"The Call of the Wild" and "White Fang": An Ecocritical Analysis and Interpretation of Jack London's Two Wolf-Novels: An Ecological Analysis and Interpretation of Jack London's Two Wolf-Novels

Callow, Rikke Rya

4. term

English, Master

2022

2022-05-31

72

I de seneste årtier har en ny litterær tilgang vundet frem i humaniora: økokritik (ecocriticism). Den undersøger, hvordan kultur og især litteratur skildrer forholdet mellem mennesker og naturen. Tilgangen er vokset i takt med en bredere bekymring for miljøproblemer. Mange økokritikere har et monistisk syn—de ser mennesker og natur som ét sammenhængende system—men de er uenige om årsagerne til den nuværende økologiske krise og om mulige løsninger. Dette projekt kortlægger disse forskellige positioner og bruger dem som teoretisk ramme for analysen. Selvom forfattere i det 21. århundrede ofte skriver om udsigten til en global økologisk katastrofe, er formålet her at vise, at også ældre litteratur, skrevet før bekymringer om global opvarmning, stigende havniveauer og plastforurening, kan være relevant for den nutidige miljødebat i USA. Det demonstrerer jeg gennem en økokritisk læsning af Jack Londons romaner The Call of the Wild (1903) og White Fang (1906). Romanerne læses sammen, fordi deres plots spejler hinanden. I The Call of the Wild forlader den tamme hund Buck civilisationen og slutter sig til ulve i vildmarken; i White Fang bliver en vild ulv fuldt domestikeret. Analysen fokuserer især på Alaskas vildmark og på Londons skildringer af landskabet, dyrelivet og de oprindelige folk, sat over for grønne, californiske godser, hvor husdyr og kæledyr er formet af menneskelig kultur. Resultaterne peger på, at når dyr og oprindelige figurer, der repræsenterer vildmarken, optages i civilisationen, mister de hurtigt frihed og anerkendelsen af deres iboende værdi. Bucks bevægelse mod vildskaben genopretter derimod hans biologiske forbindelse til naturen, vækker urgamle instinkter og giver en stærk frihedsfølelse. Analysen afsluttes med en sammenligning af kvinderepræsentationer i vildmarken og i civilisationen. I vildmarken fremstilles de kvindelige figurer (alle dyr) som ligestillede med de mandlige; i civilisationen fremstår de kvindelige figurer svage, umodne og underordnede. Det antyder, at disse kvaliteter er tillærte. London præsenterer ikke kvinder som iboende underlegne, men kritiserer sociale konstruktioner i menneskestyrede miljøer, der fremmer bestemte kønnede træk. På den baggrund konkluderer jeg, at The Call of the Wild og White Fang begge præsenterer vildmarken og en naturtilstand som at foretrække frem for miljøer, der er formet og kontrolleret af menneskelig kultur. Både Buck og White Fang rummer vilde instinkter, der kan undertrykkes og ligge i dvale, men ikke forsvinder. London bruger desuden atavisme—at urgamle, nedarvede træk bryder frem igen—til at minde læseren om, at også mennesker er biologisk forbundet med den naturlige verden. Romanerne er dermed økologisk fiktion, der understreger menneskers forbindelse til og afhængighed af naturen og hævder den iboende værdi i den mere‑end‑menneskelige verden, dvs. levende væsener og økosystemer ud over menneskelige samfund.

In recent decades, a new approach in the arts and humanities has gained ground: ecocriticism. It examines how culture, especially literature, portrays the relationship between people and the natural world. This approach has grown alongside wider concern about environmental issues. Many ecocritics take a monistic view—seeing humans and nature as one interconnected system—though they disagree about the causes of today’s ecological crisis and the best remedies. This project maps these positions and uses them as the theoretical framework for the analysis. While twenty‑first‑century writers often address the prospect of global ecological disaster, the aim here is to show that earlier literature, written before worries about global warming, rising sea levels, and plastic waste, is also relevant to the current environmental debate in the United States. I demonstrate this through an ecocritical reading of Jack London’s novels The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906). The books are read together because their plots mirror each other. In The Call of the Wild, the domesticated dog Buck leaves civilization to join wolves in the wild; in White Fang, a wild wolf becomes fully domesticated. The analysis concentrates on the Alaskan wilderness and London’s portrayals of the landscape, its wildlife, and Indigenous peoples, contrasted with green Californian estates where livestock and pets are shaped by human culture. The findings suggest that, once absorbed into civilization, animals and Indigenous figures who stand for the wilderness quickly lose their freedom and the recognition of their intrinsic value. Buck’s turn to the wild, by contrast, restores his biological link to nature, awakens ancient instincts, and brings a powerful sense of freedom. The analysis concludes with a comparison of how females are represented in the wilderness and in civilization. In the wild, the female characters (all animals) are depicted as equals to males; in the civilized world, female characters appear weak, immature, and subordinate. This implies that these qualities are learned. London is not presenting women as inherently inferior, but criticizing social constructions in human‑controlled environments that encourage certain gendered traits. Based on this, I conclude that The Call of the Wild and White Fang both present wilderness and a state of nature as preferable to environments shaped and controlled by human culture. Both Buck and White Fang possess wild instincts that can be suppressed and lie dormant, but do not disappear. London also uses atavism—the resurfacing of ancestral traits—to remind readers that humans, too, are biologically linked to the natural environment. The novels are thus ecological fiction that emphasizes human connection to and dependence on nature, and argues for the inherent worth of the more‑than‑human world, meaning living beings and ecosystems beyond human society.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]

White Fang ; The Call of the Wild ; Ecocriticism ; Jack London

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