Themes Of Civilization In Jack London's The Call Of The Wild

A major theme in Jack London’s classic book The Call of the Wild is that adaptability is essential for survival, which is what buck has to do to during most of the book. At the beginning of the book, Buck’s appearance changes, In the middle, his mental thinking changes, and At the end, his senses change so he can adapt to his new life in Alaska.

In his novel, The Call of the Wild, Jack London wants us to see the step beyond the survival of the fittest to the complete adaptation to and domination of a once unfamiliar and unforgiving environment. Using a third-person, limited omniscient narrator, the cold, icy Yukon wilderness, and a journey from lazy farm life to the deadly work of a sled dog, we see Buck, a Saint Bernard/Scotch Shepherd mix slowly return to his ancestral roots. As Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin states in her book The Call of the Wild: A Naturalistic Romance, “The book deals less with the concept of evolution than with that of devolution” (Courbin pg 57). London asks us to believe that happily domesticated farm dog, Buck, can not only survive life as a sled dog in the Yukon, but can become completely in tune with his primitive inner self, and ultimately thrive as a leader of a wolf pack.

Buck lost everything that he wants and everything that he loves. “The last tie was broken. Man and the claims of man no longer bound him.”(23). The quote explains he was free from the chains of man and love. The last of the domestic animal was gone and only there was the fierce wolf. Then came the blood lusting to kill whoever had murdered John Thornton, his handler and his lover. John Thornton had meant everything to him, Thornton was the reason he came back from the forest each time. He felt the grief of losing his loved one who he could not live without. The original Buck was gone he was replaced by the mighty wolf, the alpha of a wolf

On a train, he faced a man in a red sweater with a club in hand. Instinctively, Buck charged with fury and was beat into submission. A lesson was learned (although after a long time) that man were the people in charge. The next event that took place was when Buck was sold to two men named Francois and Perrault. Quickly he learned (unlike the train) that he best keep his act together unless he wanted to meet with another club.

Buck went through many different struggles throughout the book, Call of the Wild. For example, he was repeatedly abused by almost all of his owners. The man in the red sweater, would beat him with clubs. This made Buck feel weaker,

London’s novella Call of the Wild tells the story of Buck’s transformation from a domesticated pet on a vast Santa Clara Valley estate to the primal beast he becomes in the bitter regions of the Klondike wilderness. London delivers Buck’s journey in several key plot events and uses various settings and narration styles to tell the story in a way that allows a reader to easily become invested in Buck’s character and well-being from the viewpoint of a loyal and lovable pet, as well as, that of a creature returning to its primal roots and ancestry. Settings in Call of the Wild consist of generally harsh and vicious locations, situations previously unknown to Buck, and various hostile persons and dogs. As well as a variety of settings, London

This year’s summer reading options were marvelous. It was a hard choice to choose what book to read, but in the end, I chose The Call of the Wild by Jack London. The Call of the Wild was an adventurous tale about a dog named Buck and his adventures as he was sold into a harsh life of relentless labor in the cold and brutal North. The author of this classic novel, Jack London, was a short-story writer and a prolific American novelist. He was born in San Francisco, California. He was known for his other novels, The Sea Wolf and White Fang. I chose this particular novel because I love reading classic novels and it seemed to be an interesting and exciting story. Finally, this was the novel of my choice because it was recommended to me by my grandma.

The feisty protagonist heard the call and embraced the wild. Through his tale, The Call of the Wild, the struggles of Jack London’s life are displayed through the dog,

No matter how hard the human race tried to domesticate dogs, they will always end up back in the wild if they have a chance. Published by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division in 1999 with illustrations by Wendell Minor, The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, implicates irony through Buck's upbringing, Spitz's death, and losses and gains. Buck's upbringing is one of the major ironies in this classic. As his owners in San Diego pampered him and never let him starve, it is not the nature of dogs to let themselves be pampered and accept food that were not killed by themselves.

The Call of the Wild, on the surface, is a story about Buck, a four- year old dog that is part Shepherd and part St. Bernard. More importantly, it is a naturalistic tale about the survival of the fittest in nature. Throughout the novel, Buck proves that he is fit and can endure the law of the club, the law of the fang, and the laws of nature.

Jack London brings a natural instinct into the spotlight by defining that everyone has that primal call to the wild, and often one feels this when in a difficult situation. Giving into this ‘call of the wild’ leads to a different kind of adaptation, it makes you become primal to survive in a primal situation. Further into the book it states, “The others sat down and howled. And now the call came to Buck in unmistakable accents. He, too, sad down and howled.” (London, 1990, p.62). This is the defining moment of Jack’s book when Buck lets go of all ties to humans and decides to carve his own path, adapting the way he needs to, not the way that humans encouraged him. Soon, Buck changes himself completely to fit snugly into the environment and to prevent further torturous struggles with humans. These quotes combine to paint a picture of total and complete change when it comes to a new and unfavorable environment.

     After all that he had been through, one would hardly suppose that Buck could love a person. However, love he can and love he does. He loves John almost more than is possible; once, as a joke, John commanded Buck to “Jump!” over a cliff. A second later, he was struggling with Buck at the very edge of the precipice. They could happily live together for the rest of their lives...if it weren’t for “the call”.

First, Buck has to prove not only himself but also his strength. For example, Buck has to pull a 1,000 pound sled for 100 yards, in result of this he wins John and his new companions $1,600, which they take with them to look for gold. Since, Buck learns that he can do anything he puts his mind to, and he has the strength to carry on. Next, Buck has to adapt to being in the wild. For instance, Buck comes face to face with a black bear, moose, and wolverines. Since, Buck kills anything that is in way and adapts to all of the deadly situations. Last, Buck has to take care of himself after losing his master. For example, John after dies from getting attacked by the Yeehats Buck goes to where he died and howls once each year on the anniversary of his death. Since, Buck lives on with his life in the wild and is the leader of a wolf

The main themes of “The Call of the Wild” is adaptations and survival for the fittest (natural selection). Thorne uses this book to express his support for these two biological theories. In the book, the protagonist Buck, a domestic dog (pet), is taken away from the comforts of the wealthy human home, a judge's home, to the harsh outdoor conditions of the cold north. There, Buck life changes completely. Firstly, Buck suffers starvation during his transportation to the north. Buck, had never experienced this before. At the judge’s home, he used to have sufficient regular prepared

Call of the Wild is a novella written by Jack London that is ironic about life and the way we look at it. We look at life as humans and other things are just living in our world, that nothing else has a say in the world because we do not speak the same languages. Example of this is how we “own” dogs, cats, horses, etc; we do not “own” them, they are their own being with goals of their own. We may not be able to understand what they are saying or what they are thinking, but as London explains throughout his novella, one dog in particular has such high aspirations for himself that he will not quit for anything and his name is Buck. Never giving up on what you want in your life is the real message in this story that is being portrayed through the life of Buck.