The Call of the Wild

Chapters 5 and 6 raise the stakes of the story by showing Buck fail and then giving him his greatest challenge yet. Chapter 5 marks the first time Buck fails since becoming a sled dog. Buck is the leader of his team, but now, many of the other dogs are dead, and his masters are bickering. When Buck collapses at John’s camp, he acknowledges his defeat: “This was the first time Buck had failed, in itself a sufficient reason to drive Hal into a rage” (30). The first four chapters showed Buck rising to meet every challenge. He grew stronger and became a leader. Now, Buck’s failure heightens the tension of the story. His character is still flawed and vulnerable, making him more complex and relatable. In Chapter 6, Buck is given his most difficult task yet. He must pull a thousand-pound sled, something only John thinks he can do. Buck’s love for John gives the task emotional stakes, making the challenge more perilous. Additionally, Buck’s failure in the previous chapter gives the reader reason to doubt he can accomplish the task. London structures the narrative to give Buck his worst failure and then provide his greatest feat.

The supporting characters raise the stakes in Chapters 5 and 6 and develop the novel’s themes. Dave and Sol-leks have been with Buck throughout most of the novel. In Chapter 5, they meet their ends, along with all the other sled dogs besides Buck. Their grizzly deaths because of Hal and Charles’s foolishness makes Chapter 5 tragic and add commentary on London’s message about survival. Strength and resilience are integral in nature, but so is collaboration. If the leaders aren’t prepared, the whole team will fail, even die. The supporting dogs don’t have detailed character arcs like Buck, but their deaths still develop the novel’s messages. Hal, Charles, and Mercedes also add a new perspective and additional commentary. They serve as foils to the other masters who have commanded Buck. Observing Hal and Charles, Buck intuits how unprepared they are compared to the other men he’s met: “Both men were manifestly out of place, and why such as they should adventure the North is part of the mystery of things that passes understanding” (24). In the end, Hal and Charles get not only themselves killed because of their foolishness, but others, too. Their characters embody the consequences of going into nature unprepared and remind the reader that experience and teamwork are integral for survival. Conversely, John demonstrates himself to be respectful, kind, and contemplative. John treats his dogs with tenderness and love, and he’s rewarded with Buck’s intense loyalty. Unlike previous masters, Buck won’t steal from John, and he puts his body to the test so John can win his wager. The wild continues to call to Buck, and it is John’s love alone that keeps him bound to the civilized world: “Thornton alone held him. The rest of mankind was as nothing” (33). As the supporting characters leave and enter Buck’s life, their characteristics and arcs develop the themes of Buck’s own story.

Other themes and concerns continue to be expanded upon. By having Buck’s team starve and die, the story becomes more intimate with life and death. The winter season thaws, and a lively spring approaches, but Buck’s defeated team is marked with death: “And amid all this bursting, rending, throbbing of awakening life, under the blazing sun and through the soft-sighing breezes, like wayfarers to death, staggered the two men, the woman, and the huskies” (29). In nature, even seasons abundant with new life carry death. Buck’s team embodies that struggle now, making London’s commentary more visceral. Additionally, Chapters 5 and 6 show that much of westward expansion is motivated primarily by money. Men traverse the harshness of the Yukon for gold because it’s valuable to them, luring the unprepared like Hal and Charles. In their pursuit of material wealth, they assign monetary value to dogs as well. When Buck visits the various northern towns, the men often speak of the dogs as tools to be discarded or traded: “The worthless ones were to be got rid of, and since dogs count for little against dollars, they were to be sold” (24). The coldness of the men around Buck makes the call to embrace his primal self even more alluring. John’s love, too, becomes precious and rare in a world dominated by money. In these chapters, Buck’s intimacy with life and death develops, and the cruelness of the civilized world makes John’s affection emotional and endearing.