In Jack London's story, The Call of the Wild, how do its allegorical characteristics portray human nature as a struggle for survival?

star_gazer

Many critics perceive that The Call of the Wild was more than the story of a dog. Many believe that it is an allegory about human society. An allegory tells two stories at once: the surface narrative, which in this case would be Buck's transformation; and the "real" story that is suggested by the literal narrative. As such, then, this novel also tells the story of the savagery of man, who is transported into a hostile world against his will, must confront his inability to determine his own fate, must learn to survive by any means necessary, and who must choose between the bond of love with other humans and his own desire to live outside of human connections. Earle Labor deems The Call of the Wild a "beast fable," because it "provoke[s] our interest — unconsciously if not consciously — in the human situation, not in the plight of the lower animals." Charles N. Watson Jr. provides another assessment of this aspect of the novel: "This is not a matter of observing, as some critics have done, that the dog story involves a human 'allegory,' a term implying that Buck is merely a human being disguised as a dog. Rather, the intuition at the heart of the novel is that the process of individuation in a dog, wolf, or a human child are not fundamentally different." http://www.answers.com/topic/the-call-of-the-wild-novel-4 Nov 28 09, 7:28 AM