英语毕业论文The-Analysis-of-the-Symbolic-Device-of-the-Novel-The-Call-of-the-Wild.doc

The Analysis of the Symbolic Device of the Novel The Call of the Wild

分析小说《野性的呼唤》中象征手法的运用

The Analysis of the Symbolic Device of The Novel The Call of the Wild

Contents

Abstract………………………………………………...…………………....1
Key words…………………………………………………………………....1
I. Introduction…………………………………….......................…………..2
II. Literature review………………………………………………........….3
1. Different views……………...……………………………………......….3
2. Criticism…………………….……………………………………....…4
III. The Style of This Novel………………..………………………………..4
1. Point of View………...………...…………………………………..…...4
2. Setting………………………...…………………………………..……4
3. Naturalism………………………………………………………….......5
IV. Symbolism in The Call of the Wild ……………………………….…….5
1. The special natural and social environment…………….…........……….....6
2. Civilization vs. the wild…...………………………………..…......……..7
3. Major character—Buck……………………………………..........……...7
V. The Desire for Humanity in The Call of the Wild……………………….8
1. Buck’s attitude and behavior towards its master with the way the master treat Buck………………………………………......………..………………8
2. Buck’s response to John Thornton’s death……………………..…..........11
VI. Conclusion……………………………………...………………...…….11
References…………………………………………………........………..…12

The Analysis of the Symbolic Device of the Novel
The Call of the Wild

Abstract: The Call of the Wild was one of the most excellent works of American famous writer, Jack London. The persona of this novel was a dog named Bark. During cruel domesticated courses, it cognized the equitable and natural laws；the execrable survival environment let him understand Jesuitism and cheating, afterward itself exerted Jesuitism and cheating to an incomparable level；the cruel and life-and-death struggle experience let Bark learn how to protect itself, and how to stand at an incincible position in drastic competitions. Finally it determined its status of a leading dog. After then, Bark had not attaching to human society and made for wilderness responding to the call of the wild which it had listened for many times and urgently yearned. The lonely Bark said “goodbye” to human beings and joined the wolf family. The intention of this study is to describe the analysis of the symbolic device of the novel The Call of the Wild and discuss the major character of it. The author analyses factors such as how to use the symbolism in the novel, the style of this novel and it topic tracking and so on in order to help reader to understand this novel
Key words: Buck；The Call of the Wild；symbolic significance；the wild

摘　要：《野性的呼唤》是美国著名作家杰克"伦敦最优秀的作品之一。小说的主人公是一条狗，名叫巴克。整个故事以阿拉斯加淘金热为背景，讲述了在北方险恶的环境下，巴克为了生存，如何从一条驯化的南方狗退化到似狗非狗、似狼非狼的野蛮状态的过程。在残酷的驯服过程中，它意识到了公正与自然的法则；恶劣的生存环境让它懂得了狡猾与欺诈，后来它自己将狡猾与欺诈发挥到了让人望尘莫及的地步；经过残酷的、你死我活的斗争，使巴克学到了如何保护自己，如何在激烈的竞争上处于不败之地。它最后终于确立了领头狗的地位。巴克对人类社会已无所依恋，从此它便走向了荒野，响应它这一路上多次聆听到的、非常向往的那种野性的呼唤。孤独的巴克告别了人类，加入到狼群的行列。本文作者在文中简要描述了小说《野性的呼唤》中象征手法的运用，及其对主人公巴克的描写。作者从以下几点分析了小说，例如：在小说中象征手法的运用、小说的写作风格、及文章的线索等等，旨在帮助读者更好的理解这篇小说。
关键词：巴克;《荒野的呼唤》;　象征意蕴;　野性

I. Introduction

One of America's most prolific and beloved authors, London was born in 1876 in San Francisco, California. His family was so poor that he went to work as soon as he finished grade school. His early experiences working in a saloon and a factory, hunting seals, tramping on the railroads, and spending thirty days in prison for vagrancy provided London a wealth of material for his gritty, naturalistic fiction.
In 1894 London completed high school, attended the University of California at Berkeley for one semester, and joined the Socialist Party. He immersed himself in the writings of Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Herbert Spencer. He was intrigued by socialism and Darwin's concept of the "survival of the fittest," two ideas that would influence his later writings.
In 1897, frustrated with his unsuccessful attempts at starting a literary career, he went with his brother-in-law to the Klondike, in the Yukon territory of Canada. The gold rush in the Klondike was underway, and London hoped to strike it rich. Although he did not discover any gold, he did find subject matter for his fiction. His experiences in the frozen Northland inspired his first stories, which appeared in the nation's leading periodicals. London's fiction was very popular with the public; his stories were new and exciting and very different from the tales of romance that flooded the market during that time.
The most popular book to come out of his Alaskan experiences was The Call of the Wild (1903), the story of a dog's difficult transition from the warm, comfortable Southland to the wild, treacherous Northland. Many scholars find autobiographical elements in this novel, in particular London's exciting and dangerous adventures in the Klondike and his short stint in prison. Just as Buck has to learn to accept the "law of the club" and the "law of the fang," London learned how to survive in prison. The novel was one of London's greatest critical and commercial successes.
Although The Call of the Wild is a story about a dog, Buck, it vividly depicts the life in the primitive North where people rushed for gold and fortune. Buck, used to belong to a judge, was kidnapped and sold to North. Then he became a member of a dog-team pulling a sled. In the days of pulling a snow-sled, he learned to conform to the law of nature and obey the master. Finally, he found a basic instinct hidden inside him, which enabled himself to survive the tough environment. This is the call of the wild. When you read the story, you will feel that Buck is a man instead of a dog, struggling with his fortune and conforming to the law of nature.
Though short, it is really a thrilling story. What you never forget is the tough life in the nature, the brave and crafty dog. Maybe the wild is calling you to go ahead. While writing for only 16 years throughout his life, London produced an amazing body of work among which, White Fang, Martin Eden, the Valley of the Moon are representative.

II. Literature Review

1. Different views
When The Call of the Wild was published in 1903, it was a resounding critical and popular success. Reviewers applauded this exciting adventure tale and viewed it as a welcome alternative to the popular fiction of the day.
London's reputation also extended overseas, where he was considered one of America's foremost writers. Yet in America, despite the early attention the novel received, The Call of the Wild came to be seen as escapist fiction most suitable for children. London was barely mentioned in the literary histories published in the 1920s and after, and he was dismissed by the New Critics, the prominent literary scholars of the 1940s and 1950s.
London's fiction, especially The Call of the Wild, continued to be popular with the reading public. It wasn't until the 1960s that scholars reassessed their opinions regarding London's work. Since that time a flood of critical and biographical material on London has been published, elevating him once again as one of America's most important authors.
While a few scholars, including Mary Kay Dodson, perceive the novel as a perfect embodiment of naturalism, others, such as Earl J. Wilcox, argue that the "naturalism that characterizes this novel is not consistently developed." Jonathan Auerbach sums up most opinions on the issue when he states, "There is a massive set of contradictions about Buck at the heart of the narrative, which moves in two seemingly opposite directions: toward nature from culture (the standard naturalist plot of civilization), and a more troubled but also more passionate movement toward self-transcendence, which cannot be fully contained by the conventional naturalistic model."
In my opinion, London's reputation also extended overseas, where he was considered one of America's foremost writers. Yet in America, despite the early attention the novel received, The Call of the Wild came to be seen as escapist fiction most suitable for children. London was barely mentioned in the literary histories published in the 1920s and after, and he was dismissed by the New Critics, the prominent literary scholars of the 1940s and 1950s.

2. Criticism
Jack London's Call of the Wild, one of the most widely read American novels in the world, seems a strange choice for this distinction. The setting is the wilderness of the Klondike region, the protagonist is a dog, and the theme of the novel is devolution of the protagonist. Yet these are the same elements that garnered fame for the novel when it was first published in 1903; and these same elements continue to attract readers almost a century later.
A beautiful, dangerous setting alone does not guarantee a great novel. Character is often paramount. In The Call of the Wild, however, the main character is assumed to be enslaved by man and by its own instinct. Both of these considerations would make Buck, the Saint Bernard-Scotch shepherd mix, a poor candidate for a riveting, dynamic character. Yet, by following his instincts, Buck takes his readers to the deepest reaches of the mind; and the readers, following their instincts, immediately translate Buck's canine qualities into human ones. Buck, therefore, becomes a mythic hero, and here lies the real power of the novel.

III. The Style of This Novel

1. Point of View
Point of view is the narrative perspective from which a work is presented to the reader. The Call of the Wild is told from a very unusual point of view - that of a dog. Yet a human narrator stands outside of Buck's consciousness and makes sense of the dog's universe to human readers. London also tries to maintain Buck's believability as a dog. So while he explains his motivations, London reminds the reader that Buck does not actually think. After a lengthy passage about Buck's moral decline, explaining why Buck steals food from his master, London writes, "Not that Buck reasoned it out unconsciously he accommodated himself to the new mode of life."

2. Setting
Setting is the time, place, and culture in which the action of a narrative takes place. The Call of the Wild is neatly divided into two regions that are diametrically opposed - the Southland and the Northland. The former represents civilization and the latter the wild. In the South, Buck lived a domesticated and perfectly stable life. When Buck arrives in the North, he realizes that survival is the only concern.
The difference between the two regions is typified by their climates. In the South, it is warm, food grows easily, and people enjoy their leisure. In the North, the harsh, cold conditions are very dangerous if one is not prepared, and people must work hard and suffer much to survive.

3. Naturalism
Although there has been much debate about how much The Call of the Wild conforms to naturalism, some of the novel's basic ideas are perfect illustrations of the theory. As an outgrowth of realism, naturalism dawned in the 1890s, when writers like Stephen Crane and Frank Norris produced fiction that examined life with scientific objectivity, concluding that biology and socioeconomic factors ruled behavior. While local color and sentimental fiction dominated the literary marketplace at that time, these writers promoted a literature that was "real" and "true" in its depiction of the underside of America's burgeoning cities. Influenced by Darwinist theories of biological determinism, they applied such ideas to society, where the struggle for existence was often brutal and dehumanizing.
Buck's fate is in the hands of men. He is unable to decide his own course of action. London underscores this when he writes that Buck found himself where he was "because men had found a yellow metal in the North, and because Manuel was a gardener's helper whose wages did not lap over the needs of his wife and divers small copies of himself." In other words, circumstances well beyond Buck's control are guiding his life. The Call of the Wild perfectly illustrates the doctrines of naturalism because Buck "is a product of biological, environmental, and hereditary forces."

IV. Symbolism in The Call of the Wild

In Jack London's book, The Call of the Wild, he symbolizes many things in the book. Buck, gold sacks, Mercedes, and others are looked on as symbolic. In this essay, you will find out what these items symbolize.
 The main character in the book is Buck, a half St. Bernard, half Scotch shepherd dog. In the story, he is betrayed by someone he trusts and is thrown into a harsh world. A world where you must work or be discarded. He adapts to the harsh environment, and soon enough becomes the leader of a wolf pack. Here London makes Buck a symbol of one that reaches full potential. Instead of lying around and doing nothing, he learns to work in a way he doesn't know too well about. He learns to fight and/or steal his food, if he didn't , he would have starved to death. That is why Buck is portrayed as one who achieves full potential.
      Mercedes portrays the absolute opposite to Buck. She represents all that is weak in a civilized society. She cannot live without her precious belongings like her clothes. A suitcase of clothes would have been suitable for the trip, but she cannot part with her clothes, so she brings almost all of them. She doesn't know how to walk. When Charles and Hal ask her to get off the sled and hike along, she refuses and has to be carried off and dropped. When Charles and Hal set up camp, they have to go back and pick up Mercedes, who thinks she should be carried to Dawson City. Charles and Hal shouldn't

1. The special natural and social environment
In the late 1800s the Klondike region was swept by a gold rush. Gold had been found in California in 1848, and later in British Columbia, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Yet this rush was in Alaska, purchased from Russia thirty years earlier in 1867, and Canada's Yukon Territory, and rivaled all previous gold rushes. It had formidable challenges, though; not only the forbidding cold, but also the uncharted geography made it a treacherous choice for the unprepared prospector. Still, many answered the call of quick money, including the young Jack London.
Although London staked a claim which he later abandoned, he was awed by the natural beauty he found in the ice-locked rivers and snow-encrusted mountains, in the spring thaw and sudden summer blooms, in the abundance of animal life from king salmon in the streams to caribou and bear on the plains to sheep and goats in the highlands. Before a year was up, London returned to his California home with debilitating scurvy. Yet he had found gold: his visions of the Klondike, the tales from the sourdoughs or old-timers, and his own intense experiences gave him enough material to write brilliant stories including his most masterful of all, The Call of the Wild.
Most early readers of the novel were content to curl up