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Jack London's The Call of the Wild analysis
Jack London's The Call of the Wild analysis
A literary analysis of Call of the Wild by Jack London
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Imagine this: Gold was just discovered in the Yukon Territory of Canada, and many gold miners rush to the North to see if they can strike rich. However, in order to do so, they need big, strong dogs with warm coats to protect them from the biting cold. As a result, a dog from the sunny state of California is dog napped and taken to be sold to anyone who is willing to buy him. When the dog is sold, he is shipped to the cold North. As he gets out of the boat, a chilling wind runs past him and, he realizes that he isn’t in California anymore. As the dog continues to live life with the other sled dogs, he realizes that in the North only the toughest can survive. The very same happens to Buck, a half St. Bernard and half sheepdog, in Jack London’s novella The Call of the Wild. Buck lives a very comfortable life on Judge Miller’s estate in the Santa Clara Valley of California. However, when the Klondike Gold Rush occurs, many men are in need of strong dogs like Buck. Manuel, the gardener, kidnaps Buck in order to pay off his lottery debts. Buck is then shipped to different parts of the Western Coast of the U.S. When he arrives in Seattle, he gets in a fight with a dog trader in a red sweater, which teaches him that he must obey men with clubs. Buck is sold to Francois and Perrualt, French mail carriers, and is shipped to the North. As Buck lives in the North, he begins to get in touch with his wild side. Buck is given to many different owners, until he finally meets John Thornton. He loves Thornton and wishes to stay with him forever, but on a hunting trip for gold, Buck begins to hear the call of the wild beckon to him louder and louder. He finds himself having to choose whether to stay with Thornton or go out into the wild. However, t...
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...ving on things that lived, unaided, alone, by virtue of his own strength and prowess, surviving triumphantly in a hostile environment where only the strong survive.” (56) As Buck is hunting, he realizes that the only way to survive in the North is by being stronger than anything else. He notices that the only reason that he is still alive is because he is a strong killer.
All in all, The Call of the Wild is a classic example of Naturalism because it contains many characteristics of Naturalism like the time, the geographical location, and the concept of survival of the fittest. From Buck’s first encounter with snow to him joining a pack of wild wolves, Naturalism is always present in The Call of the Wild. The examples of Naturalism in The Call of the Wild help show the reader the changes in Buck from a tame pet to a wild animal and the reasons for those changes.
The point of view of Call of the Wild is a combination of Buck’s perspective and a human’s perspective on Buck’s situation in the human world. Most often, the perspective of the story is third-person in Buck’s point of view. This perspective enables the reader to feel what it's like to be a dog and to experience that point of view. I understand how it feels for a dog like Buck. Here London shows Buck’s experience with the new vicious dogs:
Buck undertook the mission of learning how to survive in the wild. Buck, a domesticated dog, was stolen and forced into the Klondike. He had to learn how to survive so he adapted by following the law of Club and Fang. He respected
A quick learner, he adapts well to the sled dog life. His heritage also helped him become accustomed to the harsh Klondike climate. Some difficulties such as sore feet and a voracious appetite set him back at the beginning, but he speedily overcomes them. Buck goes through several masters and many thousands of miles. Along the way, he learns “The Law of Club and Fang”: never challenge a human that has a weapon, and once a fighting dog falls to the ground, roaming huskies quickly destroy it.
In Alaska, Buck is sold to become a sled dog. Intelligent and hard working, he quickly learns to adapt to his new life. He becomes a good sled dog, working as part of the team; he also learns how to protect himself from the miserable cold, burrowing under the snow, and how to find food, stealing if necessary. He also learns he must always be alert, for there are dangers everywhere. Additionally, Buck learns the law of the whip, for if he does not obey the driver or do his fair share of pulling, he will be popped.
Throughout the novella London uses various figurative language techniques to portray Buck’s gain of knowledge of the wild. From the beginning of the novella Buck’s life is easy and calm, then when he is forced to become a sled dog he is disorientated and is confused to what is happening. He progressively learns more things about the real world and starts to understand it. At the start of the novella London shows that at Judge Miller’s house he is the king and he is the one in charge. This is show when London writes “And over this great demesne Buck ruled.”. Lat...
Jack London’s classic novel, Call of the Wild, published in 1903, has been subject to censorship attempts. The most notable attempts of censorship are centered in Nazi Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. The banning of Call of the Wild in these places has been for varying reasons but the predominant reason behind all the attempts is because of “[Jack London’s] socialist sympathies.”1 However, “violent portrayals [have also] led to the book’s banning”2 in different places other than Nazi Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union.
Important aspects of naturalism are the ideas that people are essentially animals responding to their basic urges without rational thought, and the insignificance of man to others and nature. In The Jungle, Sinclair portrays Jurgis as a man slowly changing into animal as well as a man whose actions are irrelevant to the rest of the corrupt capitalist world of Chicago in order to show the reader the naturalist ideas of the struggles between man and society.
First off, Buck shows an act of heroism when he backs up and defends John Thornton at a bar. A very evil-tempered and malicious man named Burton was trying to pick a fight with the tenderfoot at the bar, and John Thornton came in between the two men. Without warning, Burton struck Thornton across the face. Instantly Buck hurled himself into Burton. “Those who were looking on heard what was neither bark nor yelp, but a something which is best described as a roar, and they saw Buck’s body rise up in the air as he left the floor for Burton’s throat” (87). Buck had to be pried off of Burton, so he didn’t kill him. Buck almost killed a man who only punched Thornton. If Buck had no civilization in him like critics said, he wouldn’t have defended his master. It even said in the book, “But his reputation was made, and from that day his name spread through every camp in Alaska” (87). This reputation he made was, “If you set a finger on John Thornton and Buck was around, be ready to get your head ripped off”. The only reason he had this reputation was because of the intense love he had for his owner, and a
When Jack London wrote "To Build a Fire" he embraced the idea of naturalism because it mirrored the events of daily life. Naturalism showed how humans had to be wary at every corner because at anytime death could be there, waiting for them to make a mistake and forfeit their lives. He used naturalism, the most realistic literary movement, to show how violent and uncaring nature really is and how no matter what you do nature will always be there. London also presented the basic idea of Darwinism and the survival of the fittest, basically if you are dumb you will die. Collectively, London used naturalism to show how in life, humans can depend on nothing but themselves to survive. "To Build a Fire" is a short story that embodies the idea of naturalism and how, if one is not careful, nature will gain the upper hand and they will perish.
Jack London wrote the novel The Call of the Wild; it was also his first success (Feast). The Call of the Wild is an exciting beast fable which dramatizes the unforgiving harshness of existence but shows that suffering can lead to heroic self-awareness (Buckner). London was big on the philosophical idea of Naturalism. As well as having links with literary naturalism, "The Call of the Wild is also a mythical book informed throughout with such traditional myths as the Myth of the Hero." Although Buck is always a dog throughout the story, his predicament is highly relevant to the human condition in a novel beginning with concise patterns of description and moving toward an increasingly lyrical style (Williams). The protagonist of The Call of the Wild is a dog named Buck. He's part German Sheppard and half Saint Bernard, he's labeled the "hero" of the story. The story takes place primarily in the Klondike region of Alaska except for in the first chapter it takes place in the Santa Clara Valley of California. The story is centrally focused around Buck; if it wasn't for him not having any speaking parts the reader would think he was a human because of the personality traits he possesses. In this paper we will discuss traits such as Buck's ability to adapt, Buck's bravery, his mental and physical strength, his loyalty and love and his instinct of the wild.
To conclude, naturalism has many definitions and characteristics. It was a powerful movement which suggested the role and influence of the environment, one’s background, and one’s social status had in shaping human character. The major characteristics of it include the environments power or control over humans, objective science, instinct, pessimism, and detachment.
In The Call of the Wild, Buck finds comfort in his relationships with man. When he is initially removed from Judge Miller's house in Santa Clara Valley, he is given his first exposure to the wild where, "every moment life and limb were in peril" (London 31). But soon he finds himself not entirely ready to leave civilization and answer the call of the wild, because he must first experience love. Buck establishes a relationship with John Thornton, and "love, genuine passionate love, was his for the fir...
When Jack London created the dynamic character Buck in The Call of the Wild, he made the dog in his
survive was to listen, watch and learn. Buck wanted to be the leader and fought for what
Another tool that London uses to make this a great story is the way he uses the character of the dog to illustrate the failings of the main character. He describes the dog as a simple creature, a product of its instincts. The dog knows of the foolishness of being out in the open, and only wants to shelter itself from the cold. Because of the cold the dog "experienced a vague but menacing apprehension that subdued it and made it slink along at the man's heel," (L...