Jack London in The Call of the Wild uses the story of the dog Buck as a dramatization of his belief that there is a "primordial beast" within each of us that can be evoked given the right circumstances. This is what happens to Buck, a civilized dog who is taken from the home he has known and placed in a deadly, cold, and primitive environment and forced more and more to fend for himself, to defend himself against the encroachments of friend and foe alike, and for whom self-preservation becomes the most important and immediate value. As Buck is transformed from a civilized dog to a wild animal, so would a human being placed in the same situation find that his or her civilized trappings were striped away to reveal the savage living inside the veneer.
The book begins with a poem that sets the stage and defines the theme:
Wakens the ferine strain (London 5).
This "ferine strain" is the primordial instinct that lies within us all, and this poem notes that this strain is always chafing at the bit, ready to emerge from "custom's chain," to emerge from the "brumal sleep," or state of hibernation, in which it normally is found. The implication is clear that this strain is always present and is only sleeping. We may think we have eliminated it, but we will find that it can be brought to the forefront when circumstances permit.
This would mean nothing to Buck, who serves here as an unwitting example, a creature affected by various forces but unable to understand them. This is made clear in the first line:
Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tide-water dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego (London 5).
Buck is taken from the warm home he has always known and is sent north to be trained. He does not understand why Manuel takes him away from the house, nor why he is then nearly strangled and taken...