level 2 Teacher’s notes Teacher Support Programme

The Call of the Wild

Jack London Chapter 3: Life in the icy North is dangerous. Wild dogs
attack the camp and the sledge dogs fight with each other
all the time. The ice breaks and there are accidents. Spitz,
the most important dog, hates Buck. They fight and Buck
breaks Spitz’s leg. The other dogs attack Spitz. Buck is the
most important dog now.
Chapter 4: Buck takes Spitz’s place as the leader. The
men are very happy with the trip, but when they arrive
at Skaguay they sell the dogs to a Scottish man. The dogs
start working for the Canadian Mail Company. The work
is exhausting. One of the dogs, Dave, gets very ill and has
to be killed.
Chapter 5: As the dogs are exhausted and there are
Summary letters to be delivered, the Scottish man sells the dogs to
Buck is a strong dog who lives a comfortable life with a Charles and Hal, two Americans who do not understand
family in California. One day his world is changed forever. life in the North. The two men and a woman, Mercedes,
A man who works for his owner steals Buck and sells force the dogs to work very hard and don’t give them
him. It is the time of the gold rush and people pay lots of enough food. Several dogs die. Buck can’t go on and Hal
money for dogs to work in wild and dangerous regions of hits him, but a man called Thornton saves him. Though it’s
Alaska and western Canada. spring and the ice is thin, the men, Mercedes, their dogs,
After some unpleasant experiences, Buck finds himself in and their heavy sledge go across the river. The ice breaks
Alaska, where his new owners train him to pull a sledge. and they disappear into the icy water.
Buck learns the ways of his tough new life, fights for Chapter 6: Buck gets stronger and learns to love
survival, and becomes the top dog on the sledge team. Thornton. He is happy with him, his other dogs and his
Then the team of dogs is bought by a mail company and friends Hans and Pete. One day an angry man fights
has to work so hard that after a month the dogs are worn Thornton in a bar and Buck attacks him. Another time,
out. Thornton and Buck fall into a fast river and Buck saves his
Two cruel and inexperienced men buy Buck. The result of friend’s life. He then wins a bet for Thornton: he pulls a
the men’s ignorance is a terrible disaster that Buck luckily very heavy sledge and gets a thousand dollars for him.
escapes thanks to Thornton, a man he comes to love. Chapter 7: Thornton and his friends go East and find
But when Thornton is killed by Indians, Buck becomes a gold. Buck doesn’t have any work. He makes friends with
completely wild animal, living in the forests and mountains the wolves and hears the call of the wild. He learns to kill
with his friends, the wolves. animals and eat them. One day he follows and kills a big
Chapter 1: Buck lives happily at Mr. Miller’s house in moose and stays by the dead animal eating and sleeping.
California, until Manuel, one of Mr. Miller’s workers, steals When he goes back to the camp, he finds everyone is
him and sells him. Buck is taken to San Francisco and then dead. Indians are dancing in the camp. Buck attacks them
to Seattle and he is beaten with a club until he learns and kills several of them. He then joins the wolves. He is
to obey. Then he is sold again. Two men, Perrault and a dangerous animal now, but he often goes back to the
François, take Buck and other strong dogs to Alaska. place where the camp had been and howls sadly.

Chapter 2: Buck must learn to live in the wild, where

dogs work hard and fight to the death. He learns to pull a About the author
sledge, make a warm bed under the snow, and eat quickly Jack London, whose real name was John Griffith Chaney,
so that other dogs don’t eat his food. He soon becomes was born in San Francisco, in the United States, in 1876.
stronger and wilder. He had little formal schooling, but his extensive life
experiences included being a laborer, a factory worker, a
sailor, a rancher, a journalist, and a gold prospector.

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The Call of the Wild

He married twice but his one child lived for only a few Chapter 1
hours. Before reading
1 Discuss: Have students discuss dogs in their culture.
By his death at the age of forty in 1916, Jack had suffered
• Do people like dogs here / in our country / in this
a vast number of health problems for years. city/town/village?
London was in favor of socialism and women’s suffrage. • Is there a dog in your house? Does the dog live inside
the house with the family? Or does it live in the
He was a controversial personality who was often in the
garden? Do you play with it? What does it eat?
news, as well as a best-selling and prolific writer. Millions • Are there dogs in the street? What do they eat?
of readers have been thrilled by his stories of adventure, 2 Write: Have students complete a chart with simple
often based on personal experiences, where he shows words and phrases.
the struggles of people and animals against adversity. What is the difference between family dogs and wild
dogs? Complete and compare.
Family dogs Wild dogs
The original text
Published in 1903, The Call of the Wild was originally
entitled The Sleeping Wolf. London was a gold prospector
in the Yukon Territory himself. He left San Francisco on
July 25, 1897, and staked a claim on Henderson Creek in
November 1897, but soon had to go back home due to
illness. Although he had not found much gold, he gained
invaluable experience from which he drew material for After reading
his novels and stories. 3 Guess: Ask students to imagine the following.
• What will Buck do in Alaska?
• Who will be his friends? Who will he fight with?
Background and themes Why?
The Call of the Wild is the story of how a domestic dog • Will Perrault and François find gold?
changes into a wild animal. This change is brought about Chapter 2
through a series of events over which the dog has no After reading
control. It is the people he belongs to and the places he 4 Check: What did Buck learn during his first days in
finds himself in which cause him to change. Alaska? Have students make a list. Use questions to
help them.
This story presents several themes related to values: * What can dogs do with a harness? What must dogs
do when men shout “Mush!” and “Ho!”?
Survival: How does the environment in which we live
* Can dogs sleep inside, with the men? Where can they
affect our values and behavior? Is violence justified in find a warm place to sleep?
extreme conditions? * Did Buck eat quickly? Does he eat slowly now? Why
not? Where can dogs get more food?
Ambition: To what lengths are people ready to go in their
5 Discuss: Ask students to talk in pairs about “life
search for gold? teachers,” and then share their ideas with the class.
Animal rights: Is it right to force dogs to work until they Who are Buck’s teachers in the North?
Are they good teachers?
are almost dead (even to win a bet)? Is it justifiable to beat
them with clubs to train them to obey? Chapter 3
Domesticity vs. wildness: Is there a wild animal in After reading
6 Read carefully: Have students make a list of the
all animals? How deep are the civilizing effects of names of the sledge dogs mentioned in Chapter 3.
compassion, gentleness, and love? In the natural world, are Who are Buck’s friends? Who hates Buck?
these qualities useful at all? 7 Discuss: Ask students their opinion about leaders.
Then they check if their opinions match the story as
they read Chapter 4.
Discussion activities Why is Buck the most important dog now? What can he
The following teacher-led activities aim at discussion and do? Can Buck be a good boss? Why?
extension.

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The Call of the Wild

Chapter 4 Chapters 6–7
Before reading After reading
8 Guess: Ask students to read the words in italics 14 Discuss: Have the students talk about animals and
under the title and imagine the following. people. Divide students into groups to discuss. Then
Why did François cry? What happened to the men? have a class discussion and see whether the others
agree.
While reading a Why does Buck love Thornton? Compare Thornton to
9 Guess: Have students guess what happened (after Buck’s other bosses. Why does Thornton love Buck?
reading pages 24–27). What does the dog do for him?
On page 27, we read: b Hal hits Buck and Thornton talks to the dog. How do
“But when they arrived at Skaguay, François and people usually teach animals? What is the best way?
Perrault’s plans changed. They had to leave Skaguay and c On page 49, Buck “started to feel something strange
the Yukon. inside him.” Is there something wild inside all dogs?
They had to sell the dogs quickly. François put his arms 15 Write: What happens next? Get students to imagine
around Buck’s neck and he cried. Buck never saw the Buck’s life in the wild.
two men again.” Did he make friends? Did he have to fight to survive?
Have students compare this information to their What did he eat?
predictions in the previous activity and to imagine the After discussing different possibilities, in pairs or in
missing information. small groups, get them to write a short “Chapter 8”
Why did François and Perrault change their plans? and share their versions with the class.
Why did they sell the dogs quickly and leave? Why was 16 Write: Have students change the ending. At what
François so sad? Where did they go after that? point in Chapter 7 can the story be different? In class
After reading or as homework, ask students to write an alternative
10 Write: Have students respond to the events in this ending to the story and share it with the rest of the
chapter as if they were one of the characters. class.
Suppose you are the Scottish Man. Write a short note to
your friends in Scotland about the trip. Explain what
happened to Dave and what you did.
Get them to discuss their ideas in pairs first and then
ask them to write the short note in class or as
homework.
Chapter 5
After reading
11 Discuss: Talk about people living in the wild. Hal and
Thornton fight like wild dogs. Ask students what they
think of their behavior.
What do you think of Hal?
Why doesn’t Hal listen to Thornton?
Is Thornton a good man?
Must Thornton stop Hal?
12 Role play: Discuss with students what the characters
would say to each other in the situation below. Then
get them to dramatize different short dialogues.
Hal, Charles and Mercedes are in Thornton’s camp.
Student A: You are Thornton. Help them get to Dawson.
Student B: You are Hal. You don’t listen to Thornton.
13 Guess: Have students talk about the picture on
page 37 imagine what is happening.
What is Thornton saying to Buck? Do you speak to dogs?
What can Thornton do to help Buck get stronger?

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