The Call of the Wild
This excerpt is taken from a novel „The Call of The Wild” by Jack London, published in 1903. In the given passage Buck, the main character of the story, experiences the visions about a sauvage 'hairy man' and starts to hear the call of the wild. His longing for wilderness becomes irresistible, which he finds confusing and at the same time fascinating. Buck manifests his will to understand the origins of the call in orderto establish his real identity. In this commentory I will focus on the question how does the impulses that pull Buck into the wild foreshadow and influence his eventual transformation?
The first paragraph of the excerpt presents Buck's vision of a man and his relationship with him. This portray, seen through the eyes of Buck is an example of internal focalization: 'hairy man' is described as an ideal master and companion: „they walk by the beach at the sea”; „ they crept noiselessly” - a symbol of a prefect partnership between the two of them. All throughout the passage the lexical field of body and physicality is set up into the description of a 'hairy man' („eyes that moved”; „legs prepared to run”; „ears twitching and moving”) showing his exceptional skills and his ability to adjustment and survival into the wilderness. Such a description creates an image almost unreal: a man who can climb the trees and live on them for instance, „could spring up into the trees and travel ahead”; „ he seemed as much at home as on the ground”. It is an example of zoomorphism – through Buck's angle of vision a human being incarnates animal features. This suggests that the dog is longing for restoring the primitive nature of man-dog relationship with the perfect harmony with the wild and nature.
In the beggining of the second paragraph this perception of a perfect alliance with the 'hairy man' is compared to the call that Buck hears. Like a man unaffected by the civilization, that the landscape of the forest which makes a call is depicted as a
The first paragraph of the excerpt presents Buck's vision of a man and his relationship with him. This portray, seen through the eyes of Buck is an example of internal focalization: 'hairy man' is described as an ideal master and companion: „they walk by the beach at the sea”; „ they crept noiselessly” - a symbol of a prefect partnership between the two of them. All throughout the passage the lexical field of body and physicality is set up into the description of a 'hairy man' („eyes that moved”; „legs prepared to run”; „ears twitching and moving”) showing his exceptional skills and his ability to adjustment and survival into the wilderness. Such a description creates an image almost unreal: a man who can climb the trees and live on them for instance, „could spring up into the trees and travel ahead”; „ he seemed as much at home as on the ground”. It is an example of zoomorphism – through Buck's angle of vision a human being incarnates animal features. This suggests that the dog is longing for restoring the primitive nature of man-dog relationship with the perfect harmony with the wild and nature.
In the beggining of the second paragraph this perception of a perfect alliance with the 'hairy man' is compared to the call that Buck hears. Like a man unaffected by the civilization, that the landscape of the forest which makes a call is depicted as a