Forced to adapt quickly, Buck learns the harsh “law of club and fang,” where strength, instinct, and endurance determine survival. He is repeatedly traded between owners, experiencing both cruelty and moments of care. As he grows stronger and more capable, he rises in the sled team’s hierarchy and becomes increasingly shaped by the demands of the wilderness.
Buck’s most stable period comes under John Thornton, a man who treats him with affection and respect. Buck develops deep loyalty to Thornton, yet he is also drawn toward the forest by a mysterious pull, sensing an older, primal life beyond human control. He begins to roam, hunting and forming connections with wild animals, while still returning to Thornton.
The story reaches a turning point when violence abruptly severs Buck’s ties to human society. In the aftermath, he fully embraces the wilderness, joining a wolf pack and becoming a legendary figure in the region. London presents Buck’s transformation as both a physical struggle for survival and a symbolic return to instinct.
“The ghostly winter silence had given way to the great spring murmur of awakening life.”
— Jack London Primary source“Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time.”
— Jack London Primary source“He was a killer, a thing that preyed, living on the things that lived, unaided, alone, by virtue of his own strength and prowess, surviving triumphantly in a hostile environment where only the strong survived.”
— Jack London Primary source• Title: The Call of the Wild
• Author: Jack London
• Type: Book
• Publisher: Macmillan
• Publication time: 1903
• Publication place: New York, US