Jul 16, 2010 09:34 AM
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The hero of the book ‘the Call of the Wild’ Buck is a giant dog raised by Judge Miller in a mild valley in the warm south area of America who is sold to the north where the weather is severely cold and unpleasant as a sled dog and is compelled to lead a hard life, going through tons of agonies in order to survive. As a new participant of the intense surviving competition, Buck witnesses the cruel fighting between human and human, dog and dog, as well as the strong and the weak. He becomes an aggressive and canny beast, the leader of a wolf pack in the deep forest from what he used to be.
Not only Buck, but also the author of this fascinating story, Jack London, a great realism writer in late 19th century and early 20th century, is an incredible legend. And many of his experiences, his attitude towards life as well as his ideology are reflected in this book, ‘the Call of the Wild’.
The setting of the novel is Klondike gold rush in late 1800s. And in reality, Jack London did start his adventure of seeking fortune in Klondike gold rush in 1897. However suffering from scurvy, he had to compromise with his bad condition and gave up halfway. Despite of this unsuccessful attempt, he returned to San Francisco with a good knowledge of the north part with extreme weather, brand new exciting experience of struggling with the rushers and there dogs there, as well as his note book full of outlines of stories. Jack had a special love for dogs. He had a dog named Rollo when he was around 8 years old. And a big dog belonging to one of his friends during the gold-rushing adventure is the inspiration of Buck in this book.
During his staying in the winter camp along Yukon River near the Arctic, he read a lot of books including ‘Capital’ by Karl Max, ‘the Origin of Species’ by Darwin, and some books by Herbert Spencer, an English sociologist known as ‘father of social Darwinism’.
Because of his hard time in early life and the books by Karl Max, Jack London became a firmly communist. As the father of Proletarian Literature in America, he knew well about the miseries of the exploited class. He narrated the story from the eye of a dog, revealing the essence the human beings and the real world, as well as the brutal reality in capitalist society. We can notice the reflection of the influence on Jack London made by Karl Max, that the proletarian is oppressed by the organ of power, which is symbolized by the ‘club’ constantly appeared in the book.
Herbert Spencer’s Social Darwinism is a belief which states that the strongest or fittest should survive and flourish in society, while the weak and unfit should be allowed to die, which is totally accepted by Jack London. The ice world presented in book is a ‘swamp of despair’ where there’s no peace or coziness and life is always in danger. This reality makes it inevitable to follow the rule of survival of the fittest. In such environment, every means to survive is reasonable, no matter whether it’s fair or not. You have only two options: one is to struggle for survival, the other is to die.
Another great philosopher who has had effect on Jack London is Nietzsche(?), with whom Jack London had similar life steps. He is in accordance with Nietzsche in the theory of ‘the will to power’. Buck can start a sled with twenty fifty pound sacks of flour on it; he can slaughter all the Indians for revenge; he can fight for the leadership of the wild wolf pack.
These theories and ideologies are contradicted to each other in some aspects. Buck is cruel and slippery, and at the same time he is rather cute and sweet when puts his love on Thornton. The call of the wild is becoming stronger and stronger while he is enjoying of joy of loving and being together with a human being. Buck, the dog that represents the author’s inner world, is a character of contradiction.
‘I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.’(Jack London)
Jack London spent his entire life in pursuing those beliefs, which are also Buck’s virtues.
