Call of the Wild by Jack London

Call of the Wild is written by Jack London. During the Call of the Wild, London uses events from Call of the Wild to shows the significance of the title, Call of the Wild. Here are three examples that Jack London wrote to show the significance of the title, Call of the Wild.

The first example occurs when the wild huskies attack the camp where Perrault, Francois, and the dogs are resting. "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."(p.29) These dogs were wild and savage because of the smell of food and never stopped to achieve their goal of eating the food that the camp had stored. Although Perrault struck several of them with his club they continued to eat. This is an example of how wild and savage one can get in order to achieve self-preservation. The second example that London uses to display the significance of the title, Call of the Wild occurs when the dogs chase the rabbit. "All that stiring of old instincts which at stated periods drives men out from the sounding cities to forest and plain to kill things by chemically propelled leaden pellets, the bloodlust, the joy to kill-all this was Buck's, only it was infinitely more intimate."(p.40) This event clearly states the "call of the wild" that Buck senses as he sees the rabbit pass by. Buck feels the urge to kill, or bloodlust, that Buck feels.

The last example that London uses to display the significance of the title, Call of the Wild occurs when Buck continues to leave Thornton's camp to visit his wild friend. "He knew he was at last answering the call, running by the side of the wood brother toward the place from where the call surely came."(p.102) Finally, this event shows that he had finally answered to the call and that he enjoyed being wild. Buck later joins a wolf pack after he sees that Thornton died during an attack by Native Americans.