A Study Of The Call Of The Wild From The Perspective Of Eco-criticism

Jack London is a very famous realistic writer of the United States. Due to poverty, he left school early and began to make money. His rough experiences provide abundant materials for writing. The Call of the Wild is his masterpiece, which helps him gain reputation and attracts lots of reader to read his works. The Call of the Wild tells the story about a sled dog Buck. This thesis attempts to analyze The Call of the Wild from the perspective of eco-criticism. Through exploring the relationship between Buck and his masters as well as London’s criticism on human civilization, this thesis exposes the root cause of ecological crisis, and provides the reference value for a harmonious means for the relationship between human and nature.In all, this thesis contains four main parts, with the first part as a brief introduction of Jack London and his works, and the last part, the conclusion of this thesis. Apart from the first and last parts, it is made up of two chapters which form the main body of the thesis. The introduction gives a brief review of Jack London and his work The Call of the Wild as well as eco-criticism, and also sums up other scholars’ research on The Call of the Wild comprehensively. It presents the definition of eco-criticism and its three principles in detail. Eco-criticism studies the relationship of human and nature, emphasizing the harmonious relationship between them. Its three principles refer to anti-anthropocentrism, deep ecology and ecological holism. The purpose is to advocate that all species are equal and have their own values. Human should respect them and build harmonious life.Chapter one discusses the representations of eco-criticism in The Call of the Wild. It mainly discusses it from two aspects, which are the unhealthy relationship between human and nature and criticism on human civilization. In this novel, Jack London portrays the miserable life of Buck after being a sled dog in detail. Buck’s masters treat him as tools and abuse him, which is the representation of anthropocentrism. Jack London criticizes human’s endless desires for material wealth and vanity of human, calling people to return to nature. Chapter Two discusses Jack London’s passion for ecology. The love between Buck and Miller, Thornton implies the harmonious relationship between human and nature, which is pursuant of Jack London. Buck is returning to nature at the end of novel conveys Jack London’s disgust and disappointment with human civilization. Jack London hopes that people return to nature and live freely.The last part is conclusion. This part mainly summarizes the thesis. From the novel, it appeals to human to protect nature and strengthen the ecological awareness, which contributes to realizing the harmonious relationship between human and nature.