1. Design a Web site that allows users to travel “virtually” from the Santa Clara Valley to the Far North, just as Buck does in the novel. Use passages and quotes from the novel to describe various areas. Also add links to historical and literary sites. 2. Write a short […]
Read more Study Help Practice ProjectsStudy Help Essay Questions
1. What does London mean by the title The Call of the Wild? Also discuss how the title of each chapter applies both to that chapter and to the general theme of the novel. For example, what is meant by naming certain chapters “The Toil of Trace and Trail,” “Into […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsJack London Biography
By the age of fifteen, London had turned delinquent. Barely seventeen, he signed aboard the schooner Sophie Sutherland, bound for Japan and the Bering Sea. Returning from the voyage in 1894, London began to be interested in the plight of the underprivileged and working classes, so he joined a group […]
Read more Jack London BiographySummary and Analysis Chapter 7 – The Sounding of the Call
Summary So far, this novel has depicted Buck’s complete transformation from the Southland civilized dog, living in the peaceful society of Judge Miller’s estate in Chapter 1 into a dog that, through his strength and instinct and cunning, is quickly able to master the law of club and fang, and […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 7 – The Sounding of the CallSummary and Analysis Chapter 6 – For the Love of a Man
Summary In this chapter, Buck will be characterized as an animal of great love, loyalty, and devotion; he will become completely devoted to John Thornton, who is, in contrast to Hal and Charles, Buck’s other masters, characterized as being the ideal “master.” Not since Buck’s days with Judge Miller has […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 6 – For the Love of a ManSummary and Analysis Chapter 5 – The Toil of Trace and Trail
Summary This chapter begins thirty days after the dogs have made the long pull back to Skagway, after having successfully delivered the mail to Dawson. By now, Buck has lost over thirty-five pounds, and he is not alone in his suffering; in fact, all of the dogs are in a […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 5 – The Toil of Trace and TrailSummary and Analysis Chapter 4 – Who Has Won to Mastership
Summary The next day, Francois and Perrault discover that Spitz is missing, and the signs of battle on Buck’s body are proof that the inevitable battle between Buck and Spitz has occurred, and that Buck is the obvious winner. Francois is pleased because he knows that now there will be […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 4 – Who Has Won to MastershipSummary and Analysis Chapter 3 – The Dominant Primordial Beast
Summary London begins this chapter by stating that the “dominant primordial beast was strong in Buck,” meaning that the primitive will to survive was now the primary factor in Buck’s life. Thus, the entire chapter is constructed to show Buck’s will and determination to survive. Buck’s survival instinct will be […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 3 – The Dominant Primordial BeastSummary and Analysis Chapter 2 – The Law of Club and Fang
Summary This chapter introduces London’s second, or parallel, theme of the novel. As a matter of historical and scientific information, the late nineteenth century had seen the emergence of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, a theory which had become, by the time of London’s novel, one of the most controversial […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 2 – The Law of Club and FangSummary and Analysis Chapter 1 – Into the Primitive
Summary The four-line poem that begins the novel summarizes the essential theme of the entire work. As noted in the section at the end of this study guide, entitled “Critical Theories,” we see that London is writing in a certain literary tradition and under the influence of a literary philosophy […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 1 – Into the Primitive