Transcript Introduction - Cloudfront.net

Introduction
Call of the Wild
By Jack London
Background
Lived 1876-1916
Born in San
Francisco
Grew up in Oakland
in poverty
Spent hours reading
everyday, educated
himself
Background
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
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
Darwin’s Influence
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
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.
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!!!
Interpreting Call of the Wild:
Themes and Terms
Themes:
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.
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