从生态批评角度分析《野性的呼唤》---毕业论文.doc

【标题】从生态批评角度分析野性的呼唤 【作者】张 露 【关键词】 【指导老师】李 雷 【专业】英语 【正文】. introductiona. jack londons life and the call of the wildjack london(1876-1916) was born in san francisco, california. during his 17-year writing career, london wrote 50 books, novels, and short stories in addition to newspaper articles and political essays. he had experienced more of life than most people, and he told the world about it in a fascinating, vigorous, and memorable style. in 1897, after the gold rush started, 21-year-old london went to canada and alaska with the hope of getting rich. in that place, he learned about the lives of trappers, indians, gold prospectors, and very importantly, sled-dogs. his experiences in the north formed the basis for many of his adventure books, especially his best sellers, the call of the wild, white fang, and the sea wolf. by the time when he was 40, london had earned a million dollars through his writing, but his own personal suffering led him to leave mans world, just as it led buck, his dog hero in the call of the wild. jack londons short, intense career was dominated by a single quest: to find a way of living in harmony with the landscape. jack londons career might well be studied as a lifelong series of attempts to escape the corruption of the civilization and to recapture the simple, maternal security of nature.the call of the wild(1903) is londons best-known work. the protagonist is a sled-dog who reverts to savagery. buck, a sheepdog on a california ranch, is stolen and sent north as a sled-dog in the 1896-97 gold rushes. he is sold to two french-canadians who treat him fairly but harshly. their fellow dogs, however, are violently savage; they continually and frequently fight for supremacy. buck, strong and courageous, excels in these battles and soon becomes the leader. he passes into several owners who treat him cruelly, and finally encounters john thornton who rescues him from three clumsy and cruel prospectors. thornton nurses bucks wounds, and at the same time buck develops a strong affection for his new master. he saves thorntons life twice and wins a lot of money for him by pulling a heavy sled out of the ice with the love of him. but on a gold-hunting expedition into the far north, thornton is killed by indians. buck, in a rage, kills many indians who are on the spot, then joins the wolves of the forest as one of their members. he becomes a wild animal, but once a year comes back to howl over the river which holds his beloved master thorntons body.b. a general survey of eco-criticismin the 20th century, under the relentless attack of technological industrialism, worldwide ecological destruction and the loss of species diversity have accelerated. after the world war, the technological revolution brought to mankind unparalleled wealth, yet at the same time, technological inventions has also largely destroyed the ecological balance. with the rapid economical development, human activities such as nuclear energy, industrialization, pollution, and overexploitation of natural resources were threatening to cause catastrophes on a planetary scale. all these environmental problems were striking the public consciousness and awakening the public awareness. in the literary field, the development of eco-literature and its research mirror the human pressing necessity to reduce and prevent the eco-crisis.then what is eco-criticism? a widely accepted definition has been offered by glotfelty cheryll, professor of literature and environment:“simply defined, ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment. ecocriticism takes an earth-centered approach to literary studies.”1 ecocriticism expands the concept of“the world” to include the entire ecosphere, not only the social sphere. that is to say, besides the human world, ecocritics also deal with the nonhuman natural world and human interactions with it. ecocriticism is not just a means of analyzing nature in literature. it implies a move towards a more bio-centric worldviews, an extension of ethics, a broadening of human conception of global community to include nonhuman life forms and the physical environment. human-centrism in the novelthe novel actually focuses on the relationship between the dog and his owner, and creatively embodies eco-critical thoughts from different angles. the dog(buck) is the representative of nature while the dog owners are human beings.buck, the dog protagonist in the call of the wild, has met five different masters during his process from civilization to decivilization, which is decivilized from a domestic dog to a leader of wolf pack. most of his masters treat him very cruelly. it is obvious that the author really criticizes human beings controlling behavior over the animal.a. humankind treating dog as a tool1. manuel and the scotch half-breed treating dog as a tool for moneyjudge miller and his families are bucks first masters, and they treat buck friendly and kindly. in response to their friendship, buck trust them and any others who live in the estate, include manuel, one of the gardeners helpers in judge millers family. when the time buck is sold by manuel, he thinks maybe it is merely a stroll as before.however, manuel is an undesirable acquaintance. only because he needs money, he can do everything even treachery in order to get what he want. manuel loves to play chinese lottery, and he has one besetting weaknessfaith in a system, which makes his damnation certain. he has a wife and numerous descendants, while his little wages are not enough for live, even for his gambling.in the fall of 1897, when the klondike strike dragged men from the world into the frozen north, they need dogs extremely, especially strong and furry dogs. then there is a chance to manuel. he sells buck in a sneaky way without feeling ashamed and uneasy. when the buyer gruffly asks manuel to wrap up“the goods” before he deliver them,“manuel doubled a piece of stout rope around bucks neck under the collar.twist it, and youll choke him plenty, said manuel, and the stranger grunted a ready affirmative.”2 from these sentences we can see that manuel is so cold and unfeeling, he treats his friend buck just as a kind of goods, for“it” can help him get money.when buck comes into the hand of the scotch half-breed, the third master of him, his life becomes harder. buck and the other dogs exert their heart and strength to the utmost in order to do a good job. although buck does not like it, he also tries his best to do the work well, and takes pride in it.without enough rest, dogs are feeling so tired that they cant do the job well in a short time. then, they are useless for the scotch half-breed. the only thing these dogs can do is to change money for their master. the dogs devote their body and energy to their master, but what they get at last is only being changed to money, not a better life or even a better treatment. for they are worthless for the further work, changing them to money is a better way for their master to deal with these“goods”.“the worthless ones were to be got rid of, and, since dogs count for little against dollars, they were to be sold.”32. perrault and francois treating dog as a tool for laborperrault and francois are bucks second masters; they make buck from a domestic dog to a sled-dog. they do this action not because the dog likes this kind of job but because they need the dog as a tool for labor. here, the dog should do the work just like horses and cattle do. buck doesnt like this work, but he still does his best. the author explains bucks first meet with the sled like this:“it was a harness, such as he had seen the grooms put on the horses at home. and as he had seen horses work, so he was set to work, hauling francois on a sled to the forest that fringed the valley, and returning with a load of firewood.”4fortunately, perrault and francois are good at using the“tool”, because they are just and experienced. although buck doesnt like them, he can get well with them. he speedily learned that perrault and francois are fair men, and too wise in the way of dogs to be fooled by dogs.for example, when the big, snow-white dog from spitzbergen stoles bucks food at the first meal, francois first punishes the dog for it hasnt obeyed the rule.“as buck springs to punish him, the lash of francoiss whip sang through the air, reaching the culprit first; and nothing remained to buck but to recover the bone.” 5 this fair action makes buck begin to trust his new master, so he respects them and works hard.during their working time, when bucks feet are badly hurt, the master rubs bucks feet for half an hour each night after supper, and sacrifices the tops of his own moccasins to make four shoes for buck. this may was a great relief, but its obvious that this deed is to make the“tool” more convenient and endurable. because by the time they get to the hootalinqua, buck is played out. the rest of the dogs are also in bad conditions, but perrault, in order to make up lost time, pushes them late and early. they treat the dog as a tool in that they think the only value of dog is labor. here, the relationship between man and dog is using and being used. dogs are just mans sacrifice and working tools.b. the scotch half-breed and hals cruelty over dogafter departing from francois and perrault, buck and his teammates pass into the hands of another mastera scotch half-breed. during the trip to dawson, it is toil to the dogs because there is almost no rest. the work of pulling mail train gets harder, and increasingly there is more routine and less reward. the master overworks buck and the other dogs as treating slaves, so that the dogs are almost beyond endurance.“it had been all used, the last least bit of it. every muscle, every fiber, every cell, was tired, dead tired. and there was reason for it. in less than five months they had traveled twenty-five hundred miles, during the last eighteen hundred of which they had but five days rest.”6when buck and his teammates pass into the hands of three inept masterscharles, hal and mercedes, they suffer much more from hal because of his incapability and cruelty. hal tries all means to let dogs perform the difficult task but he never shows any sympathy for them.they are lack of knowledge about techniques of dealing with problems in the great northland as they come from south and are here for an arctic travel. they even did not know how to load the sled and how to pitch and take down the tent. they load too many things on the sled so that the dogs cant pull any miles. when they can not move the sled, they never try to find out what is going wrong on their part but to lash buck and his team members savagely and viciously. hal thinks that the dogs are so lazy that they dont do their best and only whipping or lashing can give the dogs a lesson and let them perform the task, as is said in the novel,“the lazy brutes, ill show them. they are lazy, i tell you, and youve got to whip them to get anything out of them, that is their way.”7 masters are so selfish and cruel that they never think the dogs have been weak before they are passed on to them.because of their inexperience, dogs shouldnt get usual life as before. they are dull in all things, without order or discipline. the tent they rolled is three times large than usual. they spent lots of time packing the tent; however, the result is not so good. consequently, some days they do not make ten miles, and on other days they are unable to get started at all.when the bucks unfortunate teammate billie is on the verge of the death, he can not rise to work even under the“rain of the blows”. hal uses the axe to kill billie cruelly then cuts the carcass out of the harness and drags it to one side.“he took the axe and knocked billee on the head as he lay in the traces, then cut the carcass out of the harness and dragged it to one side.”8 buck and his mates see it, and they know that this thing is very close to them. this horrible deed has shocked dog as well as man. jack london here criticizes human beings cruelty imposed on the animals. he is opposed of human-centric views on animals and he hopes that human beings care about the life of animals.with these self-indulgent, ignorant, greedy and hypocritical masters, buck experiences everlasting torment and a life without care and attention. as a result, buck disobeys the irrational order over by hal, refusing to return to the harness despite the fact that hal beats him fiercely first with a whip and later with a club.here, the relationship between the masters and the dog proves to be the one between the master and the slavethe former will do anything but good to the latter. concerning with the value of dog(nature)although human beings are powerful, they are not the only creature of the world. all forms of life are equally valuable, with equal rights to flourish.“human beings should respect diversity of the life forms and realize each life form has its intrinsic values.”9 here, the dog in the novel can be used to refer to nature because a dog is part of the whole nature. we may see that the dog has his own values. dog has humane and wild personalities, and also, he has the ability to change himself from one to another under certain circumstances. that means, if we treat nature unfriendly, he will leave us. however, we human beings should know that we are not alone; we are depending on nature in deed.a. duality and flexibility of dogs personalityas is said above, the dog in general has two personalities. one is humane, and the other is wild. as for humane personality, the thesis will focus on the dogs faithfulness and justice. while as for wild personality, it will focus on animals wild nature instinct and savage. as a matter of fact, the change of dogs personalities mainly depend on human beings attitude.1. wild to humaneas we know, the dog is a wild animal in his primitive times. human beings civilization brings him care, love, and better life. so at last, the dog and human beings become friends and companions. its just because of love that drives dog from wild life to join humankinds civilized life. at the same time, dog gets some personalities of humane.there are so many examples which can be used to illustrate bucks loyalty and dedication to his beloved master, especially to john thornton.buck likes to do everything that thornton asks him to do but never think about whether it is safe or dangerous. thornton is the only man who can put a pack upon bucks back in the summer traveling, and his command will get bucks obedience without the slightest hesitation. one day, they are sitting on the crest of a cliff which falls away to naked bedrock three hundred feet below. when thornton commands,“jump, buck!” with his arm sweeping out and over the chasm, then the next instant he is grappling with buck on the extreme edge. it is amazing indeed, but we understand that it comes from the dogs loyalty.another example is that buck gives up his own wild life in order to accompany and protect thornton. during the time of staying with thornton for the recovery, there have been other deeper calls from the wilderness. although buck has thought of running toward and joining the other wolves, he resists this kind of strong temptation. once, when buck and his wolf friend run side by side through the forest, he feels happy and free. suddenly, he stops and returns to the camp because he thinks of john thornton. it is his faithfulness and devotion to thornton that makes buck resist the lure of the call of the wild and draws back to his master. just as london said in the novel,“the love for john thornton drew him back to the fire againthornton alone held him. the rest of mankind was as nothing.” 10buck also has the personality of justice. he doesnt like any one who is evil and merciless, which can be shown from bucks attitude towards spitz. when another dog curly is killed by a pack of huskies, buck is shocked. however, their leading dog spitz seems to be taking pleasure in curlys misfortune, which annoys buck.“he saw spitz run out his scarlet tongue in a way he had of laughingspitz ran out his tongue and laughed again, and from that moment buck hated him with a bitter and deathless hatred.”112. humane to wildalthough man and dog live in harmony in the early times, it is changed at present just because of human beings become not as civilized as before. human beings treat nature cruelly; they try their best to control nature. these deeds coming from human beings hurt the dog deeply, so they become wild again as they have no choice.after buck is betrayed by manuel and is forced to the barren and cold north, he suffers a lot. he encounters endless fighting, lacking of food, cold, and fear, even beating frequently by humankind. all these sufferings make him lose confidence and admiration of that so called civilization which brings by human beings. because most sufferings are brought by humankind, civilization has no use in the poor north. at this time of deeply sadness, when buck heard the song of the huskies, which might have been the defiance and pleading of life, his wild nature instinct seems come back:it was invested with the woe of unnumbered generations, this plaint by which buck was so strangely stirred. when he moaned and sobbed, it was with the pain of living that was of old the pain of his wild fathers, and the fear and mystery of the cold and dark that was to them fear and mystery. and that he should be stirred by it marked the completeness with which he harked back through the ages of fire and roof to the raw beginnings of life in the howling ages. 12buck also has the wild personality of savage, which can be reflected when he takes lasting revenge on the in