The Call of the Wild Essay | Critical Essay #3

The Call of the Wild Critical Essay #3

In the following excerpt, Mann suggests that various doubles, or pairings of antithetical characters and plot elements in the novel, contribute to the enduring popularity of The Call of the Wild and to the value of the novel as an object of critical study.

Dogs and men are fundamentally alike in the Klondike world of Jack London's The Call of the Wild: There was imperative need to be constantly alert; for these dogs and men were not town dogs and men. They were savages, all of them, who knew no law but the law of club and fang. Dogs and men answer the call of their savage natures and their terrifying environment in a violent, bloody, and continual struggle for survival. The primitive fears and desires which surface in Buck—the splendid animal on whom the story centers—also control his human masters. London describes the dog's development—his regression to instinct—in...
(read more)