50 Fun Facts About The Call of the Wild

Which American author drew on his own gold-rush winter in the Yukon to write The Call of the Wild?

Jack London spent about a year in the Yukon, and what he saw there supplied much of the book. Its success made his name as a writer.

In The Call of the Wild, Buck is a pampered ranch pet in which US state before he is stolen?

California's sunny Santa Clara Valley is Buck's first home, where he rules a big ranch as the family pet. That soft life makes the North a brutal shock.

Which gold rush of the 1890s creates the huge demand for sled dogs in The Call of the Wild?

Klondike fever sent thousands of prospectors north, and every one of them needed strong, thick-coated dogs to haul supplies. That demand is why Buck is stolen and sold.

In The Call of the Wild, the man who first beats Buck into obedience is known only by which garment?

A red sweater is the only name the novel gives the dog-breaker, who clubs Buck until he learns that an armed man must be obeyed. Buck never forgets the lesson.

After John Thornton's death at the end of The Call of the Wild, what does Buck finally join?

A wolf pack accepts Buck after he holds off its attack for half an hour, and he ends the book running at its head. With his last human tie gone, nothing keeps him among people.

Which Hollywood star plays John Thornton in the 2020 film of The Call of the Wild?

Harrison Ford stars as the frontiersman opposite Omar Sy and Karen Gillan. The film was directed by Chris Sanders, best known for Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon.

Which later novel by The Call of the Wild's author reverses the story with a wild wolfdog becoming tame?

White Fang, published in 1906, was pitched to the publisher as the first book run backwards: the civilizing of an animal instead of its return to the wild.

In The Call of the Wild, which bullying sled dog is Buck's deadly rival until Buck kills him in a fight?

Spitz, a seasoned trail dog, sees the big Southland newcomer as a threat to his rule. Their last fight ends with the silent circle of watching dogs closing in on the loser.

How do Hal, Charles and Mercedes die soon after John Thornton rescues Buck in The Call of the Wild?

They fall through the ice a quarter of a mile down the trail, sled and dogs with them, after ignoring warnings about the spring thaw. Buck's refusal to get up saved his life.

In The Call of the Wild, what does François make for Buck when his paws prove too soft for the trail?

Moccasins, four of them, are cut from the tops of the driver's own pair. One morning Buck lies on his back with his paws in the air and refuses to move until he gets them.

In The Call of the Wild, Buck's first owner, whose grandsons ride on Buck's back, holds which position?

Judge Miller's place has stables, orchards and a swimming tank, and Buck lords it over all of it. He is stolen on a night when his master is away at a growers' meeting.

In The Call of the Wild, which gardener's helper secretly sells Buck to a stranger at a railway stop?

Manuel walks Buck off through the orchard as if on a stroll and hands him over at a little flag station called College Park. Buck trusts him until the rope tightens round his neck.

In The Call of the Wild, to which Pacific port city is the kidnapped Buck sent north by train?

Seattle is where Buck arrives after two days and nights caged in an express car with nothing to eat or drink. From its docks he sails for Alaska.

In The Call of the Wild, François and Perrault drive Buck's first sled team carrying dispatches for whom?

The Canadian government employs Perrault as a courier, which is why he is so keen to buy the strongest dogs he can find. His team later makes a record run on the trail.

In The Call of the Wild, which friendly Newfoundland is torn apart by huskies soon after landing in Alaska?

Curly makes a friendly advance to a husky and is swarmed by thirty or forty dogs the moment she is knocked down. Her death teaches Buck that a fallen dog gets no second chance.

On Buck's first bitter night in The Call of the Wild, where does he learn that sled dogs sleep?

Beneath the snow is where Buck finds his teammate Billee curled in a warm ball, after the men chase him out of their tent. He digs a hole of his own and sleeps soundly.

In The Call of the Wild, Buck gets his great size from his father Elmo, who is which breed?

St. Bernard blood gives Buck his bulk, while his mother Shep, a Scotch shepherd dog, keeps him smaller than his huge father. The mix makes him both strong and quick-witted.

After killing his rival in The Call of the Wild, Buck refuses to be harnessed until he gets which place?

Lead dog is the job François first hands to an older husky, until Buck drives him off and dodges the harness for the better part of an hour. The men finally give in.

In The Call of the Wild, Buck learns to stop at 'ho' and to go ahead at which word?

Mush is the driver's word for go, and Buck picks it up on his very first day in harness, hauling a load of firewood with François.

After François and Perrault leave The Call of the Wild, what does Buck's team haul to the gold miners?

Mail for the men hunting gold makes a far heavier load than the couriers' dispatches, and the daily grind wears the dogs out. The team covers 2,500 miles in under five months.

In The Call of the Wild, which dying sled dog fights to keep his place in harness until he is shot?

Dave bites through a teammate's traces to win back his own spot in the team, so the drivers let him pull until he can no longer stand.

In The Call of the Wild, the one-eyed husky Sol-leks has a name that means what?

The Angry One earns his name when Buck wanders up on his sightless side and gets a shoulder slashed to the bone. Otherwise the old husky asks only to be left alone.

In The Call of the Wild, which sled dog suddenly goes mad and chases Buck until François strikes it down?

Dolly, the last husky added to the team, snaps one morning on the trail and chases Buck across three islands before an axe stops her.

In The Call of the Wild, what does Buck steal from Perrault in his first act of theft?

A chunk of bacon vanishes while Perrault's back is turned, and a clumsy teammate named Dub takes the punishment. The novel counts the theft as proof Buck is fit to survive.

In The Call of the Wild, which animal is the team chasing when Buck's final fight for mastery begins?

A snowshoe rabbit bolts down the river with the whole team and fifty police huskies behind it. Buck's rival cuts across a bend to grab it first, and the two dogs collide.

In The Call of the Wild, which gold-rush boomtown is the inland end of Buck's sled runs from the coast?

Dawson's streets are full of dogs hauling cabin logs and firewood, work that horses did where Buck grew up. At night he delights in joining the huskies' eerie howling.

In The Call of the Wild, François and Perrault finish their record two-week run at which Alaskan port?

Skagway, spelled Skaguay in the novel, greets the team as heroes after fourteen days averaging forty miles a day. Then official orders arrive and the two men leave Buck's life for good.

In The Call of the Wild, how is Mercedes related to Hal, the young man who drives the overloaded sled?

His sister Mercedes is married to Charles, the third member of the party, and she insists on riding the sled even as the starving dogs weaken.

In The Call of the Wild, what injury has left John Thornton resting alone in camp when Buck arrives?

Frozen feet from the previous December keep Thornton behind while his partners go upriver to cut logs. He is limping slightly on the day he rescues Buck.

In The Call of the Wild, which of John Thornton's dogs, an Irish setter, nurses Buck's wounds?

Skeet washes Buck's wounds clean every morning after his breakfast, the way a mother cat washes her kittens. He comes to look for her visits as much as for Thornton's.

In The Call of the Wild, which man does Buck attack in a Circle City bar for striking John Thornton?

Burton, a bully nicknamed "Black", survives only because the crowd drives Buck off his throat. A miners' meeting called on the spot rules that the dog had good reason.

In The Call of the Wild, Buck breaks three ribs when Hans and Pete rope him to save John Thornton from what?

Raging rapids on Forty-Mile Creek sweep Thornton from an overturned boat toward water no swimmer could survive. Buck gets his first try wrong and is hauled back half drowned.

In The Call of the Wild, what cargo is loaded on the sled Buck must pull alone to win John Thornton's bet?

Sacks of flour, twenty of them, sit on a sled whose runners are iced fast to the ground in cold of sixty below. Buck must first break it loose, then drag it down the street.

In The Call of the Wild, how heavy is the load Buck starts and hauls a hundred yards for a bet?

1,000 pounds is the boast John Thornton makes in a saloon before he knows whether Buck can do it. The pull wins him sixteen hundred dollars, and he turns down an offer to buy the dog.

In The Call of the Wild, John Thornton uses his winnings to travel east with Hans and Pete seeking what?

A fabled lost mine, said to be marked by an ancient ramshackle cabin, has beaten or killed most who looked for it. Thornton's party never finds the cabin but strikes rich gold anyway.

In The Call of the Wild, which animal does Buck stalk for four days just before John Thornton is killed?

A bull moose with an arrow already in his side is cut off from the herd and worn down by Buck, who never lets him eat or drink. The hunt keeps Buck away while the camp is attacked.

In The Call of the Wild, which tribe raids John Thornton's camp and kills him and his partners?

The Yeehats are dancing around the wrecked lodge when Buck charges, kills their chief and scatters the rest into the woods. He has never killed a man before.

In The Call of the Wild, what do John Thornton's killers call the animal that later raids their camps?

Ghost Dog is the legend that grows as Buck steals from their camps, robs their traps and defies their bravest hunters. They never again enter the valley where Thornton died.

In The Call of the Wild, Buck's fireside visions of his ancestors show which prehistoric companion?

A short, hairy man who sleeps crouched by the fire and peers fearfully into the dark is a memory handed down from Buck's distant forebears. The visions grow as the forest draws him.

In The Call of the Wild, which rough gesture is Buck's own way of showing love for John Thornton?

Biting his hand hard enough to leave tooth marks is Buck's caress, and Thornton answers by shaking Buck's head and calling him rude names. Each understands the other perfectly.

Which title does The Call of the Wild give its opening chapter, in which Buck is stolen and broken in?

Into the Primitive is the first of seven chapter titles that trace Buck's change step by step. The last of them, The Sounding of the Call, covers his final break with people.

Which American magazine first ran The Call of the Wild as a five-part serial before the book appeared?

The Saturday Evening Post paid $750 for the story, which its author had planned as a 4,000-word tale before it ran to 32,000 words.

Which illness forced the author of The Call of the Wild to leave the Yukon after a single winter?

Scurvy swelled his gums after months without fresh produce, so he rafted 2,000 miles down the Yukon River to begin the journey home.

Which steep pass into the Yukon do Buck's team and the real-life author of The Call of the Wild both cross?

Chilkoot is the divide Buck's team climbs on its first day on the trail. The novel's author hauled his own gear over it in 1897, carrying heavy loads on his back.

Which star of the 1935 film of The Call of the Wild played a prospector opposite Loretta Young?

Clark Gable's version took considerable liberties with the book, enlarging Thornton's role, and was the first talking picture made from the story.

How was Buck brought to the screen in the 2020 film of The Call of the Wild?

Computer animation created Buck, with performer Terry Notary supplying the motion-capture acting. The digital dog's look was scanned from a real adopted dog.

In The Call of the Wild, where in a sled team does the dog known as the wheeler run?

At the very back, right in front of the sled, is the wheeler's place. Buck starts out harnessed just ahead of the wheeler, who nips him whenever he makes a mistake.

The Call of the Wild reflects which literary movement of Émile Zola, concerned with heredity versus environment?

Naturalism treats characters as products of instinct and surroundings, which is what the novel tests by dropping a ranch pet into the Yukon. Buck survives on what he inherits and what he learns.

The Call of the Wild began as a companion piece to which darker dog story by the same author?

Bâtard ends with the dog killing its master, and the new story was meant to redeem the species. A magazine had first printed the earlier tale under the title Diable – A Dog.

The Call of the Wild opens with four lines from which John Myers O'Hara poem, first printed in The Bookman?

Atavism means a throwback to ancestral traits, and the borrowed stanza previews the whole plot: old longings stirring a tamed creature out of its sleep.