The Paradox Of Humanity In London's The Call Of The Wild

And in the description of this thrill of the chase, the joy, the ecstasy of living. London evinces a significant materialistic attitude that links him profoundly with the naturalists. Buck becomes the epitome of London’s own materialistic impulses, in his exulting in the joy of living, the joy of life for its own sake. For Buck is also “mastered by the verb ‘to live’,” in precisely the same manner of Jan, the Unrepentant, and Sturgis Owens, and Scruff Mackenzie all human protagonist in London’s first short stories. London depicted Wolf Larsen, a man, in similar terms. Here it is Buck, the dog, who finds the life-urge the sense of impulse, the will to live, dominating all else.

There is an ecstasy that marks this summit of life, and beyond which life

Cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one

Is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness of that one alive. This

Ecstasy this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist, caught up and . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . , expressing itself in

The universe determined scientifically by heredity and environment was wrought masterfully in the novel. The use of Buck was London’s portrayal of the “beast.” Buck’s transformation from a domesticated, gentle dog into dominant primordial beast was inevitable because of the naturalistic universe. Buck’s heredity and environment force him to or to be killed. The amiable Buck was kidnapped from Judge Miller’s California ranch by Manuel, a ranch-hand man, and sold. Then Buck was transported to the Yukon to be used in a dog team which was run by Perrault, a French Canadian. Buck learned quickly that he would have to adapt in order to survive. Buck was cruelly treated in the beginning of the book. After Perrault sold him, he was almost killed by his new master. John Thornton, his final owner, saved him from this cruel