摘 要

《野性的呼唤》是美国作家杰克·伦敦的代表作之一，主要讲述了巴克从家养宠物回归为野兽的故事。巴克所经历的一切象征地体现了20 世纪初的美国社会。本文采用自然主义的观点来研究人、动物、自然之间的矛盾关系。杰克·伦敦在本篇小说中表现了三个矛盾。首先就是美国南北方之间的矛盾，起因是因为南北经济体系的不同，但最终北方赢得了这场战争的胜利，这在一定程度上也暗示了巴克的野性最终会战胜人性；其次是人与自然的矛盾，在恶劣的自然环境中，有人屈从于自然，有人妄图打败自然，也有人去适应自然，巴克最终能成为狼王就是其适应自然的结果；最后但同样重要的矛盾是自然本身的矛盾，表现为巴克内在的矛盾。对于是否回归荒野，巴克曾经感到迷惘和犹豫。本文通过分析这一系列的矛盾和冲突，揭示了小说的主旨：作者以巴克最终的回归行为表达了人类及其文明服从自然力量的观点以及对自由的渴望。

关键词：《野性的呼唤》；杰克·伦敦；冲突

Contents

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………...........….1
2. Demonstration……………………………………………………………............2

2.1. The conflict between the North and the South……………………....…….........2

2.1.1. Economic system……………….......................................................................3

2.1.2. Living environment .......................................................................................4

2.2. The conflict between man and nature……………………………….......…..…..5

2.2.1. Submitting to nature ……………………………………….....................….6

2.2.2. Defeated by nature……………………………….......................................…..7

2.2.3. Adapting to nature ……………………………….......................................…..8

2.3. The conflict in nature itself………………………….......………………..…......9

2.3.1. Class competition…………………………………………………….......…....9

2.3.2. Inner struggle ……………………………………………………….…...…...10

1. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….....12

Note………………………………………………………………………................13

Works Cited………………………………………………………………………....14

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………….…..15

Unstoppable Force: The Conflict in The Call of the Wild

1. Introduction

As a prolific author, Jack London (1876-1916) is famous for his animal novels eventually, especially The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906). During his short lifetime, he finished many novels, including 19 saga novels, more than 150 short stories and 3 plays, which are valuable spiritual wealth to human beings.

The Call of the Wild is one of the Jack London’s masterpieces. It mainly tells us the story of gradual transformation of the dog Buck from a house pet to a wild animal, which is based on London’s true experience of gold rush in Yukon. In the South, Buck enjoys a comfortable but sluggish life, whether hunting or tramping with the Judge’s sons or as a guardian with the Judge’s grandsons. After being sold to the North, Buck sees an alien world which is wild, dangerous, and competitive. In the North, he gets the idea of the law of club and fang through hunger and whiplash. Long time sledding along with several masters makes him realize the potential threat of nature. And fierce competitions among peers wake his instinct up.

The Call of the Wild has been translated and studied by many scholars since its publication. They have widely conducted researches on the author himself, the comparison of two or several similar works, writing skills, historical settings, and its significance in the early period. Then, people turned their attention to the development of economy, the protection of environment, and the satisfaction of spiritual and cultural life. As a consequence, some researchers like Li Jia and Han Haiqin revealed the relationship between mankind and the environment from Jack London’s point of view: on the one hand, people had to transform nature for survival; on the other hand, people preferred living in mountainous areas to facing sharp competition in society. Many people sometimes indeed made self-contradictory choices. Some deeply analyzed the main character Buck. For example, Shilyaev Konstantin analyzed Buck in his essay from different narrative perspectives to present a more detailed and insightful role, rather than pointing out his possible thoughts directly through conspicuous behaviors and experience. There are also some research from the perspectives of ecology, naturalism, social Darwinism, psychoanalysis and other literary theories.

Though there are so many people concentrating on the analysis of The Call of the Wild, conflict in it is seldom mentioned. However, as an important factor to reveal the theme and promote the development of plot, the conflict makes the novel more popular and attractive, which greatly influences the audience’s emotion and view. In conclusion, based on the state of art, this paper is to reread The Call of the Wild and attempts to make a different interpretation of its potential meanings from the aspect of conflict.