Savanah Johnson
Mr. Lynch
English 11
10 February 2023
Call of Naturalism
In reading The Call of the Wild for the first time, the story flows naturally. The Call of the Wild follows Buck, a dog, as he goes on a journey equivalent to self-discovery. Readers empathize with Buck because he goes through events recognizable to humans. Those events are considered natural in that they are uncontrollable and bound to happen. Buck feels thirsty, prideful, helpless at times, and love throughout the story. Thus, The Call of the Wild is a work of Naturalism. As an example, thirst is a force of uncontrollable nature acting upon Buck. This is shown in the text, “He did not mind the hunger so much, but the lack of water caused him severe suffering and fanned his wrath to fever pitch.” Similar to “A Mystery of Heroism” in the sentence, “Thunder! I wisht I had a drink.” Both Buck and Collins can’t ignore how parched they are. The reader can infer Jack London purposely incorporates naturalism elements into this part of the story to ensure the reader knows the entire situation is out of Buck’s control. Maybe previous to being dognapped, Buck could have gotten a drink or food whenever he wanted.
In addition to thirst, pride is a force that acts upon Buck. The text says Buck feels, “He wanted… but to have
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This is first shown in the sentence, “Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time.” Similarly, the novel Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint features a main character whose every action is out of love. In the novel, love is not boldly apparent, but is rather shown in every interaction and is used as a driving force. Both characters go on harsh journeys until they eventually find love. By comparing The Call of the Wild and Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, one can infer that Buck has an uncontrollable desire to protect his new and precious