In The Call of the Wild, Jack London transports the reader into a land of frozen wastes, deadly peril, and pristine majesty. The novel tells the story of Buck, a dog snatched from his place as man’s best friend in a town setting and thrust into the harsh arctic landscape. His struggle for survival is heroic, and he shows great steadfastness and courage throughout the journey. The story explores the question of how much wildness exists buried in the heart of a domestic dog, and the cruel actions of some of the people in this book also bring another question to the forefront: What wildness exists buried in the heart of man?

The author’s experience with this subject, having been a prospector in the North himself, shows through in this book, as details about travel and life in the arctic bring the setting to life. Buck is a dog who is easy to love, and most readers will find themselves instantly invested in his struggles and willing him to pull through the various trials he faces. This book is a classic well worth reading.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  4 religious exclamations; 9 mild obscenities.

Violence/Gore:  A few verbal threats; animals growl and menace each other a few times; an animal bites another animal as a means of communication or bites a human as a sign of affection a few times; a few reports of animals being killed (one of these is an animal put down as a mercy); report of men shot; report of dog fighting; a fight between animals without major injury; a dog chases another dog with intent to kill him; animals nip at each other a few times; an animal is choked to unconsciousness; an animal bites a person; animals are choked, confined, and denied food and water a few times; a character is run over by a sled with no serious injury; a knife fight with no major injury; characters nearly drown in a tense scene; animals hurt and kill other animals a few times, and sometimes bloody wounds are described; animals are whipped or clubbed several times, sometimes with bloody wounds and brutal beating described (one of these scenes is particularly disturbing and graphic); a large fight between animals in which animals die; a man kills a dog with a club; a large fight between animals and humans where animals are killed and hit with clubs and animals bite each other; animals are worked to exhaustion; an animal suffers a bad internal injury, and his suffering is described; a few animals starve to death; an animal is shot; a character attacked by an animal has bloody wounds; a character finds dead bodies of animals and humans, and some are bloody; humans and animals drown; alarge fight between dogs and humans in which dogs are badly injured with blood, broken bones, and eyes lost; a few fights between animals resulting in deep wounds and broken bones; a fight in which an animal kills people, with torn throats and other bloody injuries described.

Sex/Nudity:  None

Mature Subject Matter:

Gambling; animal cruelty; death of a friend.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Characters buy drinks to celebrate an occasion.