History Literature / TheCallOfTheWild

** While there is little doubt that the brutally abusive "law of club and fang" tactics he describes as standard procedure were used by some people, they're not only unnecessary but ''profoundly stupid.'' Beating, shouting, and whipping dogs accomplishes one thing--creating a reactive, unstable dog that hates and fears you. Steady, consistent, humane treatment will always produce better results.

* A 1935 version starring Creator/ClarkGable and Creator/LorettaYoung.

* HandicappedBadass: Sol-Leks may be blind in one eye, but that doesn't make him any weaker. Buck learns this the hard way.

* KlingonPromotion: Subverted, Buck expects to be made lead dog after killing Spitz, but Pierre tries to put the more experienced Sol-Leks in front instead. Buck eventually gets his wish after making it clear that he won't accept any other position. [[spoiler: And at the end Buck takes over a wolf pack by [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership killing a few of the wolves]].]]

* KlingonPromotion: Subverted, Buck expects to be made lead dog after killing Spitz, but Pierre tries to put the more experienced Sol-Leks in front instead. Buck eventually gets his wish after making it clear that he won't accept any other position. [[spoiler: And at the end Buck takes over a wolf pack by [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority killing a few of the wolves]].]]

* PolarOppositeTwins: Billee and Joe. Billee is a good-natured fellow, while Joe is vicious and ruthless.

* RatedMForManly: Rated D for Dogly ?

* A 1996 animated version by Goodtimes Entertainment

** Wolf packs have no such thing as an "alpha" in the way portrayed in the novel; they are close-knit familial groups consisting of parents and several generations of that breeding pair's offspring, generally have very little internal conflict, and do not operate on a dominance-based system any animal could "take over" by force. (However, in London's defense, this view of pack hierarchy was [[ScienceMarchesOn shared by most scientists at the time.]]) For that matter, while dogs do form complicated social dynamics, they never operate in the clear-cut pecking order portrayed by London's work.

* BerserkButton:
** The book has a grizzled older sledding dog named Sol-Leks, with one blind eye. Buck, the mutt protagonist of the novel, takes a nasty bite when he approaches Sol-leks from his blind side and is careful never to do it again. Animals that are partially blind really will lash out of things that approach from their blind side.
** God have mercy on your soul if you hurt John Thornton in front of Buck, as evidenced by Black Burton and the Yeehats.

** Interestingly, another London story called "Batard" has a much more realistic portrayal of how dogs react to abuse; with hate and fear. The story ends with the titular dog killing his owner as vengeance for a lifetime of mistreatment. Arguably, this story could be seen as a Deconstruction of "Call of the Wild".

* FishOutOfWater: Buck goes from California to Alaska, over the course of the story he has to learn to either to adapt to his new lifestyle and surroundings die.

* BlackComedy: The novel has a moment after Thornton has acquired Buck and is curious about how much he trusts him and will follow his orders, they are camped next to a cliff and he spontaneously tells Buck to jump, only for him and his companions having to frantically grab Buck mid-jump.

* BlackComedy: The novel has a moment after Thornton has acquired Buck and is curious about how much he trusts him and will follow his orders, they are camped next to a cliff and he spontaneously tells Buck to jump, only for Thornton and his companions having to frantically grab Buck mid-jump.

* BlackComedy: The novel has a moment after Thornton has acquired Buck and is curious about how much he trusts him and will follow his orders, they are camped next to a cliff and he spontaneously tells Buck to jump, only for Thornton and his companions to frantically grab Buck mid-jump.

* BlackComedy: The novel has a moment after Thornton has acquired Buck and is curious about how much he trusts him and will follow his orders, they are camped next to a cliff and he decides to tell Buck to jump, only for Thornton and his companions to then having to grab Buck mid-jump.

* FishOutOfWater: Buck goes from California to Alaska, over the course of the story he has to learn to either to adapt to his new lifestyle and surroundings or die.

* BlackComedy: The novel has a moment after Thornton has acquired Buck and is curious about how much he trusts him and will follow his orders, they are next to a cliff and he decides to tell Buck to jump, only for Thornton and his companions to be then caught off guard and having to grab Buck mid-jump.

* BlackComedy: The novel has a moment after Thornton has acquired Buck and is curious about how much he trust him and will follow his orders, they are next to a cliff and he decides to tell Buck to jump, only for Thornton and his companions to be then caught off guard and having to grab Buck mid-jump.

* BlackComedy: The novel has a moment after Thornton has acquired Buck and is curious about how much he trust him and will follow his orders, they are next to a cliff and he decides to tell Buck to jump, him and his companions then frantically grab Buck mid-jump.

* BlackComedy: The novel has a moment after Thornton has acquired Buck as has is curious about how much Buck blindly trusts him, they are next to a cliff and he tells Buck to jump, only for him and his companions to frantically grab Buck who was mid-jump.

* StarterVillian: Although Spitz is Buck's sworn [[ArchEnemy arch-nemesis]] for a significant portion of the book, the story still has a long way to go after [[spoiler: his demise.]]

** Wolf packs have no such thing as an "alpha" in the way portrayed in the novel; they are close-knit familial groups consisting of parents and several generations of that breeding pair's offspring, generally have very little internal conflict, and do not operate on a dominance-based system any animal could "take over" by force. For that matter, while dogs do form complicated social dynamics, they never operate in the clear-cut pecking order portrayed by London's work.

** Buck slaughters almost every Yeehat in the village after they [[spoiler:kill John Thornton and his companions]]. In fact, he gets so angry that he dodges every arrow from the hunters and makes thems kill each other by accident.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Buck comes upon an elk late in the story, he notices that it has an arrow sticking in it's body. [[spoiler: This is the only hint at all that there are in fact Indians in the area.]]

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Yeehats, a fictional Native American tribe who kill anyboy who goes near the Yukon gold vein in their territory. [[spoiler: They massacre John Thornton's party and then perform a dance in celebration, which leads to Buck's RoaringRampageOfRevenge described below.]]

* [[Film/TheCallOfTheWild2020 A live-action film with a CGI dog coming out in 2020]] directed by Creator/ChrisSanders and starring Creator/HarrisonFord.