The Primitive In Jack London's The Call Of The Wild
The Power of the Primitive
“Old longings nomadic leap, chafing at custom’s chain, again from its brumal sleep, wakens the ferine strain.”(London 3). In the book The Call of the Wild Jack London writes the story of a California dog, Buck, thrown into the harsh Northland climate. During his time in the Yukon, Buck starts to return to his primitive roots. On his journey, Buck meets John Thornton, a gold-seeker. Buck learns to love Thornton. Thornton is the only thing keeping Buck tied to mankind. When Thornton dies the last tie is broken and Buck returns to his primitive wolf roots. The theme The Power of the Primitive is shown throughout the story through Buck’s struggle between remaining with mankind and the sounding of the call. Buck acknowledges his primitive instincts early on in the story. In the book Buck is a sled dog that hauls mail for his master. Soon he gets bored doing the same run over and over. At night he would sit in front of the fire and see what his ancestors saw, cavemen. “Sometimes as he crouched there, blinking dreamily at the flames, it seemed that the flames were of another fire, and that as he crouched by this other fire he saw another and different man from the half breed cook before him.”(London …show more content…
Over the course of the novel Buck becomes lead dog of the sled team. When he is lead dog he has a sense of pride, and he experiences new feelings. These new feelings come to him naturally because of his heritage, and his connections to wolves. “...it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf cry, straining after the food that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through the moonlight.”(London 40). In this part of the story Buck is leading a pack of dogs chasing after a rabbit. This illustrates that Buck is converting back to the ways of his wolf ancestors and acknowledging the need to be the alpha of the wolf
“Old longings nomadic leap, chafing at custom’s chain, again from its brumal sleep, wakens the ferine strain.”(London 3). In the book The Call of the Wild Jack London writes the story of a California dog, Buck, thrown into the harsh Northland climate. During his time in the Yukon, Buck starts to return to his primitive roots. On his journey, Buck meets John Thornton, a gold-seeker. Buck learns to love Thornton. Thornton is the only thing keeping Buck tied to mankind. When Thornton dies the last tie is broken and Buck returns to his primitive wolf roots. The theme The Power of the Primitive is shown throughout the story through Buck’s struggle between remaining with mankind and the sounding of the call. Buck acknowledges his primitive instincts early on in the story. In the book Buck is a sled dog that hauls mail for his master. Soon he gets bored doing the same run over and over. At night he would sit in front of the fire and see what his ancestors saw, cavemen. “Sometimes as he crouched there, blinking dreamily at the flames, it seemed that the flames were of another fire, and that as he crouched by this other fire he saw another and different man from the half breed cook before him.”(London …show more content…
Over the course of the novel Buck becomes lead dog of the sled team. When he is lead dog he has a sense of pride, and he experiences new feelings. These new feelings come to him naturally because of his heritage, and his connections to wolves. “...it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf cry, straining after the food that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through the moonlight.”(London 40). In this part of the story Buck is leading a pack of dogs chasing after a rabbit. This illustrates that Buck is converting back to the ways of his wolf ancestors and acknowledging the need to be the alpha of the wolf