1. Call of the Wild By Jack London
Introduction
Call of the Wild
By Jack London

2. Background Lived 1876-1916 Born in San Francisco
Grew up in Oakland in poverty
Spent hours reading everyday, educated himself

3. London was determined to avoid a life of poverty and hard labor
Went to UC Berkeley but did not graduate
In 1897, at 21, gold was found in the Yukon region of Alaska
London traveled north to become a prospector
Background

4. Experiences & Influences
London was unsuccessful searching for gold and got scurvy
The wild of Alaska captured his imagination
When he returned to Oakland he used his experiences in the wild as the basis for many of his stories

5. Charles Darwin’s ideas were a large influence on London
Darwin was an English naturalist who proposed the theory of evolution through natural selection
Briefly, natural selection says that those species who are best adapted, or suited to an environment, survive to pass on their genes
This is known as survival of the fittest
Darwin’s Influence

6. Naturalism London was a Naturalist writer.
Naturalist writers believed people were ruled by their instincts and their passions
Their attempts at exercising free will or choice are powerless by forces beyond their control
Characters can be studied through their relationships to their surroundings.

7. The Problem with Naturalism
Naturalism perverted, or misrepresented Darwin’s ideas (Social Darwinism)
Used biological concepts to justify racism, said some races were better than others
Example: People were rich/proper because they were born intelligent, people were poor or criminals because they were born unintelligent
Note: THIS IS NOT TRUE!!!

8. Interpreting Call of the Wild: Themes and Terms
The world is cruel and unforgiving, it is the survival of the fittest.
It is not enough to merely survive; one should aspire (want) to master their situation.
Certain situations bring out primitive instincts buried by civilization.
The laws that govern the wild and civilization are different
Mastery can only be achieved by separating from the group.

9. Terms Anthropomorphism: Giving human traits to animals
Example: Winnie the Pooh Bear walked and talked with Christopher Robin
Atavism: reverting to the ancestral type (more primitive form) in evolution