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    The Call of the Wild
    The Call of the Wild
    The Call of the Wild
    Ebook128 pages2 hours

    The Call of the Wild

    By Jack London

    4/5

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    The Call of the Wild is a short adventure novel by Jack London published in 1903. The story is set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The central character is a domesticated dog named Buck.

    The story starts with him living at a ranch in the Santa Clara Valley of California. Stolen from his home and sold into service as sled dog in Alaska, he progressively reverts to a wild state. In the harsh climate, Buck is forced to fight in order to dominate other dogs, so that by the end, he sheds the veneer of civilization and relies on primordial instincts and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJack London
    Release dateSep 23, 2015
    ISBN9788893153324
    Author

    Jack London

    Jack London was born in San Francisco in 1876, and was a prolific and successful writer until his death in 1916. During his lifetime he wrote novels, short stories and essays, and is best known for ‘The Call of the Wild’ and ‘White Fang’.

    Read more from Jack London

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    Reviews for The Call of the Wild

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    • 4/5
      A terrific dog story, though hard to read at times because of all that Buck endures. I read it in the Library of America edition. Had never read it as a child as far as I recall; I note that some film versions are geared towards children and I can only assume (hope?) they have been bowdlerized; I wouldn't recommend this for children under 10 or 11 no matter their reading level.
    • 4/5
      Very enjoyable. I felt like Buck's dreaming of prehistoric man was unnecessary and I think it would have been better without that.
    • 4/5
      Another one of those books that seems to have gotten past me in my school days, I just recently read The Call of the Wild for the first time. Like many of these books that I'm discovering pretty much everyone else has read except me, I think I'm glad that I came at them as an adult, as I don't think I would have revisited them had I read them earlier, and I don't think I would have taken away as much when I was younger. Jack London's story about Buck, a St. Bernard-Scotch Shepherd who is kidnapped from his idyllic southern California home to be a sled dog in the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush is a powerful tale. We follow Buck's journey as he discovers that not all men are kind like his previous owners, learns to navigate the ins and outs of the sled dog's pack pecking order, and finally as he discovers the primal nature of his being as he eventually starts to venture out into the wilderness on his own. The imagery that London uses in describing Buck's discovery of that primal nature is remarkable; I think of anything else in the book, I enjoyed these sequences best.
    • 4/5
      It's great juvenile literature, however, adults could also enjoy it for its so many fine qualities. Dog lovers and nature lovers in general will share more than one state of mind with Buck and the general description of the wilderness. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Great book!
    • 3/5
      It's hard to believe, that with 82 years of reading all sorts of books, this the first American Classic from an American Classic author that I''ve read. I'll try more of the classics but this work is no where near the top of my list of books. Yes, it is quite an adventure for this dog and he certainly had very many experiences but I can't get to the level of classical literature.
    • 5/5
      One of those classics that's definitely no chore, and one assessable even when I read it as a child. I'm not about to forget Buck, a dog who hears the call of the wild. And as is the case with a friend who also loves this book, the sledge hauling contest is indelibly impressed into my mind. How many books can you say leave that kind of impression decades later? One of those stories that can make an animal protagonist come alive. (And the same can be said for London's other novel with a dog protagonist--White Fang).
    • 3/5
      This is one of those books that I might have read before and forgotten about it. This was a pretty good book, I think my favorite part was that I picked up a new vocabulary word because the author over used it... "virility."
    • 5/5
      Both of these tales (White Fang & Call of the Wild), one of a civilized dog who embraces the wild after he is stolen and one of a wild dog tamed by the love of a man...are both masterpieces that embrace the animal and flawed humanity in man and the the beasts that show us so and brave so much. Both are raw, emotional tales told in sparse, beautiful language that gnaw at you long after you put them down. First read at age 12, and enjoyed again as much at 41.
    • 3/5
      A great story of the struggle between tame and wild. A true classic that everyone should read. Great for the younger generations.
    • 4/5
      Stolen from his home and sold to dog sled outfitters, Buck hears his call and is forever changed…for his better. Makes one think about his personal callings and decisions.
    • 5/5
      I never read this as a youngster though it seemed to be "unofficially required" reading in elementary school. I always assumed it was man and his dog story, but it turned out to be civilized dog returns to wilderness story told from the dog's point of view. And it worked well. Very well written and engaging.
    • 4/5
      London is the master of adventure and Call never disappoints for when I need to escape for an afternoon through the eyes of Buck. I usually read it every few years.
    • 4/5
      A sad, wonderful tale.
    • 5/5
      I wan't sure I was going to like a book like this but ended up reading it in one day. I'm still amazed how he wrote this incredible yet credible story which felt pretty much from the dog's POV and yet, not. The omniscient. I learned quite a bit from this story about mushing, the dogs, Alaska, and the period. Society conveniently forgets that our dogs descended from wolves and even though Buck was violently deprived of his posh former life, his regression to the wild was spiritually liberating. It was a gruesome story and I hate suffering in animals but I still appreciated it for the brilliant writing and look forward to more of London's writing.
    • 5/5
      I rated this book a 9 out of 10. It is a great adventure story about a dog, and thus little or no dialogue takes place.
    • 4/5
      This book was a nice change of pace for me as I hadn't read a classic story in quite some time. I must say, I really enjoyed this short novel centered around the dog Buck. I think it is a very interesting idea to center a book around a dog, and London pulls it off beautifully. It takes us through the entire life of the dog, from his life on a farm to his days as a sled dog in Alaska. The transformation Buck makes from domesticated pet to primitive, instinctual animal is fascinating to read and think about. The descriptive language used by the author is outstanding. Overall, I can see why this is considered a classic and I look forward to reading more of him.
    • 5/5
      I listened to this audio and enjoyed the story very much. I can't believe I never read this before. I loved Jack London's intuitive feeling for animals. This story traces Buck's sudden entry into the wild and his education in survival among the wolves. Jack London's writing is exceptional and makes him one of the greatest American storytellers. If you haven't read this yet, you should as it is a quick, easy and thrilling read.
    • 4/5

      I was quite impressed by this book. I expected a simple, canine adventure story. I did get an adventure story, but the most interesting part was the inner journey. As you read it, keep in mind that Mr. London sets up Buck as a person. It's easy to identify with him, and more difficult to identify with most of the humans in the story. It's definitely food for thought.
    • 3/5
      Honestly, the best part about this book was that it was narrated by Jeff Bridges. I love animal books but I feel as if I really would have enjoyed this much more in my youth. The Call of the Wild tells the story of Buck, a mixed breed dog who is stolen from cozy home and his lush life as a house dog to be taken up north to be a sled dog during the Yukon Gold Rush. Buck quickly acclimates to the tough life and sets himself apart from the other dogs with his strength, smarts, and cunning. Told entirely through Buck's perspectives, this was one of the first popular books that had an animal as a narrator. To me the most interesting parts were about the wilderness, the scenery, and the people; it was a fascinating time during the late 1800s! Even though it is a little violent, this is a great kids book, especially for animal lovers!
    • 5/5
      Another childhood favorite.
    • 4/5
      One I haven't read, but plan to. It has several pastel colored illustrations.
    • 5/5
      Stolen from his family home in California, whipped and brutalized, the big dog Buck quickly learns the harsh law of survival among the men and dogs of the gold-crazed North. He goes to the Klondike during the 1897 gold rush, becomes a sled dog, and fights his way to become a feared leader, even killing his rival. When he finds the one man he can love and trust, they make a formidable team. But ultimately Buck's instincts draw him to join the wild wolves of the north.
    • 5/5
      My first book ever to read when I started Middle school. One of my favorite lit books. Its a great book because it plays on all the different level of the readers' feelings. Sometimes I felt angry, sad, and some chapter and plot made me happy, excited. Overall I recommend it for anyone who needs to get into reading this book will make you want to read more.
    • 5/5
      I had never read anything by Jack London before, and felt pretty guilty about that fact, so I picked up The Call of the Wild on audiobook and loved it. The prose was elegant in its simplicity, the pacing was quick and engaging, and I felt Buck wasn't made too human.

      Excellent read. I would recommend it to anyone.
    • 3/5
      Had a hard time with the violence of this book. I know it's a classic but it was not a rewarding read for me. I'm sure it was a shock when first published.
    • 5/5
      Jack London’s book was first published in 1903 and this complete and unabridged hardcover reproduction does justice to the story with an attractive cover and illustrations throughout. Buck is a pampered half German shepherd, half saint Bernard dog who is king of his world which entails looking after Judge Miller’s Californian raisin farm. He is kidnapped by a servant and sold to pay gambling debts. This is when his education really begins ‘Again and again, as he looked at each brutal performance, the lesson was driven home to Buck: a man with a club was a lawgiver, a master to be obeyed’ (London, 2002, p. 29). The book is set in the time of the Klondike gold rush and Buck must learn to survive in the Yukon where men will do anything, nothing too low, for gold. ‘He had been suddenly jerked from the heart of civilisation and flung into the heart of things primordial’ (London, 2002, p. 37). The savagery of these working dogs in this harsh country is explored in Bucks witnessing a dog’s horrific death. ‘Two minutes from the time Curly went down, the last of her assailants were clubbed off. But she lay there limp and lifeless in the bloody, trampled snow, almost literally torn to pieces’ (London, 2002, p. 39). This book is riveting, a work of art. Jack London has so honed his craft that he can transport one into the very heart and soul of his character. I was hardly able to put this book down, even though the pure savagery at times had me cringing and close to tears, empathising with Buck and feeling his pain. ‘He is at times savage but ultimately he possesses a dignity, a wisdom, and even a sort of moral code that is so often lacking in the human world’ (Kilpatrick, W., et al., 1994, p. 173). When Buck is drawn to the wolf pack and finds the community he desires, the sense of happiness is overwhelming. This book is a masterpiece and should be read by all.
    • 4/5
      A classic. London captures your imagination with an adventure story told through the eyes of a (involuntary) sled-dog. The progression from what equals slavery to eventual freedom provides a unique context. Bucks ability to adapt is interesting, making the best of his situation. His growth through the book can easily parallel anyone moving from their late teens to adulthood. I have issues with London as a person (primarily his bigotry towards the Chinese); however, I can't deny his lasting legacy in adventure writing. This story is timeless...
    • 5/5
      loved it. I had never read Jack London before.
    • 3/5
      My father gave this book to me as "one every man should read". I have to agree. There is something about the primal nature of this story, which follows the journey of a dog,that made me want to travel and become one with the earth. Although I enjoyed reading this novel, I would have liked to know more about the human characters rather than the dogs. Indeed the writing from the dog's perspective is great, but I usually find it easier to relate to humans.

    Book preview

    The Call of the Wild - Jack London

    The Book

    The Call of the Wild is a short adventure novel by Jack London published in 1903. The story is set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The central character is a domesticated dog named Buck.

    The story starts with him living at a ranch in the Santa Clara Valley of California. Stolen from his home and sold into service as sled dog in Alaska, he progressively reverts to a wild state. In the harsh climate, Buck is forced to fight in order to dominate other dogs, so that by the end, he sheds the veneer of civilization and relies on primordial instincts and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild.

    (source wikiperdia.org)

    The Author

    John Griffith Jack London (born John Griffith Chaney, January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916) was an American author, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone.

    Some of his most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories To Build a Fire, An Odyssey of the North, and Love of Life. He also wrote of the South Pacific in such stories as The Pearls of Parlay and The Heathen, and of the San Francisco Bay area in The Sea Wolf.

    London was part of the radical literary group, The Crowd, in San Francisco, and a passionate advocate of unionization, socialism, and the rights of workers. He wrote several powerful works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, and The War of the Classes.

    Jack London's mother, Flora Wellman, was the fifth and youngest child of Pennsylvania Canal builder Marshall Wellman and his first wife, Eleanor Garrett Jones. Marshall Wellman was descended from Thomas Wellman, an early Puritan settler in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Flora left Ohio and moved to the Pacific coast when her father remarried after her mother died. In San Francisco, Flora worked as a music teacher and spiritualist, claiming to channel the spirit of a Sauk chief Black Hawk.

    Biographer Clarice Stasz and others believe London's father was astrologer William Chaney. Flora Wellman was living with Chaney in San Francisco when she became pregnant. Whether Wellman and Chaney were legally married is unknown. Most San Francisco civil records were destroyed by the extensive fires that followed the 1906 earthquake; nobody knows what name appeared on her son's birth certificate. Stasz notes that in his memoirs, Chaney refers to London's mother Flora Wellman as having been his wife; he also cites an advertisement in which Flora called herself Florence Wellman Chaney.

    According to Flora Wellman's account, as recorded in the San Francisco Chronicle of June 4, 1875, Chaney demanded that she have an abortion. When she refused, he disclaimed responsibility for the child. In desperation, she shot herself. She was not seriously wounded, but she was temporarily deranged. After giving birth, Flora turned the baby over for care to Virginia Prentiss, an African-American woman and former slave. She was a major maternal figure throughout London's life. Late in 1876, Flora Wellman married John London, a partially disabled Civil War veteran, and brought her baby John, later known as Jack, to live with the newly married couple. The family moved around the San Francisco Bay Area before settling in Oakland, where London completed public grade school.

    In 1897, when he was 21 and a student at the University of California, Berkeley, London searched for and read the newspaper accounts of his mother's suicide attempt and the name of his biological father. He wrote to William Chaney, then living in Chicago. Chaney responded that he could not be London's father because he was impotent; he casually asserted that London's mother had relations with other men and averred that she had slandered him when she said he insisted on an abortion. Chaney concluded by saying that he was more to be pitied than London. London was devastated by his father's letter; in the months following, he quit school at Berkeley and went to the Klondike during the gold rush boom.

    London was born near Third and Brannan Streets in San Francisco. The house burned down in the fire after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; the California Historical Society placed a plaque at the site in 1953. Although the family was working class, it was not as impoverished as London's later accounts claimed. London was largely self-educated.

    In 1885, London found and read Ouida's long Victorian novel Signa. He credited this as the seed of his literary success. In 1886, he went to the Oakland Public Library and found a sympathetic librarian, Ina Coolbrith, who encouraged his learning. (She later became California's first poet laureate and an important figure in the San Francisco literary community).

    In 1889, London began working 12 to 18 hours a day at Hickmott's Cannery. Seeking a way out, he borrowed money from his foster mother Virginia Prentiss, bought the sloop Razzle-Dazzle from an oyster pirate named French Frank, and became an oyster pirate. In his memoir, John Barleycorn, he claims also to have stolen French Frank's mistress Mamie. After a few months, his sloop became damaged beyond repair. London hired on as a member of the California Fish Patrol.

    In 1893, he signed on to the sealing schooner Sophie Sutherland, bound for the coast of Japan. When he returned, the country was in the grip of the panic of '93 and Oakland was swept by labor unrest. After grueling jobs in a jute mill and a street-railway power plant, London joined Kelly's Army and began his career as a tramp. In 1894, he spent 30 days for vagrancy in the Erie County Penitentiary at Buffalo, New York. In The Road, he wrote:

    Man-handling was merely one of the very minor unprintable horrors of the Erie County Pen. I say 'unprintable'; and in justice I must also say undescribable. They were unthinkable to me until I saw them, and I was no spring chicken in the ways of the world and the awful abysses of human degradation. It would take a deep plummet to reach bottom in the Erie County Pen, and I do but skim lightly and facetiously the surface of things as I there saw them.

    After many experiences as a hobo and a sailor, he returned to Oakland and attended Oakland High School. He contributed a number of articles to the high school's magazine, The Aegis. His first published work was Typhoon off the Coast of Japan, an account of his sailing experiences.

    As a schoolboy, London often studied at Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon, a port-side bar in Oakland. At 17, he confessed to the bar's owner, John Heinold, his desire to attend university and pursue a career as a writer. Heinold lent London tuition money to attend college.

    London desperately wanted to attend the University of California, Berkeley. In 1896, after a summer of intense studying to pass certification exams, he was admitted. Financial circumstances forced him to leave in 1897 and he never graduated. No evidence suggests that London wrote for student publications while studying at Berkeley.

    While at Berkeley, London continued to study and spend time at Heinold's saloon, where he was introduced to the sailors and adventurers who would influence his writing. In his autobiographical novel, John Barleycorn, London mentioned the pub's likeness seventeen times. Heinold's was the place where London met Alexander McLean, a captain known for his cruelty at sea. London based his protagonist Wolf Larsen, in the novel The Sea-Wolf, on McLean.

    On July 12, 1897, London (age 21) and his sister's husband Captain Shepard sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush. This was the setting for some of his first successful stories. London's time in the harsh Klondike, however, was detrimental to his health. Like so many other men who were malnourished in the goldfields, London developed scurvy. His gums became swollen, leading to the loss of his four front teeth. A constant gnawing pain affected his hip and leg muscles, and his face was stricken with marks that always reminded him of the struggles he faced in the Klondike. Father William Judge, The Saint of Dawson, had a facility in Dawson that provided shelter, food and any available medicine to London and others. His struggles there inspired London's short story, To Build a Fire (1902, revised in 1908), which many critics assess as his best.

    His landlords in Dawson were mining engineers Marshall Latham Bond and Louis Whitford Bond, educated at Yale and Stanford. The brothers' father, Judge Hiram Bond, was a wealthy mining investor. The Bonds, especially Hiram, were active Republicans. Marshall Bond's diary mentions friendly sparring with London on political issues as a camp pastime.

    London left Oakland with a social conscience and socialist leanings; he returned to become an activist for socialism. He concluded that his only hope of escaping the work trap was to get an education and sell his brains. He saw his writing as a business, his ticket out of poverty, and, he hoped, a means of beating the wealthy at their own game. On returning to California in 1898, London began working to get published, a struggle described in his novel, Martin Eden (serialized in 1908, published in 1909). His first published story since high school was To the Man On Trail, which has frequently been collected in anthologies. When The Overland Monthly offered him only five dollars for it—and was slow paying—London came close to abandoning his writing career. In his words, literally and literarily I was saved when The Black Cat accepted his story A Thousand Deaths, and paid him $40—the first money I ever received for a story.

    London began his writing career just as new printing technologies enabled lower-cost production of magazines. This resulted in a boom in popular magazines aimed at a wide public and a strong market for short fiction. In 1900, he made $2,500 in writing, about $71,000 in today's currency. Among the works he sold to magazines was a short story known as either Diable (1902) or Bâtard (1904), in two editions of the same basic story; London received $141.25 for this story on May 27, 1902. In the text, a cruel French Canadian brutalizes his dog, and the dog retaliates and kills the man. London told some of his critics that man's actions are the

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