Naturalism: Call of the Wild

Peyton Barrett

Mitchell

3/16/15

American Lit.

Naturalism: Call of the Wild

        Naturalism is “ a movement in Literature and the arts, and an approach to Philosophy. Literary and artistic naturalism aims at accuracy and objectively and cultivates realistic and even sordid portrays of people and their environment.” The author of Call of the Wild, was born in 1876 and died in 1916. In Call of the Wild, naturalism is portrayed by many literary qualities which include, survival of the fittest, the brute within, and the indifference of nature.

        In the beginning of the movie, Buck is shown as a pampered pet in California. He is then dog napped and sold to a group of dog sledders in the Yukon. Here he meets his new owner Thorton. Thorton and Bucks relationship is the ideal human and animal relationship. The literary focus of the movie is an allegory. It tells both a symbolic story and literal story. The story is simply about a dog answering the “call of the wild”. In a deeper level, the novel may be voicing London's opinion that man is inherently savage and like Buck, must learn to survive by any means necessary.

        Survival of the fittest is a quality of naturalism found in Call of the Wild  . Survival of the fittest is a belief that people as individuals will do whatever it is to survive. When Buck firsr arrives in the Yukon, he has a tough time walking in the snow. Therefore, they make shoes for Buck. This shows Buck was not used to the cold, but quickly learns to adapt. Another example of survival of the fittest shown in the movie is when Buck and the other dogs dig holes in the snow in order to keep warm and have an area to sleep. This shows that the dogs are using their resources, the snow, to adapt. Once the dogs enter their first stop in town for their owners to get food and rest, the people saw the dogs as a source of food. This shows that even the people were attempting to eat dog in order to survive.

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