The Call Of the Wild by Jack London - Term Paper Example

The Call of the Wild by Jack London Affiliation Supervisors SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology London, John. The Call of the Wild. New York: Macmillan, 1903.Print Summary of the Play This work richly relied on the literature from the book entitled “The call of the wild” by Jack London. The book summarizes the scramble for gold in California and various key characters involved. There is trouble brewing in California due to the existence of gold discovered in the Arctic, Northland. Everyone is rushing to find some cash from the gold. In this work strong dogs are required to provide security that can withstand the cold at gold site mine. One of the dogs that form major characters in the story is Buck living in the home of Judge Miller in Santa Clara Valley. The house and the compound he lives in is very large and spacious, and the grounds are beautifully laid out with orchards and gardens. Buck has lived a good life for good part of his in splendor. There are other many dogs like Curl, Spitz, Dave, Billie and Joe amongst others but Buck is above them all. He is like a king over where he stays, he believes in himself the benign master of everyone, including his humans. He is an animal with human-like tendencies, intelligence, strength and dignity. The life of the dog changes since, a gardeners helper had numerous debts and managed to steal the big animal Buck and sell him to get the money to offset his debts. He is given to a saloon-keeper and transported via train to the Northland. Buck struggled for escape from his kidnappers and managed to badly bite one of his kidnappers. The dog was subjected to withstand the cold, beating by his kidnapper, going for long miles without food are all harassment the dog went through. Interestingly Buck does not want to be viewed as a domestic dog but likes to rule over the people and his fellow dogs in the new place. Due to the human nature of the dog, Buck starts experiencing strange dreams about the primitive days of dogs and men, before the advent of cities or houses or culture. Buck becomes involved in a tussle of power struggle with his fellow dog, Spitz. This tussle ends up to a fight where Buck wins and takes dominion over other dog team. The old team seem not to be good people and everyone is killed save for Buck who was rescued by a kind man named John Thornton, moments before the group death in an icy river. Buck becomes attached to Thornton and even saves his life several times. Buck sets off on a journey with his new master proud and enjoying his new life. However, Buck needed to run off and kill things in the woods everyone in a while. Buck is divided into two thoughts, to continue staying with Thornton, or kill things in the woods? Be civilized, or be wild? The relationship between Thornton and the dog was such intimate that Thornton seemed to be Bucks true destiny as a wild dog pack leader. The devotion of Buck to Thornton was such peculiar since the dog had never been devoted to any one elsewhere. For example Buck was willing to jump off a cliff for Thornton. However, Thorntons presence in Bucks life was a hindrance to his freedom and role play as a dog. He was torn between going off into the wild to hunt for animals and attending to his master Thornton. The story ends when; Thornton is killed by the Yeehat tribe where Buck later extracts vengeance. Buck then gains freedom to run with the wild dog packs as a leader not as a fellow dog in the pack. Identification and definition of Concepts There are various concepts from the book that are used in the study to help understand the play very well as listed and defined below. The concepts analyzed are; 1. Power 2. Socialization 3. Role conflict 4. Significant Others 5. Norms 6. Cultural Process 7. Discrimination 8. Social Institution 9. Social Imagination 10. Norm Violation, Deviance 1.”Power” by definition is one of the characteristics of social characteristic and a virtue whereby an individual or group of people is able to force or command things to happen or keep rolling. The presence of power derives from the ability to impose or cause coercion. It can also be viewed as the ability of society or recognized people to set agenda for the next generation. Power is exercised by states through military and police. In California, Buck believed he was very powerful. His master, Judge Millers regarded him as the most important dog in household. He had power and authority over all other dogs in the house and thought he could have power over the people. The phrase “…..But Buck was neither house dog nor kennel dog. The whole realm was his. He plunged into the swimming tank or went hunting with the Judges sons....”. In the Klondike, the dog learns what it means to have order and understands that power is truly the power over life and death. When Buck discovered that his fellow dog Spitz feared him, he takes advantage to exert power and control over Spitz, Buck gains full control over other dogs. When Buck gets deported to a new place, Buck gets new company of dogs that he wants to be their leader. When a fellow dog Curly is killed for making a friendly advancement to another dog, Buck recognizes that he is in a strange world where kill or be killed is the game. He immediately begins to see the world in terms of who has power over whom. This is what Buck refers to as the law of Club and Fang. This power is demonstrated in the relations of the dogs among themselves and in the relation of the dogs and people around them. Buck realizes that human beings possess no unique power over dogs and begins to exercise his leadership over Francois, even though Francois had a club. 2. “Socialization” is a process through which individuals, groups, or societies acquire knowledge, language, social skills, and value so as to agree with the set rules and values required for integration into a group or community. It consists of individual and environmentally imposed rules, and the expectations from others. The basic meaning may vary from one setting to another. For example in organizational setting, it may imply the process through which new employees ‘learn to adapt to the policies of the company. In a family set up socialization may mean process by which children and adults learn from others. It is important to note that socialization is a process that continues throughout one’s lifestyle from one place to another. Bucks environment undergoes a tremendous change within short durations. For example he is kidnapped and taken from a comfortable place to a place of wilds, cold, lack of food and harassment in the Klondike. “These dogs aren’t exactly sitting Buck down with a pencil and notebook, but it’s sort of an indirect advice situation”. The dog quickly adapts to the environment more than any other dogs and relates well with his fellows. In a new place, Buck acquires new company of his fellow dogs by learning how to relate with people, dogs. His good relationship makes him get a fellow mate where he sires new offspring. This demonstrates his ability to socialize with the environmental settings and people around him. 3. “Role conflict” by definition is an element of social interaction that describes the incompatibility or lack of coherence between or among the roles corresponding to two or more positions held by an individual. For example if two people have different expectations or opinions about what the others proper role should be, this may result to a conflict. The dogs have been portrayed as happiest when they are engaged in labor. Characters like Dave and Sol-leks, show up only once they have been strapped into their traces and ready to take to the trail. Dave refuses to abandon his position, pain rented the air when he was shot but it sounded like that was the fairest treat he could get. When Buck is leading the dogs team for John Thornton, he is not happy but only when Thornton his master find gold, and there is little work for the dogs to do. Buck dreams of his former, because only then was he invested in a human partnership with completely mutual goals, desires and needs. Their work was the same and it was constant, and there could be no better relationship for a dog. Buck was torn into two as what his role should be, roaming in the woods, killing his own food or to provide security for his master, Thornton. The lone wolf is like a friend to Buck, when they got into a relationship it was about Buck’s deeper longing to join the wild. The lone wolf later becomes a thorn in the flesh for Buck. He wants to be loyal to wolf but on the other side he is also loyal to Thornton. Then he wants to be feral and kill things, but he still loves the man and can’t leave him behind. It seems like all of the desires that Buck is feeling get thrown together in this lone wolf. 4. “Significant others” is a social term that may mean a person that offers support to another person. This person may be a friend, family member, partner or spouse irrespective of gender and relationship. The person may be a close confidant that you can share very intimate issues. The meaning and the person may vary from one setting to another. For instance, in hospitals setup the person could be the one that can offer support during testing, treatment or illness. In an organization set-up people can be invited to attend specific functions of the organizations with their significant others. In brief this is a person whose close relationship with an individual affects that individuals behavior and attitudes. Buck discovers several positive kinds of companionship and acquaintances along his journey from Clara to where he was sold to strangers and where he met Thornton. First Francois and Perrault, then the Scotchmen, engaged him in meaningful relationships based on work, along with the rest of the dog team. This despite the hurdles and struggles Buck went through and lack of food. The phrase” Inner strength? Not so much. But some external hand-licking sure seems to do the job” demonstrates how Buck treated John Thornton as a confidant, Thornton was a significant other to Buck. The relationship was cemented when he was able to work for John Thornton, fulfilled by his labor and inspired by his love something he rarely did to other people. 5. “Norm” is a term used to describe the informal set rules and guideline about what is considered correct or incorrect social behavior in a group of people or a specific societal setting. The norm forms the basis of collective expectations that members of a community have from each other, and play a key part in social control and social order by exerting a pressure on the individual to conform the societal demands and expectations. It could also be formal rules laid by the government through constitution of a given land or nation against which individuals behavior is judged. The norm can be viewed that rules that a society uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be direct or indirect. Any member of the society that fails to adhere to the rules can result in severe punishments, including exclusion from the group. Buck and the other dogs in the book generally perform selfless acts or sacrifice their own interests for the sake of others. This shows virtue and act of humanity to other characters. The dogs led by Buck enforce a strict code of putting the survival of the group as a whole above the mere survival of the individual, they believe there are standards and norms expected of each of them to live up to. When Buck meets John Thornton, he does begin to perform selfless acts, because he is inspired by love. 6. “Cultural processes” is a procedure through which people or society transform the world to correspond to an ideal world. The process includes all group specific norms and rules, values and ideas, information and knowledge as represented, exchanged, appropriated, altered and created anew in the process of communication. “He saw, once for all, that he stood no chance against a man with a club. He had learned the lesson, and in all his after life he never forgot it. That club was a revelation. It was his introduction to the reign of primitive law, and he met the introduction halfway. The facts of life took on a fiercer aspect; and while he faced that aspect uncowed, he faced it with all the latent cunning of his nature aroused”. The phrase above summarizes how Buck went through a cultural process from former residence to a new residence inn the North. When Buck learns the difference between the “cold” world to which he is being taken and the “warm” world from which he comes. He is not used to harsh treatment, but being an exceptionally wise dog, he quickly adjusts. This works for him when other dogs are being killed. The dog’s first reaction to rough treatment is in the spirit of rebelliousness but Buck recognizes a new “law” when he sees it. All other dogs that came in after Buck had to go through the same cultural process as illustrated in this part of excerpt. “As the days went by, other dogs came, in crates and at the end of ropes, some docilely, and some raging and roaring as he had come; and, one and all, he watched them pass under the dominion of the man in the red sweater. Again and again, as he looked at each brutal performance, the lesson was driven home to Buck: a man with a club was a law-giver, a master to be obeyed, though not necessarily conciliated. Of this last Buck was never guilty, though he did see beaten dogs that fawned upon the man, and wagged their tails, and licked his hand. Also he saw one dog, that would neither conciliate nor obey, finally killed in the struggle for mastery.” 7. “Discrimination” in a society is means unfair treatment or harassment that causes harm to an individual or society due to gender, race and belief. For example people have the right to equal treatment and opportunities. Any kind of act or behavior to an individual that seems to hinder them from getting access to these basic rights is called discrimination. Discrimination can be viewed as treating one particular group of people less favorably than others because of their race, colour, nationality, or ethnic or national origin. Discrimination is displayed through Buck when he decides to eliminate weaker animals than him by killing them. “But he is not always alone. When the long winter nights come on and the wolves follow their meat into the lower valleys, he may be seen running at the head of the pack through the pale moonlight or glimmering borealis, leaping gigantic above his fellows, his great throat a–bellow as he sings a song of the younger world, which is the song of the pack.” 8. “Social institution” is any institution that deals with issues related to governance, religion, education, economics and family of any society but do not include places of employment. The institution must have the ability to form a kinship, use legitimate power, perform a service and be able to pass information down from one generation to the other. It is the social setting where one grows and lives in. For example school is a social institution as it is a shaping ground for the learners and other people in the institution. The institutions like family, religion, peer group, economic systems, legal systems, penal systems, language and the media are the structures and mechanisms of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a community. The social institution for the book was harsh brutalities of the wilderness. The setting of the book is next to a pool in Miami which could have shaped up Buck’s character. This is because he suffers the hardship of cold, hunger, and starvation that transformed and made him fit to live in the wild with other animals and people. Buck transforms both physically and spiritually. The phrase below shows the kind of conditions Buck was exposed to in the new environment. “The first theft marked Buck as fit to survive in the hostile Northland environment. It marked his adaptability, his capacity to adjust himself to changing conditions, the lack of which would have meant swift and terrible death. It marked, further, the decay or going to pieces of his moral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle for existence. It was well enough in the Southland, under the law of love and fellowship, to respect private property and personal feelings; but in the Northland, under the law of club and fang, whoso took such things into account was a fool, and in so far as he observed them he would fail to prosper.” Both in Clara and North formed part of social institution for Buck since each environment offered him a different setting and adaptability skills. 9. “Sociological Imagination” is the ability to see things socially and how they interact and influence each other. To have a sociological imagination, a person must be able to pull away from the situation and think from an alternative point of view. It is viewed as the capacity to see how sociological situations play out due to how people differ in terms of their places in given social or historical circumstances. It is a way of thinking about things in society that have led to some sort of outcome, and understanding what causes led to that outcome. For example when one goes to school the obvious fact is that he or she goes to learn and acquire knowledge. Going to school can be viewed as that place that shows symbol of unity in any society, shaping ground and moral developments in children. The moral building would be viewed as more important than the act of just going to school to pass examination and get employment by the children; this is what is called social imagination. Buck’s dreams of sitting by a fire with some sort of primitive form of man could be imagined as trying to get in touch with his past, his ancestry, the great tradition of existing in the harsh wilderness, of loyalty between dog and master, of the hunt, of darkness. After his fight with his friend Spitz, he is harnessed into the lead dog’s position. This new position of the dog represents change of loyalty from being leader over men to being in charge of other dogs. John Thornton cuts Buck free from his traces, an act that symbolizes his freedom from a world in which he serves humans. 10. “Norm violation or Deviance” is the violation of set norms or rules in any society. It is normally divided into two types of deviant activities. The first, crime is the violation of formally enacted laws and is referred to as formal deviance, for example robbery while the second type of deviant behavior refers to violations of informal social norms which are norms that have not been codified into law, and is referred to as informal deviance, for example, belching loudly for some cultures. In the book, men have been portrayed as not having any virtue or morals. Men are believed to possess most virtuous who have failed to live up to the morals in the society. John London suggests that civilization has allowed human beings to be morally developed better than wild creatures. People like Hal, Mercedes and Charles represent the most exposed and civilized people but they ultimately act selfishly and cruelly. There are series of moral decadence and norms deviance when dogs are attacking each other, men beating dogs, dogs fighting men and the hunt and kills relationship of predator and prey. These forms of violence and moral decadence are viewed as natural. If people use weapons like clubs on the dogs, is this an unfair form of violence compared to when Buck went for hunting down and killing a creature weaker than him. References London, John. The Call of the Wild by Jack London. New York: Macmillan, 1903 .Print. Available at: http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/CallOfTheWild/ Web.12th April, 2014. Read More