《美国文学论文The Call of the Wild.doc》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《美国文学论文The Call of the Wild.doc（6页珍藏版）》请在三一文库上搜索。
1、The Call of the WildAbstractIn this paper, it introduces survival is the only imperative in the cold Klondike area of Canada a world which full of massacres and where only the strong prosper. Then the strong or weak of ones own strength determine a destiny of whether to be the strong or not, to gain
2、 the mastery in this wilderness. In this article, protagonist buck realizes a cruel laws through a red sweater man with a club, which is might makes right, the reign of the law in the wild. This might not only the expression of mental but of the sublimated physical aspect. All perspectives of might
3、make right conduct in-depth study have important theoretical and practical value. The article tells different comprehension about the thought of might makes right from different characters in third-person narrator, they get to know and size the need of might through their perspectives that this pers
4、pectives that this kind of strength relates owners right all the time in any situation, no matter in wilderness or in the civilized society.Key words Buck, right, survival, wildernessBrief introduction about the author and the bookThe Call of the Wildis a novel by American writerJack London ，he is a
5、 worldwide renowned novelist. His stories successfully reflect the contradictory views of mans nature and destiny in and against the wild, and his fight to survive notion has gained him and his works timeless popularity, particularly, the Call of the Wild Published in 1903,The Call of the Wildis Lon
6、dons most-read book, and it is generally considered his best, the masterpiece of his so-called early period.Because theprotagonistis a dog, it is sometimes classified as a juvenile novel, suitable for children, but it is dark in tone and contains numerous scenes of cruelty and violence. PlotBuck, a
7、Saint Bernard-Shepherd dog, lives a comfortable life in the Santa Clara Valley with his owner, Judge Miller. One day, Manuel, the Judges gardeners assistant, steals Buck and sells him in order to pay a gambling debt. Buck is then shipped to the man in the red sweater to be broken. Then Buck is shipp
8、ed to Alaska and sold to a pair of French Canadians named Franois and Perrault (for $300), who were impressed with his physique. They train him as a sled dog, and he quickly learns how to survive the cold winter nights and the pack society by observing his teammates. He and the vicious, quarrelsome
9、lead dog, Spitz, develop a rivalry. Buck eventually bests Spitz in a major fight, and after Spitz is defeated, the other dogs close in, killing him. Buck then becomes the leader of the team.Eventually, Buck is sold to a man named Charles, his wife, Mercedes, and her brother, Hal, who know nothing ab
10、out sledding nor surviving in the Alaskan wilderness. They struggle to control the sled and ignore warnings not to travel during the spring melt. They first overfeed the dogs, then when their food supply starts running out, they do not feed them at all. As they journey on, they run into John Thornto
11、n, an experienced outdoorsman who notices that all of the sled dogs are in terrible shape from the ill treatment of their handlers. Thornton warns the trio against crossing the river, but they refuse to listen and order Buck to mush or move on. Exhausted, starving, and sensing the danger ahead, Buck
12、 refuses and continues to lay in the snow not moving except for breathing and blinking. After being beaten by Hal, Thornton recognizes him as a remarkable dog and is disgusted by the drivers beating of the dog. Thornton cuts him free from his traces and tells the trio hes keeping him, much to Hals d
13、ispleasure. After some argument, the trio leaves and tries to cross the river, but as Thornton warned, the ice gives way and the three fall into the river along with the neglected dogs and sled.As Thornton nurses Buck back to health, Buck comes to love him and grows devoted to him. Buck saves Thornt
14、on when the man falls into a river. Thornton then takes him on trips to pan for gold. During one such trip, a man makes a wager with Thornton over Bucks strength and devotion. Buck wins the bet by breaking a half-ton sled out of the frozen ground, then pulling it 100 yards by himself, winning over a
15、 thousand dollars in gold dust. Thornton and his friends return to their camp and continue their search for gold, while Buck begins exploring the wilderness around them and begins socializing with a wolf from a local pack. One night, he returns from a short hunt to find his beloved master and the ot
16、hers in the camp have been killed by a group of Yeehat Indians. Buck eventually kills the Indians to avenge Thornton. After realizing his old life is a thing of the past, Buck follows the wolf into the forest and answers the call of the wild.Analysis of the main charactersBuckAlthoughThe Call of the
17、 Wildis told from the perspective of an anonymous third-person narrator, the events that are recounted are those that the dog Buck experiences directly. As such, it is not unreasonable to call him the only fully developed character in the story. He is the only character whose past we know anything a
18、bout, and London is careful to emphasize the human qualities of his protagonist, enabling us to empathize with the animal. Filtered through the third-person omniscience of the narrator, Buck comes across as far more than a creature of instinct, since he has a sense of wonder, shame, and justice. He
19、also possesses a capacity for mystical experiences and for great, unselfish love, as his relationship to Thornton amply demonstrates. He may be a dog, but he is more human than many of the people around him.Bucks story is cyclical: he is introduced as a pampered prince, and the story concludes with
20、Buck as a veritable king of beasts. In between, Buck undergoes experiences that provide him with greater insight about the world. Buck begins as a spoiled regent, strutting proudly over his soft, sun-kissed domain, but he abruptly sees everything taken away from him. He is reduced to nothing, beaten
21、 and kicked and forced to pull sleds through the Canadian wilderness. This experience, though, far from destroying him, makes him stronger, and he wins back his kingdomor rather, he wins a new kingdom, a wild one that better suits his true destiny as a wild animal.The Call of the Wildis, as its titl
22、e suggests, a celebration of wildness, of primitive life, and even of savagery. Bucks rise to greatness is not an easy path; it is a struggle, a course strewn with obstacles, from the long duel with his rival Spitz to the folly of Hal, Mercedes, and Charles. But these obstacles, London indicates, ar
23、e to be rejoiced in rather than avoided: life is ultimately a long struggle for mastery, and the greatest dogs (or men), the Bucks of the world, will always seek out struggles in order to prove their greatness. Thus, when Buck goes from being a moral, civilized pet to a fierce, bloodthirsty, violent
24、 wolf-dog, we are glad rather than shocked, because we know that he is fulfilling his highest -possible destiny.John ThorntonThe Call of the Wildis first and foremost the story of Bucks gradual transformation from a tame beast into a wild animal. But even as the novel celebrates the life of a wild c
25、reature, it presents us with the character of John Thornton, whose connection to Buck suggests that there may be something good and natural in the human-dog relationship, despite its flaws. Thornton, a seasoned gold prospector, saves Buck from being beaten to death by the odious Hal and then becomes
26、 Bucks master. From then on, a deep and abiding love blossoms between man and dog. Their relationship is a reciprocal oneThornton saves Buck, and Buck later saves Thornton from drowning in a river. It is clear that Buck is more of a partner than a servant to the prospector. This mutual respect, we a
27、re assured, is characteristic of all Thorntons relationships to dogsevery one of his animals bears an abiding love for him, which is returned in kind. Even as Buck is increasingly drawn to a life away from humanity, a life in the wild, his affection for Thornton keeps him from making the final break
28、. Indeed, so strong is their bond that it is broken only when Thornton dies, and even then Buck makes an annual pilgrimage to his last masters final resting place.Buck is prone to visions of more primitive worlds, and sometimes he sees the humans around him as ancient men, wearing animal skins and l
29、iving in caves or trees. In some of these visions, he is -running alongside these men, protecting them from the terrors of thenight. His relationship to Thornton, the novel implies, is like theseancient man-dog connections; it is primitive rather than civilized,and so it remains strong even as Buck
30、leaves the civilized worldbehind.The qualities of Buck Experience is badly required in an unfamiliar and tough circumstance. Those who are experienced will always have the priority over the inexperienced. Bucks experience is accumulated gradually after being sold to the north. As soon as Buck is kid
31、napped from Judge Millers ranch, he learns that a new law, that is, “law of club and fang”, applies to life; quite different from the “law of love and fellowship” he has known before. When he is struck for the first time in his life by the red sweater, Buck is anxious to loose his pent up fury; but
32、each time he rushes the man, he is struck again, until he is beaten and bloodied. Thus, “he had learned the lesson that a man with a club was a lawgiver, a master to be obeyed, though not necessarily conciliated; and in all his life he never forgot it. Later, seeing the other dogs bullied by the lea
33、d dog Spitz, Buck begins to realize that “a fair play does not exist and this is no place for mercy”, and in the kill or be killed world, to survive one must have power. Thus the battle between Buck and Spitz is unavoidable. With his imagination, Buck tricks his rival and breaks both his forelegs. T
34、his battle provides Buck with much experience for fighting against other enemies after he becomes the lead dog. Also, he learns to scavenge food and sleep beneath the snow on winter nights. With that knowledge, he speedily develops “more heightened senses, hardened muscles and an iron stomach”. All
35、of the experience that Buck has gained obviously makes him more suitable to the harsh north. Apart from experience, Bucks instinct also contributes a great deal to his survival and fitness in the wild. Bucks ability to listen to his instinct, which is handed down by his ancestors, enables him to be
36、more and more powerful; and his natural knowledge, coming from instinct, makes him suited for the conditions of the environment. Thats surely conductive to his quick and easy adaptation to the new world. Under the instinct to eat, Buck steals a whole chunk of bacon when the ration is not enough for
37、him, which also marks him as “fit to survive” in the northland environment. There, property and personal feelings can no longer be respected and one does things only because they are necessary. Bucks instinct even saves his life. When he leads the team into John Thorntons camp, Buck does not conscio
38、usly know why he does not get up. He just unconsciously senses that the snow and the ice under his feet were getting weaker and weaker. Thanks to his instinct, he goes no further; but other dogs, who dont possess such instincts, perish together. He obeys his instincts, returning to the forest to joi
39、n the pack of wolves, where he can live here after the life that he desired all along, and the life that is the fittest for him. In fact, the instincts of his more wild ancestors are always just under the surface, waiting for an opportunity to resurface. Therefore, this is probably the best result f
40、or Buck, to live a life that truly belongs to him. Besides, Bucks virtues, such as loyalty, tolerance and persistence play an indispensable role in his fitness in the wilderness as well. First, he is loyal. Heavy as the work is, he stays faithful to his masters. He is intelligent enough to know clea
41、rly that if he disobeys them, he will suffer from punishment. Also, Buck is fiercely loyal to his teams goal and to helping others in that its the only way to work and survive. In such circumstances, one members disloyalty could lead to the destruction of the whole team. “Under Bucks effective leade
42、rship, the loyalty of the group is tested again and again, and each time it proves to be true.” Moreover, Buck is fairly tolerant and persistent. Though tortured by clubs and whips again and again, he bears, without any complaints. “Buck was beaten, but he was not broken.” The journey is long and to
43、ugh, but Buck sticks to the end as others die or drop out. According to the novel, the wild is no longer a symbol of law of jungle but a headspring where streams out , besides loyalty tolerance and persistence, love, respect, friendship, bravery, diligence, and cooperationAll the virtues fit for sur
44、vival. Conclusion Although buck is just a dog, but its arduous survival road reflect the essence of individual struggle in the age that the writer lived. may be that is what he want to tell the readers. And also though the comparison between the dogs and the human we can get the idea that in human s
45、ociety, which is generally considered higher than wilderness, those good characters are disappearing. Its humans that kidnap, beat, and even kill dogs; its humans that quarrel and fight instead of loving; its also humans that cheat and betray each other rather than keeping loyal. Can individuals beh
46、aving so barbarously be called “humans”? Dogs and humans appear to have switched places. Without these good characters, human beings, not being the fittest to survive, will one day be at stake of being eliminated through the natural selection .This is perhaps what London tries to warn humans of through The Call of the Wild .Reference杰克 伦敦The Call of The Wild 北京：中国书籍出版社.2007.1杰克 伦敦野性的呼唤楼文宗译.北京：华艺出版社2009.8