Jack London: The Call of the Wild
...ies and Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathusa (Sciambia 1&2). In The Call of the Wild, London used the Darwinian theme, “survival of the fittest”, to portray Buck. The scenario that London created in The Call of the Wind is based on Social Darwinism so that Buck would always have to overcome something (3). London also used Nietzsche theory to make Buck look like a dog version of a “superman”. London amplified Nietzsche theory by making it seem that Buck was to master whatever situation he was in (1). Jack London was able to combine these two theories to make a beautiful piece of literature. The The Call of the Wild portrays Buck more as a human even though he is a dog (Analysis). Arthur Hobson Quinn states “…Buck carries … many human faculties which no animal could conceivably possess.” This quote describes how Buck came off as more of a human than a dog. It may also be said that Buck can be can be considered more of a human than all of the people surround him. Some people say that Buck actions in The Call of the Wild represents the real world’s want to “escape and revolt’”; and that Buck qualities or acted throughout the story (Unger 836) In 1896, London went up to Klondike in search for gold but found none. In Other Peoples Lives, it can be quoted that: In 1896, gold was fond in the Klondike; the “gold fever” of the miners who had opened California in 1849 broke out again, in Alaska. Jack London packed his grub and trekked over the Chikoot Pass, seeking fame and fortune. He struck no gold, but he did find a rich lode in literature, for he wrote Call of the Wild. This swashbuckling tale appealed to the armchair adventurers who had stayed behind in their comfortable lives but who liked to entertain dreams of hardship and heroism. The book was the bestseller of 1903, one of the best of the 51 books London wrote over 16 years. (L. R. N.) This quote describes the time and stuff that was going on around London when he wrote The Call of the Wild. Klondike is a place in Alaska where London went in search for gold but found the things that inspired him to write The Call of the Wild. Klondike is where London read the books about the great philosophers and found the scenario that London used in The Call of the Wild. London also learned that survival was a necessity in Klondike and applied that in The Call of the Wind (Manley 2). It is known that London did not fully understand The Call of the Wild’s impact that it would have on the society. He also did not understand the element he used throughout the book, which was the human allegory (Rolly 630). Robert C. Frost is one of London’s critics states: Whether human or canine, the heroes of Jack London’s purely literary works are, to use one of his favourite phrases, “rampant individualists” …. Whence comes it, then, that the author of such forceful and even ferocious types should be himself an advocate of socialism? In part, no doubt, the explanation may be foud in the fact that a vigorous, opposition-loving person can most easily get all of the latter he wants by taking up the champioship of some radical doctrine. (Brooks) This statement describes how London themes and socialism in his literary works. Jack London is recognized by many critics. Their were many different scenes and moods in The Call of th Wild. Maxwell Geismar says it best in his excerpt. Geismar states tha...