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Analysis Of Jack London's'The Call Of The Wild
Analysis Of Jack London's'The Call Of The Wild
A literary analysis of Call of the Wild by Jack London
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The Naturalistic Ideals of Jack London As an adolescent, Jack London led an impoverished life and struggled to earn more money to support himself and his mother. In an attempt to find a small fortune, London joined the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. Unfortunately, he returned home penniless. However, his adventures in the Yukon provided him the most epic experiences that guided him into writing some of his most famous, widely acclaimed literary works. His novels focus primarily on naturalism, a type of literature in which the characters are shaped by their environment through the practice of scientific principles. The author centralizes his themes around this literary technique. Jack London’s naturalistic portrayal of his characters explores the brutal truth of humans versus animals and the struggle for survival. Jack London’s use of an animal’s perspective allows the readers to fully understand how the harsh landscapes of the Klondike influenced the individual; this strategy exemplifies the naturalism evident among many of his works. For example, in London’s The Call of the Wild, the environmental conditions that occur shape the main character’s destiny and his inability to control these changes. The protagonist is a dog named Buck who is forced to adapt to the austere conditions of the Yukon after being stolen from his pampered life in civilization and sold to a sled team en route to the Klondike Gold Rush. This journey proves to be extremely difficult when Buck faces several obstacles, such as being beaten with a club and the fierce rivalry between him and the nefarious pack leader Spitz. “Yet, by following his instincts, Buck takes his readers to the deepest reaches of the mind…” (“London, Jack”). He cannot control his fate; ... ... middle of paper ... ... at these low temperatures and tries to hold back. The man ushers on and because of his foolish ego, he falls victim to it and freezes to death. In this story, the man’s arrogant choice to counter the dangerous terrain of the Yukon reveals that nature cannot be tamed under any circumstances. “The animal, a creature of instinct untainted by pride, is better adapted to the environment than the man” (Welsh). Famous for being an influential, key author in American literature, Jack London’s literary works resemble an accurate depiction of the rigid setting and reality of nature that reflects his own adventures in the Yukon. Because of his naturalistic ideals, the audience is able to examine the beliefs of Darwin and how it plays an important role in survival. Thus, London takes another step into the genre of adventure stories that drive him toward his ultimate success.
Billy and his hounds face unexpected struggles each time they hunt. For example, there is always a battle to catch the coons. The first time Billy goes hunting, the hounds tree a coon in the biggest sycamore tree in the forest. For two whole days, Billy chips away at the tree until it finally falls down and the coon is caught. Billy is hot, exhausted, and aches all over. Another example of man versus nature is the weather during the Championship Coon Hunt. During this hunt, Billy and his hounds face a terrible blizzard. The winter weather is described as roaring and “the north wind seemed to be laughing at us” (202). The wind blows and the snow falls so fast that the Earth is instantly covered. Even the hounds have to stay in constant motion to keep from freezing to death. The biggest conflict occurs at the end of the story. Billy and his hounds encounter their biggest opponent, a mountain lion. All alone, they struggle with the wild creature that Billy refers to as a “devil cat” (226). The mountain lion has “yellow slitted eyes that burned with hate” (226). Billy watches as his hounds and the mountain lion tear at each other and fight till the end.
Christopher McCandless had always admired the works of Jack London. He even went as far as naming Jack London “king”. McCandless relished the naturalisitc elements of London’s writings, elements that he chose to ignore in his own life. Jack London often depicted men as being controlled by their environment and being unable to withstand any heavy circumstances. He depicted themes about the frailty of man and man’s inability to overcome nature. But McCandless clearly did not take away any of the valuable lessons from these stories. He hailed London as “king” but never truly learned from London’s stories, dying in a tragically ironic way when he came to meet the same fate as the protagonist in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”. Christopher McCandless
Even when all of his surroundings are obviously against him, he continues to push forward and try to survive. When all of his hope was gone, he continued to remain calm and somewhat clear headed. London’s experiences while living in the Klondike helped him capture the essence of the wilderness, and put it in grave detail to influence the outcome and fate of his characters lives. Works Cited London, Jack. To build a fire.
When we think of civilization, what comes to mind? Some might think of etiquette, compassion, and many other concepts of that nature. These are the things that people have come to accept as proper human behaviors. However, what of our more primitive instincts? Things that are often frowned upon such as pride, gut-instincts, and looking out for ourselves first are some of our most basic human needs. People in the modern world would like to rely more on teamwork and recognition that pride and independence. They prefer to trust logic and scientific reasoning in place of trusting what we believe to be right. They also seem to want us to help everyone around us before we do anything to help ourselves. In London’s The Call of the Wild, primitive nature is not something to be feared and overcome, but rather something to be utilized and fulfilled.
Jack London was one of America’s greatest authors. His works were of tales from the unexplored savage lands of the Klondike to the cannibal infested Philippine Island chain of the vast Pacific, and even the far reaches of space and time. Jack London himself was a pioneer of the unexplored savage frontier. London wrote about this unknown frontier with a cunning sense of adventure and enthrallment. “He keeps the reader on tenterenters books by withholding facts in a way that makes him participate in the action'; (Charles Child Walcutt 16). He taunts the reader with unfulfilled information that subliminally encourages the reader to continue reading their selection. “The tortuously baroque style, it’s telling often proves an annoyance';(Gorman Beauchamp 297-303). London’s writing attributes are so deep in description and narration, the reader sometimes perceives the story-taking place with them included in the action. His ability to exclude just the very miniscule amount of information transforms his books into a semi-formal mystery. Mr. London’s tales deal with nature, the men and women who either neglected the fact that they are mere mortals, or they humbled themselves as being only a solitary one being on the earth. His stories satisfied the civilized American readers yearn for knowledge of what awaited them over the horizon, with either promise of prosperity or demise with a manifestation of dismay.
Natural landscape almost entirely affects the course of McCandless’ life and journey as it attracts young adults such as McCandless and provide the obstacles needed for growth and revelations of reality. In the epigraph of Jack London’s White Fang, the wild is admittedly “the savage, frozen-hearted Northland Wild” where the land is personified to be “the masterful and incommunicable wisdom of eternity laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life”(9). The contrast of Jack London’s warning of the brutality of the wild and McCandless’ attraction to nature emphasizes the irony of McCandless’ glorification of Jack London. McCandless’ idealist nature causes him to mostly admire the grandeur and philosophical nature that the wild is described
In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”, an unknown man is traveling alone in the extremely dangerous weather of seventy-five degrees below zero along Yukon Trail. Despite being warned about the dangers; he was bent on reaching his destination at the boy’s camp on Henderson Creek. Nevertheless, he tried many things to help keep his body warm but everything he tried failed. Close to death, he finally realized that it was impossible to survive this journey without a partner. The theme illustrates that sometimes it’s best to listen to others advice because everyone isn’t able to defeat nature.
Jack London is the name you can hear everywhere, his writing appealed to millions of people all around the world. London was an American novelist and short-story writer, who wrote passionately about questions of life and death, surviving. The writer had a lot of adventures, experienced the life at sea, or in Alaska, or in the fields and factories of California, all of these influenced his writing style. Jack London descended from the family of his mother Flora and astrologer and journalist William Chaney. The writer has got his education by himself and with help of a librarian Ina Coolbrith - he has a passion to read books at public libraries. Later in life, Jack finally graduated from high school in Oakland. Jack London's work carrier was so variable, he has been a laborer, factory worker, and oyster pirate on the San Francisco Bay, member of the California Fish Patrol, sailor, railroad hob, and gold prospector. Yes, gold prospecting was the big part of his life, when the young writer with his brother-in-law sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he would set his first successful stories. Jack London was a hard-worker, he tried never miss his early morning 1,000-word writing stint, what helped him to write over fifty books between 1900 and 1916. In addition to it, he corresponded with his readers, and made huge researches for improving his writing style, what is, obviously, genius. The consequences of such a hard work became the fact that Jack London had become the best selling, highest paid and most popular American author of his time. Many authors and social advocates have been inspired by Jack London’s heartfelt prose, and readers travel and experience so much through his books.
Jack London creates a setting that is hostile and “cold”. The story is set in the wilderness of the frozen Yukon, during the harsh winter months, when “there was no sun nor hint of sun” in the sky. The character that London introduces is isolated from the world. “The man” doesn't have a companion; only the dog that follows him.
Through his teen years he wrote short stories all through high school and college. (The world of Jack London) Jack was a talented writer who got caught up in certain myths that eventually destroyed him. (Jack London Biography) His life was short, but he accomplished many different stories in his lifetime. PUT ALL OF THE CALL OF THE WILD STUFF HERE His most famous book was “The Call of the Wild”, it is a story about a dog in comfort, living in Southern California. It is a fiction story, but it relates to people across the world. It is a very entertaining
A love for a furry companion is often cited of a depth of character. In the Call of the Wild Jack London authors a fictional novel about the treatment of animals by humans. In the novel, the main character turns from civilized to primitive. Jack London conveys a theme that one can judge a person's character based on their treatment of animals.
To understand Jack London’s writing, the reader must know his life. Born as John Griffith Chaney on January 12, 1876, in San Francisco, California, baby Jack was deserted by his astrologist father. His mother struggled to provide for him and his stepfather from whom he got the last name, London. Jack’s mother was a spiritual woman by the name of Flora Wellman, or Flora London. Flora was raised in a house with eight other
Throughout the novel The Call of the Wild there were numerous forms of naturalism shown. With naturalism, the reader is able to understand that bad things happen in life. In the novel The Call of the Wild Jack London said Buck endured many hardships, including fighting with other dogs on the team, being beaten by the man in the red sweater, and killing other dogs but refused to give up.
He read many philosophical books and his philosophical thoughts were greatly influenced by the four great teachers of him: Darwin, Spencer, Marx and Nietzsche. London believed in Darwin's evolutionary theory of “survival of the fittest.” He studied other writers and began to submit stories, jokes, and poems to various publications, mostly without success. “Fate brought him the answer and gold was found in Klondike” (Pizer, 1984). On July 12, 1897, London and his brother-in-law, James Shepard, sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he would later set his first successful stories. London's time in the Klondike, however, was quite detrimental to his health. Fortunately London survived the hardships of the Klondike. Spending the winter of 1897 in the Yukon provided the metaphorical gold for his first stories. There he got familiar with the northern life and especially with kinds of dogs. The materials he collected there prepared him for the writing of his two famous novels The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906) and his other early works that are a series of short stories called “northern stories”. Most of them are adventurous stories set in a primitive
Author of Call of the Wild, Jack London, blends characteristics of his own life into his novels. After experiencing the Klondike Gold rush in 1897, Jack London wrote Call of the Wild based on his experiences, and that managed to spark London’s writing career. The short novel Call of the Wild displays Buck’s life transitioning from a “lazy sun-kissed life” into tough manual labor of the Klondike Gold rush in the harsh winter (London 8). Using elements of his challenging childhood, his passion for travel, and belief in Darwinism, Jack London used many aspects of his life in his novels.