The Call of the Wild Free Summary by Jack London
Jack London
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A Life of Leisure

At the beginning of the 19th century, four-year-old mongrel Buck, a mix of Scotch shepherd dog and St. Bernard, lives on the sprawling farm of the Judge in Santa Clara Valley, California. He freely roams around the farm, plays with the younger children and grandchildren, and accompanies the older ones on their hunts. He spends his evenings lying in front of the fire at the Judge’s feet. There are several other dogs on the farm, but Buck feels superior to them and mostly ignores them. He may be domesticated, but he isn’t a house dog.

Stolen in the Night

The Judge’s gardener Manuel is desperate for money to pay off his gambling debts. One evening, as the Judge is at a meeting, he puts a rope around Buck’s neck and leads him off the farm in order to sell him. Buck doesn’t suspect anything untoward at first and thinks they are just going for a stroll.

“Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing.”

When Manuel hands him over to a stranger, he starts growling, but the stranger just pulls the rope and chokes Buck. He continues to fight until he loses consciousness. He wakes up in a train carriage with a heavy collar and the rope around his neck, his throat and tongue hurting. Despite the pain he is in, he attacks his kidnaper again and mangles his hand. He is thrown into a crate, where he spends the rest of the journey without food or water.

Harsh Lessons

Finally, the kidnaper sells Buck, now parched and wild with fury, to a man in a red jumper. He immediately goes for him, but the man simply side-steps him and knocks him down with a club. Dazed and confused, Buck still refuses to give up and continues to attack, but the man knocks him down again and again. Eventually, bloodied and bruised, he accepts that he doesn’t stand a chance against the club.

“The club “was his introduction to the reign of primitive law, and he met the introduction half-way.”

He grudgingly realizes that the man with the club is the master, and he submits to the man but promises himself that he will never try to gain favor with his oppressor – something that he sees numerous other dogs doing. The man in the red jumper is a trader and soon sells Buck and another dog, Curly, to the sled driver Perrault and his companion François to join their team of sled dogs.

Life as a Sled Dog

Buck and the other dogs travel north on a ship. One day, Perrault brings them up on deck, and Buck experiences snow for the first time. When they arrive at Dyea Beach, Buck learns his first brutal lesson of survival in the wild: A husky attacks Curly as she approaches him in a friendly manner and rips open her face. The other dogs gather around and join in the attack until François intervenes and manages to dispel them with the help of three men. However, by that time it is too late – Curly is dead.

Buck quickly learns to keep a low profile and not to trust anyone, in particular Spitz, who is the lead dog of their team and conniving and untrustworthy. Work for Buck starts straight away as François puts him in a harness with the other dogs. François’s whip and the other, more experienced dogs soon teach Buck how to pull the sled as a team. His team consists of Spitz as the lead dog, the good-natured Billee, sly Joe, Pike, Dub, Dolly, Dave and Sol Lek, who don’t seem to have any interest beyond being sled dogs. Despite the humiliation of being used as a common draught animal, Buck is a quick learner, and soon his muscles and feet harden, and instincts that he never had to use before start to emerge. During his first few days as a sled dog, he also learns other valuable lessons – for example to bury himself in the snow to keep warm during the night and to make sure to eat his ration of food quickly before another dog can steal it. More and more, he relies on the deeply buried inheritance of his forefathers to survive in the wild environment he finds himself in.

Fight for Life

There is a growing animosity between Spitz and Buck. Spitz sees Buck as a rival and takes every opportunity to harass him. Buck realizes that Spitz is just waiting for an opportunity to fight and ascertain his leadership, and he continues to keep a low profile and stays out of Spitz’s way. However, when, after a long and cold day, he finds that Spitz has taken his sleeping hole, Buck throws caution to the wind and attacks. Their fight breaks off when a pack of wild, starved huskies, drawn by the prospect of food, arrive. Half-crazed, they raid the camp and attack the sled dogs who fight for their lives. In the midst of this fight, Spitz still tries to get at Buck. Eventually, the men and dogs manage to drive off the huskies, but they have paid a high price: All of the dogs are bleeding from several wounds and half of the supplies are gone.

A Battle for Leadership

Several days after the incident with the huskies, Dolly suddenly goes mad and attacks Buck. He manages to escape but she goes after him, and François has to kill her with an ax. Seeing the panicked and exhausted Buck, Spitz senses his opportunity and bites him to the bone until François’ whip drives him off. After this, it is open war between Spitz and Buck. Buck never openly opposes Spitz, but undermines his authority subtly, backing the other dogs to defy Spitz’s leadership. The team makes it to Dawson, and nothing happens during the seven days there. However, on the way back it becomes obvious that the discipline in the team is falling apart under the constant struggle for supremacy between Spitz and Buck.

One day, Dub discovers a snowshoe rabbit and soon the sled dogs, together with a pack of around 50 dogs from a nearby camp, take chase, with Buck in the lead. Spitz takes a shortcut and kills the rabbit. Buck, taking the opportunity, goes for Spitz’s throat, and their fight for leadership starts.

“There was no hope for [Spitz]. Buck was inexorable. Mercy was a thing received for gentler climes.”

Initially, Spitz seems to have the advantage of an experienced fighter, and soon Buck is bleeding from several wounds, while Spitz remains unharmed. But then Buck resorts to subterfuge and manages to break both Spitz’s front legs. Spitz goes down and the other dogs tear him apart. Buck is the new leader.

Top Dog

After his victory over Spitz, Buck is determined to take on the leadership of the sled. However, Perrault and François put the experienced Sol Lek at the front of the team. As a result, Buck refuses to be put into harness, staying just out of reach of the two handlers. An hour passes, and eventually Perrault and François give in. Buck becomes leader, and discipline in the team is restored. Buck makes an even better leader than Spitz, and they return to Skagway in record time. At Skagway, Perrault and François sell the whole team to a Scottish half-breed, who transports mail between Skagway and Dawson. The load this time is much heavier, but the team manages under Buck’s leadership. During the journey, Buck repeatedly has visions of a primeval man, keeping watch at his fire.

Run Down and Worn Out

The heavy load takes its toll on the dogs. Worst affected is Dave, who suffers from extreme internal pain. No one knows what causes it. He grows weaker and weaker and repeatedly stumbles in the harness. The handlers finally decide to take him out so he can run behind the sled, but Dave is determined not to give up his position. The men have pity on him and allow him to continue, but one day, when he is too weak to get up, they drive off without him. Once they are out of sight, one of the men returns and shoots him. When the team arrives at Dawson, they are worn out and look forward to getting their well-earned break. However, the mail cannot wait, and a new team replaces the dogs.

Soon after, three adventurers buy Buck and his team for a knocked-down price. Hal, his sister Mercedes and her husband Charles have no idea how to deal with dogs or survive in the wild, and their inexperience soon shows. They pack their sled badly – it is far too heavy.

“Buck felt vaguely that there was no depending upon these two men and the woman. They did not know how to do anything….”

They skimp on food for the dogs and their camp is disorganized. They take too long to set up and pack up, costing valuable daylight traveling hours. They liberally use the whip and the club to get the exhausted animals to pull. Mercedes, who initially feels pity for the dogs and tries to prevent her brother and husband from whipping them, soon grows weary and insists on traveling on the sled, adding extra weight. Half-way into their trip, the food runs out. Several of the dogs starve to death.

Rescued

The exhausted team arrives at the camp of John Thornton, an experienced adventurer. Spring is on its way, and the ice on the rivers begins to melt. John advises Hal, Charles and Mercedes not to continue their journey as the danger is too great that they will fall through thin ice. They refuse to listen and want to push on. Hal starts beating the dogs, who have collapsed at the camp, to make them get back up and start pulling. All but Buck struggle to their feet. Hal starts using the club on Buck, but he doesn’t move. Eventually John can’t watch anymore. He steps between Hal and Buck and cuts the half-dead dog from the harness. The team limps on without him. Still within view, the ice on the river breaks, and the dogs and the three adventurers drown in the river.

Best Friends

John nurses Buck back to health. His other two dogs, Skeet and Nig, also make friends with Buck. Buck soon begins to dote on John – he loves him like he has never loved any other human being. John and Buck develop their own little rituals to show their affection for one another – John taking Buck’s head and shaking it back and forth while calling him names; and Buck biting his master’s hand hard enough to leave teeth marks.

“Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time.”

Under John’s care, Buck returns to full strength and when John’s partners Hans and Pete return to pick up John, the three of them and the dogs set off together. Buck is totally devoted to John, and one day John tests his devotion by ordering him to jump off a cliff. Buck immediately gets ready to jump, and John only manages to pull him back at the last minute.

Building a Name

Buck is back to full strength and is steadily earning a reputation as one of the best and most magnificent dogs alive. His loyalty to John becomes the stuff of legends when he goes for the throat of a man who attacks John in a pub. Another time, John falls into a raging river, and Buck jumps in after him to rescue him, almost killing himself in the effort. His strength and devotion lead John to enter into a foolish wager: that Buck will be able to break free and pull a 1,000-pound sled frozen in its tracks for 100 yards. The bet is for $2,000, which is everything that John, Hans and Pete have. Buck is put in front of the sled, and John begs him to give his all – and Buck does. He manages to break free the sled and pull it for 100 yards.

“‘Never was there such a dog,’ said John Thornton one day, as the partners watched Buck marching out of camp.”

Buck has not only cemented his reputation as an outstanding sled dog, but also won for his master all the money he needed to fulfill a long-held dream: to go north to find a mine reputed to hold unimaginable riches.

Into the Wild

John and his partners use the money to set off in search of the legendary mine. They travel for a year through the wilderness, living off what they hunt, but they fail to find the mine. However, what they do find in the end is a place at the Yukon that proves extremely lucrative for panning gold. The men set up camp and fill bag after bag with gold nuggets. The dogs meanwhile enjoy a life of leisure, and Buck again starts dreaming of the primeval man at the fire. More and more often, he feels as if something is calling him, and he begins exploring the wilderness around the camp.

“Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and as often as he heard this call, mysteriously thrilling and luring, he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire and the beaten earth around it, and to plunge into the forest….”

Yet he always returns, pulled back to the camp by his love for John. One day he hears a strange howl, and sets off to follow the sound. He comes across an old wolf, who initially is deeply distrustful of Buck. However, after Buck has followed him for miles through the wilderness, he realizes that Buck isn’t out to harm him, and the two continue together. Buck understands that the call he has felt has led him to this wolf, but his devotion to John is still stronger, and he leaves and returns to the camp.

Learning to Hunt

Despite his attachment to John, Buck’s excursions into the wilderness become longer and longer. He starts hunting animals and sets himself greater and greater challenges. While at first he was content with hunting rabbits, fish and beavers, he now seeks greater prey. One day, he comes across a herd of elk, and Buck singles out the lead bull. With cunning, he manages to separate him from the rest of the herd and, after four days of playing cat and mouse, kills him.

Loss of a Friend

After his successful kill, Buck sets off to return to John. On his way he senses that something is not right. His fears are confirmed when he arrives at camp and finds the other dogs dead. Furious and half-crazed, Buck rushes to the clearing where he finds the perpetrators, a group of Indians. They stand no chance against his fury and speed as he attacks and kills each one of them. Only when he has killed them all, does Buck go searching for John. He discovers his body in a lake. Devastated and bereft, Buck sits and mourns his master. But at the same time, he is proud of himself: After all, he has triumphed over one of the most dangerous opponents of all – man.

A New Life

The next night, Buck again hears the howling of the wolves. A pack of them is nearby and calls to him. With nothing holding him back in the world of man, Buck follows their call. When he comes face-to-face with them, he is calm and confident. A number of them attack, but he defeats them with ease. Even when the whole pack goes for him, he holds his own. The pack submits, and when an old wolf comes forward, Buck recognizes his companion from his first foray into the wild. The old wolf welcomes him, and immediately Buck is accepted into the pack.

The Legend of Ghost Dog