features many supporting dogs. Choose two of your favorites. Then, using direct quotes from the text, describe each dog’s unique characteristics. How does each supporting dog’s character arc contribute to London’s themes on survival?

Perrault and François push Buck and the other dogs hard, as do Hal and Charles. Why were Perrault and François successful, whereas Hal and Charles failed? Use direct quotes in your paper.

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Common Reads: Freshman Year Reading

The Call of the Wild - Study Guide

You don't have to love dogs to appreciate that Jack London 's The Call of the Wild (1903) is one of the best American novels. Why? We hope our study guide is particularly helpful for teachers and students to better understand the nuances of the story and its significance in American Literature.

Read the novel: The Call of the Wild , Character Analysis & Summary , Genre & Themes , Symbolism , Historical Context , Quotes , Discussion Questions , Paired Readings , Useful Links , and Notes/Teacher Comments

Character Analysis & Summary

Buck - The 140 pound Saint Bernard and Scotch Shepherd mix dog, who is the narrator of the story.

Judge Miller - Buck's first owner who raised him in a big house in the "sun-kissed" Santa Clara Valley, before Buck was abducted to the Yukon Territory to become a sled dog.

John Thornton - The first kind-hearted owner Buck has ever had in the Yukon, leading his team of sled dogs, which he treats humanely, compared to other men.

Perrault, Francois, Curly - French Canadian miners assembling their dog teams to find gold. Buck didn't like them, but respected them as a new kind of men. Perrault, in particular, knew dogs, recognizing Buck as "one in ten thousand."

Spitz - The dog who challenges Buck for the leadership position of the pack, losing a "fight to the death."

Yeehat Indians - The fictional tribe Jack London invented for the story, who are responsible for attacking Thornton's camp and murdering him (and his friends). Buck got his revenge by killing some, so they fear him as an evil spirit, a "Ghost Dog" they fear who dwells in the valley they will not enter.

Plot Summary

The story is told by a dog named Buck, a 140 pound Saint Bernard- Shepherd mix, who is abducted from his comfortable life as a pet to endure the cruel, chaotic, and harsh conditions as a working sled dog during the Klondike Gold Rush in the 1890s. Buck is mistreated by many owners before he ends up in the kindly hands of John Thornton, after enduring a severe beating for refusing to make an unsafe river crossing. Buck lets Thornton nurse him back to health. Thornton recognizes the dog's intelligence, strength, and assumed leadership of the pack as they endure many hardships in their quest to find gold. Their circumstances reduce their goal to mere survival, as both cannot ever fully recover from the cruelty of other men. Their enduring friendship becomes the defining featuring of their survival. Yeehat Indians attack Thornton's camp, killing Thornton, Hans, Pete and the dogs Skeet and Nig. Buck attacks the chief and rips his throat, the others try to shoot Buck, but hit their friends instead. Buck is regarded as an Evil Spirit, the Ghost Dog who kills hunters and warriors in the valley they refuse to enter. Buck provided his instinct and hardened heart; he is now truly wild. But he'll never forget the enduring love from one man, proven better than one in ten thousand.

Genre & Themes

London's story is in the genre of adventure fiction, though with a realistic historical setting; sub-genre is survival.

Primary Themes

Man/Dog vs. nature Man vs. man Man vs. dog Dog vs. dog

The law of club and fang

Secondary Themes

Authority hierarchies ( dominant primordial beast )

Some scars never heal ( physical and emotional )

Instinct rules : kill what you eat, trust your reflexes, trust no one, you might survive

Comparative Themes

Discipline with compassion ( Thornton ) vs. violence ( other men ) Conform vs. fight Brains vs. brawn ( Buck has both ) Trust ( Buck lets Thornton heal him ) vs. distrust ( Buck endures a beating rather than make an unsafe river crossing )

Chapter Headings

1: Into the Primitive 2: The Law of Club and Fang 3: The Dominant Primordial Beast 4: Who Has Won to Mastership 5: The Toil of Trace and Trail 6: For the Love of a Man 7: The Sounding of the Call

London employs a number of symbols in the story that impart a number of lessons (for both man and beast):

The Club - the symbol of domination and submission under its rule. It represents man's undisputed total domination over the dogs, there's no ambiguity in its power.

The Fang - represents the dogs' social hierarchy of established dominance, and their forced cooperative working relationship as a team subject to man's domination. It also represents the dogs' instinct for survival, work, and focus-on-mission, and their utter contrast to domestic dogs as pets.

Red - The color represents blood, death, and the cruelty capable of all men. The "man in the red sweater" whom Buck never forgot, is the symbol of all things cruel and hateful about man.

Historical Context

Jack London's story is set during the Klondike Gold Rush, in which an estimated 100,000 prospectors came to the Yukon, Canada after gold was discovered by local miners and reported to Seattle, triggering a stampede of wanna-be prospectors between 1896 - 1899. Most went home poor, but had plenty of stories to tell. The trip required passage from Southeast Alaska over Chilkoot Pass to the Yukon River, descending to the Klondike. Between the hazards of elevation and extreme weather conditions, many did not surive or abandoned their quest. By 1889, folks lost interest and the goldfield were abandoned for the most part, though gold mining activity continued until 1903, the same year London published his most famous book.

It's worth mentioning that the Yeehat Indian tribe is fictionalized. No such North American tribe exists. London made it up, along with their legend of the "Ghost Dog."

Explain what the following quotes mean and how they relate to the story:

"Old longings nomadic leap, Chafing at custom's chain; Again from its brumal sleep Wakens the ferine strain." Chpt. 1 epigraph

"During the four years since his puppyhood he had lived the life of a sated aristocrat; he had a fine pride in himself, was even a trifle egotistical, as country gentlemen sometimes become because of their insular situation." Chpt. 1

"They were new dogs, utterly transformed by the harness...the toil of the traces seemed the supreme expression of their being, and all that they lived for and the only thing in which they took delight." Chpt. 2

"An oath from Perrault, the resounding impact of a club upon a bony frame, and a shrill yelp of pain, heralded the breaking forth of pandemonium. The camp was suddenly discovered to be alive with skulking furry forms--starving huskies, four or five score of them, who had scented the camp from some Indian village. They had crept in while Buck and Spitz were fighting, and when the two men sprang among them with stout clubs they showed their teeth and fought back." Chpt. 3

"The driver went about his work, and he called to Buck when he was ready to put him in his old place in front of Dave...Buck was in open revolt. He wanted, not to escape a clubbing, but to have the leadership. It was his by right. He had earned it, and he would not be content with less." Chpt. 4

"He remembered the man in the red sweater, the death of Curly, the great fight with Spitz and the good things he had eaten or would like to eat. He was not homesick. The Sunland was very dim and distant, and such memories had no power over him. Far more potent were the memories of his heredity that gave things he had never seen before a seeming familiarity; the instincts (which were but the memories of his ancestors become habits) which had lapsed in later days, and still later, in him, quickened and became alive again. " Chpt. 4

"There was no power of recuperation left, no reserve strength to call upon. It had been all used, the last least bit of it. Every muscle, every fiber, every cell, was tired, dead tired. And there was reason for it. In less than five months they had traveled twenty-five hundred miles, during the last eighteen hundred of which they had but five days' rest." Chpt. 5

"They were perambulating skeletons. There were seven all together, including him. In their very great misery they had become insensible to the bite of the lash or the bruise of the club...when the club or whip fell upon them, the spark fluttered feebly up, and they tottered to their feet and staggered on." Chpt. 5

"Those who were looking on heard what was neither bark nor yelp, but a something which is best described as a roar, and `they saw Buck's body rise up in the air as he left the floor for Burton's throat...Buck loosed his teeth from the flesh of the arm and drove in again for the throat. This time the man succeeded only in partly blocking, and his throat was torn open...[Buck's] reputation was made, and from that day his name spread through every camp in Alaska." Chpt. 6

"But especially he loved to run in the dim twilight of the summer midnights, listening to the subdued and sleepy murmurs of the forest, reading signs and sounds as a man may read a book, and seeking for the mysterious something that called -- called, waking or sleeping, at all times, for him to come.” Chpt. 7

"'Never was there such a dog,' said John Thornton one day, as the partners watched Buck marching out of camp." Chpt. 7

“His cunning was wolf cunning, and wild cunning; his intelligence, shepherd intelligence and St. Bernard intelligence; and all this, plus an experience gained in the fiercest of schools, made him as formidable a creature as any that roamed the wild.” Chpt. 7

"The Yeehats tell of a Ghost Dog that runs at the head of the pack. They are afraid of this Ghost Dog, for it has cunning greater than they, stealing from their camps in the fierce winters, robbing their traps, slaying their dogs, and defying their bravest hunters." Chpt. 7

Discussion Questions

1. Why does London have Buck narrate the story?

2. Discuss the story's survival theme, particularly the meaning of " the law of club and fang. "

3. Describe Buck's character and how he establishes his dominance of the pack. Compare his innate abilities ( his breed and instincts ) versus his learned behaviors ( he was a pet who learned how to be a dominant Yukon dog ).

5. Provide textual evidence how London reveals the strong emotional connection between John Thornton and Buck, and how both been forever damaged by the cruelty of other men.

6. Describe Thornton's relationship with all the dogs, compared to Buck in particular.

7. Contrast specific behaviors of working sled dogs in this story ( how they eat, fight, work together, relate to humans ) versus domestic house dogs.

8. Identify and discuss the use of symbols in the novel ( start with the club, fang, red, food ).

9. Is this story considered " historical fiction "-- a realistic portrayal of the Yukon and the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s? Can you find any inaccuracies? Here's an Overview of the Klondike Gold Rush

10. Explain the legend of the "Ghost Dog."

11. Explain the idiom, "It's a dog-eat-dog world" as it relates to this story.

12. Read about Jack London 's life, including his year in the Yukon where he "found himself." How does his own story influence this one?

Movie time ! Watch the 1935 movie, ( yes, this is the old one in black & white ), The Call of the Wild (1935) , starring Clark Gable and Loretta Young, shot on Mt. Baker, Washington, where the cast endured real cruel winter conditions. Complete two columns contrasting book vs. movie adaptation ( really, a female love interest? )

Creative writing prompt : Write a story of your own using anthropomorphism narrating your pet's story. What stories would he/she tell about living with you?

Paired Reading Suggestions

Compare another story's plot, setting, symbols, writing style, and relationships with The Call of the Wild :

White Fang , considered its sequel. Which novel do you like better and why?

The Luck of Roaring Camp , Bret Harte 's short story about an unexpected baby's arrival to a mining camp.

A Dark Brown Dog , Stephen Crane 's short story anthroporphizing an alienated dog, set in the Jim Crow South during Reconstruction. What does the dog symbolize?

Holding Her Down , about hobos riding the Canadian Pacific rail lines.

To Build a Fire is our all-time favorite Jack London story about a man who slowly freezes to death, his dog knows better.

Read London's lesser-known story about an aging boxer: A Piece of Steak , compare both stories' themes of survival and the high stakes of a potential life-or-death fight.

Compare Lord Byron 's tribute poem to his beloved dog, Boatswain, Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog

The Star Rover is a brutal story about a professor serving a life sentence for murder at San Quentin, San Francisco Bay.

Not known for his poetry, Daybreak is a touching departure from London's survival genre, about unrequitted love (requiring a different type of survival skills).

You choose : Select another author's survival story you like. Can the protagonist die and still fit this genre?

Useful Links

Biography and Works by Jack London

The Call of the Wild lesson plans & capstone project ideas

Anthropomorphism in The Call of the Wild

The Call of the Wild summary & background

History of the Klondike Gold Rush, 1896 - 1899

Sled Dogs: An Alaskan Epic

Indian Tribes of North America by region

20 Great American Short Stories

Short Stories for High School

Short Stories for Middle School

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The Call of the Wild

Jack london.

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Jack London's The Call of the Wild . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Call of the Wild: Introduction

The call of the wild: plot summary, the call of the wild: detailed summary & analysis, the call of the wild: themes, the call of the wild: quotes, the call of the wild: characters, the call of the wild: symbols, the call of the wild: literary devices, the call of the wild: theme wheel, brief biography of jack london.

Historical Context of The Call of the Wild

Other books related to the call of the wild.

• Full Title: The Call of the Wild
• When Written: 1903
• Where Written: California
• When Published: 1903
• Literary Period: Naturalism
• Genre: Adventure novel
• Setting: The late 1890s in Santa Clara, CA, briefly; then Alaska and the Canadian Klondike during the gold rush.
• Climax: Buck killing the Yeehats to avenge John Thornton's murder.
• Point of View: Third-person limited narrator, who narrates from Buck's perspective

Extra Credit for The Call of the Wild

A Darwinist designer. London was an avid Darwinist. In 1905 he purchased a ranch in Glen Ellen, California to develop farming techniques based on Darwin's theories.

A dog lover. London fought for custody of his husky, Brown Wolf, from his first wife, Bessie Maddern.

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The Call of the Wild Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

Essay Topic 1

Buck and Spitz were both very dynamic leaders in this book with strong followings. What are the differences in the two styles of leadership, and how do these differences affect their characters, their followers, and their role in the plot?

Essay Topic 2

Buck endures many different trials before the end of the book. What are some of these trials and what lessons does he learn through these experiences?

Essay Topic 3

Security and safety were two themes that were touched on a number of times throughout the course of this book. What are some of these instances, and how does this affect the characters in these scenes?

Essay Topic 4

Dave was a minor character whose presence made a big difference in the plot. How does he accomplish this? What are some ways that his presence, however brief, altered the outcome of the plot? What would have happened...

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Call of the Wild

By jack london, call of the wild study guide.

Jack London spent a single winter in the Canadian North during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898. When he returned, he claimed to have come upon a mythic wolf which inspired the character of Buck in The Call of the Wild . Whether or not London was speaking of a true encounter, his experiences with the Gold Rush provided the inspiration for a tale of resilience and exploration. Much of the story takes place in Alaska, traveling between Dawson and Skagway. The discovery of gold prompted a mass exodus to the Klondike, where gold was hypothetically free for the taking. The town of Dawson became the heart of the Gold Rush; for in 1886, Captain Moore, a citizen of Canada who had been prospecting for gold in the Canadian northwest, discovered a trail he called the "White Pass." This trail allowed for the transportation of supplies, correspondence, and men into the Alaskan interior, and it lead directly to Dawson.

In reality, the journey to the Klondike was a dangerous and expensive undertaking. Canadian law stated that gold-seekers could only enter the territory if they entered with a year's worth of provisions. This law was rigidly enforced by police patrols. Meanwhile, the journey to the Klondike by ship was so dangerous that many threw supplies overboard to lighten the load. Once the ships had landed, the journey grew no easier. Numerous memoirs and diaries remain from the men and women who toiled over the icy trail in that year. Their accounts of the journey between Skaguay and Dawson are the best source of what life was like on an expedition. Writings speak of rugged canyons, boldly ascending mountains, and projecting cliffs. London borrowed money from his sister to make the trip. On the one hand he was spurred on by poverty, for America was in the throes of the Great Depression. On the other hand, he sought adventure and inspiration. While London did not strike it rich in the Klondike, he found the inspiration he was seeking, and that impetus would lead to tremendous success and certain amount of fortune.

London would have had abundant experience with the sled-dogs that were the most popular choice for transporting people and supplies into the Klondike. The most common breeds were the huskies (and their cross-breeds from the river country), stocky and gray with short, erect ears and thick coat, intelligent and majestic, and the malamute, an Alaska Indian dog crossed with the wolf and resembling the wolf in shape and size. They were mostly brownish-gray, friendly and easily led. In the Gold Rush Arctic, the dog was of paramount importance. Men could not cover the great distances involved, much less carry their food and equipment, on foot. As yet there were no machines, not even railroads. Horses were bogged down by the snow and could not survive on fish, the most readily available food. London also would have known that many large dogs like Buck were stolen from the pacific northwest and sold as sled-dogs.

London was clearly influenced by several important philosophers and scientists during the writing of The Call of the Wild . Darwin's theory of Evolution, Herbert Spencer's ideas about the "survival of the fittest," and Nietzsche's "superman" theory play important roles in plot and characterization. The presence of these overarching ideas lends credence to those who argue that The Call of the Wild should be read as an allegory for human experience. London sold the Call of the Wild in 1903 for a flat fee of two thousand dollars. He received no royalties from the millions of copies that sold in America and overseas. But, the popularity of The Call of the Wild played an important role in London's continued success.

Call of the Wild Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Call of the Wild is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

why did mercedes agree to lighten their load before leaving for dawson?

The dogs simply could not pull her unnecessary luggage and the sled kept tipping over.

Buck fears the man in the red sweater mainly because of..?

Buck fears his club.

London calls Buck "a live hurricane of fury"; what figures of speech does he use here?

The above phrase is an example of metaphor.

Study Guide for Call of the Wild

Call of the Wild study guide contains a biography of Jack London, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Call of the Wild
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Essays for Call of the Wild

Call of the Wild literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Call of the Wild.

• The Biting of the Snow- Buck's Evolution Through Call of the Wild
• Fatherly Influence in Into the Wild

Lesson Plan for Call of the Wild

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E-Text of Call of the Wild

Call of the Wild E-Text contains the full text of Call of the Wild

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"Call of the Wild": Literary Analysis of Themes and Character Development

Table of contents, primal instincts and survival, civilization versus wilderness, buck's transformation and growth, conclusion: nature's unyielding influence.

• London, J. (1903). The Call of the Wild. Macmillan.
• Lundin, A. (1990). Jack London: A Writer's Fight for a Better America. University of Illinois Press.
• Stasz, C. (2009). Jack London A Life. Macmillan.
• Lehan, R. (1999). The City in Which I Love You: American Literature and the Idea of Home. NYU Press.
• Michaels, W. B. (2004). Unbecoming. Duke University Press.

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The Call of the Wild

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The Call of the Wild , novel by Jack London , published serially by The Saturday Evening Post in 1903 and then as a single-volume book by Macmillan & Co. the same year. It is often considered to be his masterpiece and is the most widely read of all his publications.

The story follows Buck—a mix of St. Bernard and Scotch collie —throughout his journey as a sled dog . Buck’s story begins at the house of Judge Miller in Santa Clara , California . Here, Buck is a beloved domesticated pet, living comfortably. However, after gold is discovered in the Yukon territory of Canada, Buck is stolen by one of Miller’s gardeners as the demand for sled dogs increases. The gardener sells Buck to dog traders and makes a profit, and Buck is soon shipped north, abused and beaten as he goes. Along with a sweet, unassuming dog named Curly, Buck is sold to two government couriers , François and Perrault, who put him to work as a sled dog. Buck is soon overwhelmed by his surroundings, particularly when he sees a group of huskies attack and kill Curly. As Buck is forced to adapt to the wild, his primitive instincts begin to surface. It is during this time that he makes an enemy of the lead sled dog, Spitz. The two fight a number of times, and Buck consistently undermines him in the hopes of diminishing his authority. After a final, decisive battle, Buck kills Spitz and appoints himself as the new lead dog—something he convinces his owners to go along with through his sheer stubbornness. With Buck as lead dog, the team begins making trips in record time. The team, along with Buck, is eventually sold to a mail carrier who forces the dogs to carry arduously heavy loads. This work results in the death of one of the dogs.

The team is sold again, this time to American gold hunters named Hal, Charles, and Mercedes. The three are wildly inexperienced: they overload the sled, and they beat the dogs unnecessarily. Halfway through a long journey, they begin to run out of food, causing more than half of the dogs to die of starvation. Along their journey, and still with a long way to go, they happen upon the camp of a man named John Thornton. Thornton warns them that the ice they are about to cross is thinning and that it is not safe to cross. The Americans disregard him and attempt to leave. The other dogs obey, but Buck refuses to move onto the ice. Hal beats him viciously until Thornton steps in and cuts Buck free. The Americans continue without Buck, only to fall through the thinning ice and perish alongside the remainder of their dogs.

Buck becomes devoted to Thornton, and he even saves Thornton from drowning. One day, Thornton brags that Buck can pull a thousand-pound load and bets more than a thousand dollars on him. After some struggle, Buck is able to do so, and his master uses the money to search for a hidden mine deep in the Canadian wilderness . Buck’s love for Thornton becomes challenged by his growing desire for the wild. He begins to disappear into the forest for longer intervals of time, but he always returns to Thornton. During these excursions, Buck hunts bears and moose and even befriends a wolf. One day Buck returns to find Thornton and his crew killed by Native Americans the novel calls Yeehats. Angry beyond comprehension, Buck attacks and kills several Yeehats and scatters the rest. Buck then ventures into the forest and becomes the leader of a wolf pack. He becomes known by the Yeehats as Ghost Dog; because of his swiftness, his shadow is all they can glimpse. Despite being fully wild now, Buck still returns to the place of Thornton’s death each year to mourn the loss of his best friend.

The Call of the Wild is set in the midst of the Klondike gold rush of the 1890s. During this time, more than 30,000 people traveled to the area near the convergence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers in Yukon territory, just east of what is today Alaska. As described in the novel, many of these people used sled dog teams to traverse the rough cold terrain. The setting created by London in The Call of the Wild is somewhat reminiscent of the American West—idyllic unmapped territory that holds rich secrets waiting to be discovered by those brave enough to travel into the unknown. Opportunity teems in the Klondike region with the promise of gold, yet, as in the American West, with this opportunity comes risk and the threat of harm.

London’s depiction of Buck’s struggle in this setting shows the influence of, and is identifiable with themes within, various strains of naturalism , individualism , and social Darwinism . Buck begins as a pampered pet dog who is then forced to adapt to survive in the wilderness of Canada. He becomes more and more individualistic as he adapts: at first he submits to “the law of club and fang,” doing all he can to avoid beatings and fights, but, as time progresses, he becomes more self-concerned. He fights Spitz willingly numerous times, an individualistic act as well as a manifestation of the “survival of the fittest” concept important to social Darwinism. Buck’s final transition into a full strong individual who has triumphed over others is the moment he realizes John Thornton is dead, which removes any remaining tethers to the civilized world. After this Buck encounters a pack of wolves that he will come to lead; his strong individualism gives him the power of leadership.

When it was published in 1903, The Call of the Wild was an immediate success. The single-volume version of the novel also included illustrations, which enhanced its descriptions of Canada’s natural beauty. Though it has been and is still, at times, classified as a children’s book, its themes and overarching narrative are suited for mature readers. The novel was banned in 1929 in Italy and Yugoslavia, supposedly because of London’s openly socialist views. In 1933 it was burned by the Nazi Party for similar reasons. The 1935 film The Call of the Wild , directed by William Wellman and starring Clark Gable , focuses solely on John Thornton and Buck, while a 1972 film of the same name, starring Charlton Heston , stays truer to the plot of the novel.