摘 要

《野性的的呼唤》是美国现实主义作家杰克伦敦的经典之作。作者讲述了一只叫巴克的狗由养尊处优的宠物狗成为吃苦耐劳的雪橇狗，最终听从召唤回归荒野的历程。该作延续了伦敦生存小说的主题：生命总是在不断挣扎求存的过程中获得意义与力量。本文将从隐喻出发，通过探讨巴克在三个阶段经历的隐喻意义解读《荒野的呼唤》，以期从新的角度解读这部小说。

本文将通过分析巴克三段经历的隐喻意义来体现杰克伦敦的想法：在竞争残酷的世界里，人要适应环境，顽强生存，并听从内心的呼唤才能寻找到自由和解放。

关键词：巴克；隐喻；残酷；不屈不挠；自由

Contents

1Introduction……………………………………………………………………..……1

2. Demonstration………………………………………………………………………2

2.1. A metaphor of the cruelty of human society……………….………….........… …2

2.1.1Maltreatment by the gardener and the dog dealer……………………….…. …...3

2.1.2 Life and death duel with Spitz…………………………………….……….…….4

2.2. A metaphor of indomitable spirit……………………………………………....… 6

2.2.1 Adapting to harsh environment…………………………………………….……6

2.2.2 Fulfilling his duties in tough environment…………………………….………...7

2.3. A metaphor of the pursuit of freedom…………………………………………….8

2.3.1 The call of the wild…………………………………………...……………….…9

2.3.2 Return to the wild……………………………....................................................10

3 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….…11

Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………..12

Bibliography………………………………………………………………….………13

A Metaphorical Study of Buck in The Call of the Wild

1. Introduction

Jack London was born in 1876 in San Francisco, a bankrupt peasant family. As a result of family poverty, he was engaged in manual labor since childhood. He worked as a child labor, stevedores and sailors, etc., and then wandering around the United States. Relying on labor income, he was admitted to the University of California at Berkeley to study, forced to quit because of poverty, then joining the ranks of gold miners in Alaska and other places. The experience of the rough life provides a rich source for later engaged in the creation of writing, and his creative idea is complex, influenced by Marx, Spencer and other people. Unfortunately, he gradually falls into extreme individualism and emptiness, killed by a morphine overdose on November 22, 1916. Jack London is one of the greatest American realist writers. He has written 19 novels, more than 150 short stories and stories, and so on, as well as 3 plays. His main works include: Wolf's Son, The Call of the Wild, White Teeth, Sea Wolf, and Martin Eden. The novel The Call of the Wild tells us a story that a dog called Buck experienced a series of changes and setbacks in his life, from a pet dog to a sled dog, surviving in harsh environment and finally following the call of its heart return to the wild.

In the traditional way people see metaphor as a rhetorical way. With the deepening comprehension of metaphor, people's understanding of metaphor is more in-depth. For example, Lake off thinks metaphor is prevalent in our daily life, not only in the language, but also in our thoughts and behavior. The general conceptual system of our thinking and action is fundamentally metaphorical. Metaphor is an important way of thinking that can help people identify and grasp the world. Metaphor is through another kind of thing to understand and experience a certain kind of thing. (Lake off amp;Johnson, 117) Metaphors belong to the field of linguistic and the figure of speech. However, it is also used in literature researching. In many literary works, metaphor for the description of characters, suggesting that scenes, Lyrical and narrative, the use of metaphor not only deepen the theme of the article, but also enhance the emotional expression of the article, so metaphor is one of the basic aspects of literature researching. Metaphors recur in literary works and reflect the thrust of the work, helping the reader understand the main content and key meaning of literary works. This thesis will research the novel The Call of the Wild from the prospect of metaphor.

This thesis consists of three parts. The first part is introduction, in which it has a brief introduction of Jack London, the novel The Call of the Wild and metaphor. The second part is demonstration, in which it analyzes the metaphorical meaning of Buck's three experiences. The metaphorical meaning of maltreatment by the gardener and dog dealer, the life and death duel with Spitz is the cruelty of human society. Adapting to harsh environments and fulfilling his duties in tough environment are metaphors of indomitable spirit. The call of the wild and the return to the wild are metaphors of the pursuit of freedom. The third part is conclusion. Jack London through the story that a dog obtained freedom and liberation in the brutal world tells us that in a world full of brutal competition, people should adapt to the environment, tenacious survival, and listen to the call from the heart to obtain freedom and liberation.