The Call of the Wild

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For other uses, see Call of the Wild (disambiguation)
The Call of the Wild

First edition cover
Author Jack London
Country United States
Language English
Subject(s) English Literature
Genre(s) Adventure
Publisher Macmillan
Publication date 1903
Media type Ppink (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 140 pages
ISBN NA
OCLC 28228581
Followed by White Fang

The Call of the Wild is a novel by American writer Jack London. The plot concerns a previously domesticated and even somewhat pampered dog named Buck, whose primordial instincts return after a series of events finds him serving as a sled dog in the treacherous, frigid Yukon during the days of the 19th century Klondike Gold Rushes.

Published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is one of London's most-read books, and it is generally considered one of his best. Because the protagonist is a dog, it is sometimes classified as a juvenile novel, suitable for children, but it is dark in tone and contains numerous scenes of cruelty and violence.

London followed the book in 1906 with White Fang, a companion novel with many similar plot elements and themes as The Call of the Wild, although following a mirror image plot in which a wild wolf becomes civilized by a mining expert from San Francisco named Weedon Scott.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Buck is a 4-year-old, 140 lb Saint Bernard/Scotch Shepherd (Scotch Collie) mix, which gives him the appearance of an exceptionally large wolf. Buck leads a comfortable life as the pet of Judge Miller in the Santa Clara Valley of Northern California. Judge Miller's gardener's assistant, Manuel, abducts the dog and sells him to a trainer of sled dogs, which were in great demand due to the discovery of "a yellow metal" in the frozen lands of the Yukon. Slowly introduced to the brutality of his new life, Buck is forced to survive and adapt to conditions in Alaska and the Yukon. He works pulling sleds with other dogs, learns to steal food, and engages in power struggle with other dogs for the lead position in the sled team. His owners soon learn that even though his enemy is "a devil," Buck is "two devils." He becomes the leader of the sled team. He changes hands many times before he is eventually acquired by a kind and loving owner, John Thornton. When Thornton is killed by "Yeehat" native Americans, Buck goes into a beastly rage and kills several members of the native tribe. Buck returns to the wild and becomes the alpha male of a wolf pack he met a few days after the death of Thornton. Images of death, cruelty, and Darwinian struggle abound. Of the world Buck enters, London writes "the salient thing of this other world seemed fear."

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Several films based on the novel, or at least using elements from it, including its title, have been produced; the best-known of these, emphasizing human over canine characters, is the 1935 version starring Clark Gable and Loretta Young. The 1972 version stars Charlton Heston.A television movie was broadcast in 1993 that focused more on the character of John Thorton. There was also a Call of the Wild television series broadcast in 2000. The episode "Molly Brown" was directed by Scifi veteran David Winning.

The animated special What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown! is a parody of The Call of the Wild, with Snoopy as Buck.

There is a Japanese anime television series adaptation known as Anime Yasei no Sakebi (アニメ野性のさけび Anime Cry of Wildness), which consists of 22 episodes and is based on the novel. [1] There was also an anime movie made in the 1980s, and animated by the Japanese company Toei Animation.

[edit] Call of the Wild (2008)

A feature-length movie is currently in production.[2] It is produced by Richard Iott (Executive Producer), Nancy Draper (Producer), and Richard Gabai (Porducer and Director). It stars Ariel Gade, Christopher Lloyd, Veronica Cartwright, Timothy Bottoms, and Wes Studi. It also features Jaleel White. It is being filmed in Montana, and it follows a young girl (Ariel Gade) who leaves Boston, Mass., to visit her grandfather (Christopher Lloyd) in Montana. At the onset, the girl isn’t keen on what she sees, all forest and snow, no satellite television and no big-city amenities.

Shortly after arriving, however, the girl finds a wounded wolf dog. As in London’s classic tale, the animal’s name is Buck. The ensuing story introduces London’s prose in increments. It also follows the girl and dog, along with a host of other characters that include a mountain man named Hatcher (Wes Studi), through mushing, hardship and adventure. In the end, the girl - who wants to take the wolf dog back to Boston with her, realizes that the wolf dog belongs in Montana and she belongs in Boston. Such is life and the lessons learned.

Shot entirely on location in Lincoln, Montana and Philipsburg, Montana the film uses the real-life Race to the Sky, a several day, cross country dogsled race, as background. Every venue seen in the movie is a real home, business, or part of town. While on location in these relatively remote locations, the cast and crew literally observed the "Call of the Wild," watching wolves take down a deer across the street from their motel one night.

The production companies of Braeburn Entertainment and Check Productions anticipate a Fall, 2008 release.

[edit] Footnotes

^  The tribe was Jack London's fictional creation. "There was no tribe of Native Americans named Yeehats. London's decision to employ a fictitious tribe is consistent with Northland traditions, however, for it was common to hear tales of barbarous people living in remote and unexplored regions of the territory." (Dyer, 1997)

The main character in the book was based on a Saint Bernard/Collie sled dog which belonged to Marshall Bond and his brother Louis, the sons of Judge Hiram Bond, who was a mining investor, fruit packer and banker in Santa Clara, California. The Bonds were Jack London's landlords in Dawson from the fall and spring of 1897 to 1898; the main year of the Klondike Gold Rush. The London and Bond accounts record that the dog was used by Jack London to accomplish chores for the Bonds and other clients of London's. (Dyer, 1997) The papers of Marshall Latham Bond are in the Yale University Historic Collection

[edit] Popular culture

[edit] References

  • Dyer, Daniel, 1997: The Call of the Wild: Annotated and Illustrated, University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0-8061-2920-4
  1. ^ Anime Yasei no Sakebi (Series), Big Cartoon DataBase
  2. ^ Call of the Wild (2008) at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] External links

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