The Call of the Wild · Chapter
VII: The Sounding of the Call explained
Buck is torn between his deep love for John Thornton and the increasingly insistent call of the wild.
What happens
Buck is torn between his deep love for John Thornton and the increasingly insistent call of the wild. He ventures into the forest, encounters a wild wolf, and eventually runs with a wolf pack, but returns to Thornton. After two days of devotion, the call grows stronger, and Buck finally joins the pack, becoming a legendary Ghost Dog feared by the Yeehats. He periodically returns to the valley where Thornton died, howling mournfully before rejoining his pack.
Themes in this chapter
The Call of the Wild
Buck is irresistibly drawn to the wild, answering the howl of his wolf brother and eventually joining the pack, symbolizing his complete return to primal instincts.
Survival of the Fittest
Buck's transformation into a formidable predator—killing a bear, scattering wolverenes, and thriving alone—exemplifies the law of club and fang.
Love and Loyalty
Despite the call of the wild, Buck's love for John Thornton causes him to return to camp, showing the enduring bond between dog and master.
Characters to notice
- Buck
Buck experiences the powerful call of the wild, hunts and kills a bear, fights wolverenes, and ultimately joins a wolf pack, becoming a legendary Ghost Dog.
- John Thornton
Thornton is the object of Buck's deep affection; Buck returns to him after his first encounter with the wild wolf, but eventually leaves him for the pack.
- The Yeehats
The Yeehats note changes in the wolf breed and tell tales of a Ghost Dog that leads the pack, robs traps, and kills hunters.
Key passages
“He was a killer, a thing that preyed, living on the things that lived, unaided, alone, by virtue of his own strength and prowess, surviving triumphantly in a hostile environment where only the strong survived.”
Buck had become a pure predator, relying solely on his own strength and skill to survive in a harsh world where only the fittest endure.
Highlights Buck's complete adaptation to the wild and the theme of survival of the fittest.
“And here may well end the story of Buck. The years were not many when the Yeehats noted a change in the breed of timber wolves; for some were seen with splashes of brown on head and muzzle, and with a rift of white centring down the chest.”
This could be the conclusion of Buck's tale. Within a few years, the Yeehats observed that some timber wolves bore brown markings on their heads and muzzles, along with a white stripe down their chests.
Foreshadows Buck's legacy as he sires a new lineage of wolves.
“But more remarkable than this, the Yeehats tell of a Ghost Dog that runs at the head of the pack. They are afraid of this Ghost Dog, for it has cunning greater than they, stealing from their camps in fierce winters, robbing their traps, slaying their dogs, and defying their bravest hunters.”
Even more striking is the Yeehats' legend of a Ghost Dog leading the wolf pack, feared for its superior cunning, thievery, and ability to kill their dogs and hunters.
Describes Buck's transformation into a mythical figure in Yeehat lore.