Jack London's Call of the Wild

Jack London in The Call of the Wild uses the story of the dog Buck as a dramatization of his belief that there is a "primordial beast" within each of us that can be evoked given the right circumstances. This is what happens to Buck, a civilized dog who is taken from the home he has known and placed in a deadly, cold, and primitive environment and forced more and more to fend for himself, to defend himself against the encroachments of friend and foe alike, and for whom self-preservation becomes the most important and immediate value. As Buck is transformed from a civilized dog to a wild animal, so would a human being placed in the same situation find that his or her civilized trappings were striped away to reveal the savage living inside the veneer.

The book begins with a poem that sets the stage and defines the theme:

Wakens the ferine strain (London 5).

This "ferine strain" is the primordial instinct that lies within us all, and this poem notes that this strain is always chafing at the bit, ready to emerge from "custom's chain," to emerge from the "brumal sleep," or state of hibernation, in which it normally is found. The implication is clear that this strain is always present and is only sleeping. We may think we have eliminated it, but we will find that it can be brought to the forefront when circumstances permit.

This would mean nothing to Buck, who serves here as an unwitti

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ected, that his father was highly respected before him, and that the estate itself was large, with a country feel. However, this country is quite different from the wild. It is country that has been shaped by the human hand and that is still under human control, so Buck has no idea at all what the wilderness is really like. Similarly, the sort of people Buck knows from the Judge's home are very different from those he will encounter once he leaves it. The fact that the wolf is never far from the surface is clear as Buck begins early to show the ferocity that is within him but that he has never required before. as soon as the rope is tightened around his neck, he attacks: In quick rage he sprang at the man, who met him halfway, grappled him close by the throat, and with a deft twist threw him over on his back (London 7). He attacks again when he sees an opportunity, but when he reaches San Francisco, he is thrown into a crate and treated more like an animal than he has ever been. The next stop is where he is to be trained, and here he is beaten until he behaves as the trainer wishes. Buck is rapidly losing any link with his former civilized behavior just as he has completely lost all contact with the world from which he ca

Category: Literature - J