PEARSON SCHOOL

KOMPALLY

2021 - 2022
LIBRARY
GENRE

ADVENTURE
Jack London
American novelist
John Griffith London was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist.
A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the
first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large
fortune from writing. Wikipedia
Born: 12 January 1876, San Francisco, California, United States
Died: 22 November 1916, Glen Ellen, California, United States
Short stories: To Build a Fire, The Law of Life, The Mexican, MORE
Movies: The Call of the Wild, White Fang, Martin Eden, Belyj Klyk, MORE

The Call of the Wild, novel by Jack London, published serially by The Saturday

Evening Post in 1903 and then as a single-volume book by Macmillan &
Co. the same year. It is often considered to be his masterpiece and is the most
widely read of all his publications.
Call of the wild by Jack London
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.(IX,Tulips)

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(X,Tulips)
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.(IX,Daffodils)

‘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

Years later, there are a lot of young wolves with strange

coloring, with splashes of brown on their muzzles and heads and
white across their chests. The Indians in the area tell stories of
an enormous Ghost Dog who runs at the head of the pack. There
are stories of hunters not returning and later found dead with
their throats ripped open and wolf prints around them that are
bigger than any normal wolf tracks. And when they follow the
elks during their hunting season, they never enter one particular
valley. Yet this is the valley to which one great wolf returns
every summer and sits for a time, howling mournfully.

THE END

Main Character’s of the Call of the wild

BUCK John Thornton

Spitz Francois and Perrault

 Character description
 Buck

A powerful dog, half St. Bernard and half sheepdog, who is stolen from a California
estate and sold as a sled dog in the Arctic. Buck gradually evolves from a pampered
pet into a fierce, masterful animal, able to hold his own in the cruel, kill-or-be-killed
world of the North. Though he loves his final master, John Thornton, he feels the wild
calling him away from civilization and longs to reconnect with the primitive roots of
his species.

 John Thornton

Buck’s final master, a gold hunter experienced in the ways of the Klondike. Thornton
saves Buck from death at the hands of Hal, and Buck rewards Thornton with fierce
 loyalty. Thornton’s relationship to Buck is the ideal man-dog relationship: each guards
the other’s back and is completely devoted to the other. The strength of their bond is
enough to keep Buck from acting on the forces he feels are calling him into the wild.

 Spitz

 Buck’s archrival and the original leader of Francois’s dog team. Spitz is a fierce
animal—a “devil-dog,” one man calls him—who is used to fighting with other dogs
and winning. He meets his match in Buck, however, who is as strong as Spitz and
possesses more cunning. Spitz is an amoral being who fights for survival with all of his
might, disregarding what is right and wrong.

 Francois

A French Canadian mail driver who buys Buck and adds him to his team. Francois is an
experienced man, accustomed to life in the North, and he impresses Buck with his
fairness and good sense.
 Perrault

A French Canadian who, together with Francois, turns Buck into a sled dog for the
Canadian government. Both Perrault and Francois speak in heavily accented English,
which London distinguishes from the rest of the novel’s dialogue.