Call of the Wild

1. Call of the Wild November 2010

2. Do Now • Ensure you have all 35 vocabulary words with definition and parts of speech in your binder

3. Objectives Call of the Wild • Themes • Motifs • Symbols

4. Homework • Revise essay – due Friday, November 12

5. Theme The Indispensible Struggle for Mastery - “Kill or be killed” – seen upon arrival to Klondike with Curly’s death • “Survival of the Fittest” – Darwinism • Competition for scarce resources • “Will to Power” – Nietzsche • Struggle/win in the battle of mastery – world composed of masters Struggle for Mastery • Buck’s conflict with Spitz • Determination to be lead dog on Francois/Perrault team • Battle to be leader of the wolf pack

6. Theme The Power of Ancestral Memory and Primitive Instincts • Rather than “learning” lessons, Buck recovers primitive instincts – atavism • Buck “retrogresses” into a wilder way of life • Visions – instinctual, mystical • Civilized world as “thin veneer”

7. Theme The Laws of Civilization and Wilderness Differences Similarities • Social codes, hierarchies, laws • Abide by the rules the world has set up

8. Theme The Membership of the Individual in the Group Membership • Buck received support from Dave and Sol-leks – they instructed him on intricacies of sled pulling • Sled dogs congratulate themselves Individualism • Mastery achieved through separation of the group • Leadership – Buck is responsible for the well-being of the group • John Thornton cuts Buck free from the harness The wild ultimately REQUIRES cooperation of a group to ensure individual survival

9. Motifs Reoccurring structures, contrasts or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes Violent Struggle • Constant life-and-death struggles to show hardships of living in the Klondike • Curly is killed • Fight with Spitz who is killed • Battle with the bear, moose and humans • Fight with the Yeehats – Buck is fighting for his life against mankind for the first time – complete assimilation

10. Motifs Visions • “Atavism” – recovery of instincts of wild ancestors • Repeated visions of his primitive past - reach his destiny • Primitive men draped in furs and aware of prehistoric darkness • Visions of himself as primitive, wild creature hunting pray

11. Symbols Mercedes’ Possessions • Wants all of her possessions and later herself carried • Shows disparity between the wild – where the value of an object lies in immediate usefulness – and civilization • Material possessions and consumerism fail in the wild

12. Symbols Buck’s Traces – what bind him to the team • Position as the monarch of Judge Miller’s property • Duty to pull sled for humans • Starts to understand hierarchy of the pack and wants to gain authority – “Will to power” (Nietzsche) • When leads the pack – shows him as a leader, not as a servant to humans • At the end, Thornton releases Buck which symbolizes Buck’s freedom from a world where he serves no humans • Buck becomes a human companion

13. Symbols Buck’s First Beatings with the Club; Curly’s death • Buck’s introduction to the wild with his first beating and Curly’s death remove him from civilization/safety as a pet and marks his entrance to “the law of club and fang”

14. Symbols Buck’s Attack on the Yeehats • “The Call” is pulling Buck away from mankind, campfires and towns – drawing him into the forest • Buck’s love for John Thornton keeps Buck attached to the world of man • Once John Thornton is killed, Buck is released and attacks the Yeehats which symbolizes his complete transformation