The Call of the Wild

The first two chapters introduce the main character, Buck, and present conflicts that force him to change. Not much time is spent in the Santa Clara Valley, but the setting is distinct, and Buck’s life is quickly defined there. He lives a comfortable and insular life, and he feels self-important because of it: “During the four years since his puppyhood he had lived the life of a sated aristocrat; he had a fine pride in himself, was ever a trifle egotistical, as country gentlemen sometimes become because of their insular situation” (1). Buck’s dominance over his first home makes his kidnapping, and the discipline of the man in the red sweater, more dramatic because it differs so greatly from the life he was living. Forced to adapt or die, Buck proves he’s capable of changing. Not only does he learn through the world around him, but he also feels his ancestral instincts awakening inside:

And not only did he learn by experience, but instincts long dead became alive again. The domesticated generations fell from him. In vague ways he remembered back to the youth of the breed, to the time the wild dogs ranged in packs through the primeval forest and killed their meat as they ran it down (11).

Buck realizes that living in the wilderness is what he was meant for; the skills to survive are inherent within him. The North might be where he’s always belonged. Within the first two chapters, Buck begins to shift from a pampered dog into a fiercer version of himself that was lying dormant, waiting to be awakened.

Chapter 2 introduces the Law of Club and Fang (the chapter’s subtitle), a central motif in the novel. In Chapter 1, Buck is the ruler of the Santa Clara estate. After he’s captured, he believes lashing out at anyone and anything will be his new state of being. In Chapter 2, under the dominant presence of the man in the red sweater, Buck realizes he’s wrong. Buck is beaten and disciplined. Other dogs are punished, too. Those that don’t eventually submit or die: “Again and again, as he looked at each brutal performance, the lesson was driven home to Buck: a man with a club was a lawgiver, a master to be obeyed, though not necessarily conciliated” (5). In this new world, Buck is beholden to those more powerful than himself. He doesn’t have to completely submit to them, but if they’re more powerful, they’ll be in charge. This law is reiterated throughout the novel, and Buck’s adherence to it shows his adaptability and shows the reader what traits are necessary to survive in the Arctic. London expands on the Law of Club and Fang throughout Chapter 2. For the first time in his life, Buck steals, but he recognizes he has no choice:

It was all well enough in the Southland, under the law of love and fellowship, to respect private property and personal feelings; but in the Northland, under the law of club and fang, who so took such things into account was a fool, and in so far as he observed them he would fail to prosper (10).

The Law of Club and Fang entails obedience to powerful masters. It also entails covertly disobeying those masters to ensure one’s own survival. This tug of war between obedience and rebellion normalized in the North develops London’s themes on survival and imbues every relationship in the novel with more tension. By the end of Chapter 2, London has also introduced numerous supporting characters. All the dogs have different personalities and behaviors. Their character arcs throughout the rest of the novel will allow London to add additional commentary on what happens to those that can or cannot adhere to the principals of surviving in the wild.

The first two chapters show how animals’ lives can be upended by human behavior. In one of the opening passages of Chapter 1, London comments on the increased demand for sled dogs after gold is discovered in the North: “Because men, groping in the Arctic darkness, had found a yellow metal, and because steamship and transportation companies were booming the find, thousands of men were rushing into the Northland” (1). Soon after, Buck is sold and torn away from his home. His entire journey is set into motion because of man’s greed. For as much as Buck fancies himself a king in the opening chapter, his life is subjected to the powers of man’s economic pursuits. During his kidnapping, Buck himself is treated like another piece of inanimate cargo:

Clerks in the express office took charge of him; he was carted about in another wagon; a truck carried him, with an assortment of boxes and parcels, upon a ferry steamer; he was trucked off the steamer into a great railway depot, and finally he was deposited in an express car (3).

Buck becomes a tool for these men. They want him for one thing: to pull sleds and bring them financial gains. Throughout Call of the Wild, nature is depicted as harsh and violent, but the civilized world is also cruel. Man will sell and displace dogs, and use them as tools, if there’s money involved.