The Call of the Wild

The Call of the Wild

Everybody and everything has natural instincts within them, that’s why a book like The Call of the Wild is timeless. Jack London wrote this novel back in 1903 and it still has substance in it for the readers of today. Even though the whole book deals with a dog and his struggles to survive throughout a life filled with right and left turns every time he looks the other way, you are able to relate to his troubles. After reading the book and looking deeper into the context of what Jack was writing about I have found that this novel can have limitless meanings to number of different people. The Call of the Wild is a book filled with twists and turns that can be interpreted into multiple ways, but ultimately this is a book that deals with the struggle to adopt while trying to prove yourself to others and remaining happy all at the same time.

Before getting into the story aspect of the book, its important to look at the author and the time period the book was written in to maybe get a better understanding of the actual story. Jack London was born in San Francisco, California back in 1876 to a poor family who could barley make ends meet. He grew up in Oakland with his mother and stepfather and began working after he completed grade school to help support his family. London did so many odd jobs during that time period of his life that you can see why money would play an important in his story. Not only did he write about the Klondike gold rush, but he also went to the Yukon in hopes of striking it rich before writing the book. He was unsuccessful in finding wealth but he came back with something even better from the Yukon, ideas and stories for his novel The call of the Wild. “The novel's simple style and crude depiction of harsh realities in the frozen Klondike region appealed to a reading public tired of the sentimental, romanticized fiction that dominated the literary marketplace. At the same time, readers were drawn to it as an...