Frequently Asked Questions About The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Name: The Call of the Wild
Author: Jack London

Question 1

What is The Call of the Wild about?

Accepted Answer

The Call of the Wild is a 1903 novel by Jack London about a large domesticated dog named Buck who is stolen from his comfortable California home and sold into service as a sled dog during the Klondike Gold Rush. Over the course of the novel, Buck endures brutal hardship, forms a deep bond with a man named John Thornton, and gradually answers the pull of his wild instincts, eventually joining a wolf pack in the Yukon wilderness. London uses Buck's journey to explore themes of survival, instinct, and the thin line between civilization and nature.

Question 2

What happens to Buck at the end of The Call of the Wild?

Accepted Answer

At the end of The Call of the Wild, Buck returns from a long hunt to find his beloved master John Thornton has been killed by a band of Yeehat warriors. Buck attacks the Yeehats, killing several and driving the rest away, then abandons human civilization entirely. He joins a wolf pack in the wilderness and eventually becomes its leader. London closes the novel with an image of Buck running at the head of his pack, a legend among the local people who call him the "Ghost Dog" of the North. Each year he returns once to the site of Thornton's death.

Question 3

Who are the main characters in The Call of the Wild?

Accepted Answer

The protagonist of The Call of the Wild is Buck, a 140-pound Saint Bernard and Scotch Shepherd mix. His owners in the novel include Judge Miller (his original California owner), Francois and Perrault (experienced Canadian government mail carriers), and John Thornton, the kind-hearted prospector who rescues Buck from cruel overseers and becomes the one human Buck genuinely loves. Spitz is Buck's primary canine antagonist — the team's alpha whose rivalry with Buck builds to a decisive fight. Hal, Charles, and Mercedes are the incompetent stampeders who nearly work the team to death before Thornton intervenes.

Question 4

What are the main themes of The Call of the Wild?

Accepted Answer

The central themes of The Call of the Wild are the conflict between civilization and nature, survival of the fittest, and atavism — the reawakening of ancestral instincts that domestication has suppressed but not destroyed. Jack London was deeply influenced by Darwin and the naturalist movement, and the novel reflects the idea that beneath the surface of civilized life lie older, more fundamental drives. A related theme is the nature of loyalty and love: Buck's devotion to Thornton represents civilization's best offering, but even that is not enough to override the pull of the wild. The struggle for mastery — to be the lead dog, the top wolf — runs as a constant undercurrent.

Question 5

What does "the call of the wild" mean?

Accepted Answer

"The call of the wild" refers to the instinctive pull that Buck feels toward his ancestral, pre-domesticated self as the novel progresses. London depicts this call as something Buck literally hears — a howl at the edges of camp, voices from deep in the forest — that represents the life his wild forebears lived before dogs became companions to humans. As Buck's experiences in the Yukon strip away the habits of civilization, the call grows louder and more insistent until it becomes impossible to resist. London suggests this call is universal: that civilization is a veneer, and underneath all domesticated creatures — human and animal alike — ancient instincts wait to resurface.

Question 6

How does The Call of the Wild relate to White Fang?

Accepted Answer

The Call of the Wild and White Fang are companion novels that tell mirror-image stories. The Call of the Wild follows a domesticated dog moving toward the wild, while White Fang follows a wolf-dog moving from the wild toward civilization. Jack London published White Fang in 1906, three years after The Call of the Wild, and has said the later novel was written partly as a conscious complement. Together they form a complete picture of London's thinking about nature, instinct, and the relationship between wild animals and human society.

Question 7

Where can I read The Call of the Wild for free?

Accepted Answer

The Call of the Wild was published in 1903 and is in the public domain, so it is freely and legally available online. You can read the complete text here at American Literature: The Call of the Wild by Jack London. The novel is divided into seven chapters, from "Into the Primitive" through "The Sounding of the Call," and can be read in a few hours. For classroom use, our study guides collection offers additional resources for many classic texts.

The Call of the Wild

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