［Key
words］The
Call
of
The
Wild,The
Wolf
Child,ecocriticism,similarities
I. Introduction
We live in a same planet, and the worsening global environment has attracted people’s consideration of the relationship between human species and nature. People have taken measures from different aspects to protect the environment. In order to awaken the individuals’ ecological awareness and find a harmonious way for the co-existence of all species, more and more people have paid attention to the ecological novels.
The Call of The Wild is written by American novelist Jack London. It successfully brings him everlasting fame and is regarded as the best dog story ever written. The Wolf Child is written by a writer of Mongolian nationality Guo Xuebo, telling a story
about the relationship between wolves and villagers in the area of Horqin steppe. The author earned the fame of “Son of Desert” after the book was published and afterwards a fashion of writing animal stories started to flourish in Chinese literature circle.
The two novels The Call of The Wild and The Wolf Child show the writers’ concern for the environment with their description of men, animals, and the environment. The two novels have been studied a lot at home and abroad. Among the critics of the works, many of them have given a touch on the ecological thematic meaning. Wang Weiqiong studied the ecological awareness of Jack London in An Analysis of The Call of The Wild in Light of Ecocriticism. Similarly, He Fang analyzed the theme of ecologism in the essay Interpreting the Ecological outlook of Jack London from White Fang and The Call of The Wild. As for the novel The Wolf Child, Zhao Hui and Fu Xuemin studied the ecologic inspiration of the novel by analyzing the Characters Xiao Long, White Ear, and Hu lama of the novel in The Ecological Enlightenment of The Wolf Child. By learning the common features represented in the ecologic
novels of the new century, Zhao Shuqin analyzed the realism and significance of The Wolf Child. Since both are concerning the ecological theme with ecological awareness, then it is safe to say that these two novels are comparable.
Ⅱ. The Similar Motifs and Images 2.1 Man’s evil characteristics
As literary ecologists, both of the two writers Guo Xuebo and Jack London show their admiration for wild nature and animals. Not only to represent the good merits of their animal protagonists, but also have they intended to make people believe that human beings are more evil and brutal.
Jack London expresses his disgust for the greedy behavior in human society. In the beginning of The Call of The Wild, Buck was living a comfortable life in Judge Miller’s house and had a pride in himself:
Among terriers he stalked imperiously, and Toots and Ysabel he utterly ignored, for he was king-king over all creeping, crawling, flying things of Judge Miller’s place, humans included. (London, 2)
However, he was later kidnapped and sold by the garde-
ner’s helper who loved to play Chinese lottery. Because of his
wrong faith in gambling, he cultivated an evil plan to sell his Master’s dog Buck for money. Therefore, he took out Buck out of the house and doubled a piece of stout rope around Buck’s neck under the collar. Buck suffered great pains, “his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his great chest panting futilely”. (London, 4) It was the first time that Buck was vilely treated.
Afterwards, Buck was in Francisco where he met the cruel and stout man with a red sweater and learned that “he stood no chance against a man with a club”. The man’s club had made Buck agonized, and his beautiful coat sprayed with bloody slaver. The red sweater struck the shrewd blow he had purposely withheld for so long, and Buck crumpled up and went down, knocked utterly senseless:
Well, Buck, Buck, my boy, he went on in a genial voice, we’ve had our little ruction, and the best thing we can do is to let it go at that. You’ve learned your place, and I know mine. Be a good dog and all will go well and the goose hang high. Be a bad dog, and I’ll whale the stuffin’ outa you. Understand? (London, 9)
There were also the young men who were spirit-broken by the savage environment and in the excess of their own misery they were callous to the suffering of their animals. The owner Hal’s theory was that one must get hardened and he hammered it into the dogs with a club:
Buck and his sled-dog mates were made to be perambulating skeletons. The pain of the beating was dull and distant. They were not half living, or quarter living. They were simply so many bags of bones in which sparks of life fluttered faintly. When a halt was made, they dropped down in the traces like dead dogs, and the spark dimmed and paled and seemed to go out. And when the club or whip fell upon them, the spark fluttered feebly up, and they tottered to their feet and staggered on. (London, 64)
In The Wolf Child, Guo Xuebo also depicted the evil nature of people’s mind. The leader of the village Hu Lama and a bunch of hunters hurt the male wolf and accidentally found its kennel. They killed two of its pups mercilessly.
Little wolves are not yet teething, but they have learnt to crack mouth to scary people. The one caught by Hu Lama, however, bites his finger with its mouth. The pain causes Hu to throw it to the ground and kick it. To make sure that the wolf is dead, he draws out a sword and stabs it several times. The other wolf suffers the same miserable fate, what is worse, the pup’s intestines turn out and spray to the ground with its blood. (Guo, 11)
After the murder, the only survived pup was taken into the village and became the lure for catching the big wolf. The big wolf then came to
save its child. However, it cut off the rope that tied to little pup, yet it didn’t manage to escape from the villagers’ trap.
The big wolf keeps its body unmoved under the repeatedly beat of people’s clubs. It didn’t even heave a sigh. Only the white brains and red blood, overflowing from the crushed skull, can justify its lively existence in the early times. Hu Lama and other villagers beat the wolf mercilessly to save their dignity, to show their braveness, and to conceal their consistent cowardice. Sure enough, it seems absurd to hit a wolf who has given up resistance, but none cares about it now! The relationship between human beings and beasts is believed to be unfair because the former think of themselves as the master.
2.2 Animals’ human-like feelings
Both of the protagonists of the two novels are depicted to own some human feelings. As an element of the species in the
universe, animals are able to express their gratefulness for the one who treats them well, and they will follow the kind-hearted owners everywhere they go or to save owners’ lives ignoring their own.
In The Call of The Wild, Buck knew that Judge Miller’s family members are kind to him. He had learned to trust in men he knew, and to give them credit for a wisdom that outreached his own.
When John Thornton saved his life, he expressed his adoration by following at his heels. Like a child fearing to lose his mother, Buck would creep through the chill to the tent, listening to the sound of his beloved owner’s breathing for fear of that Thornton would pass out of his life.
For the love of this owner, Buck would adventure to save him in the chilling water even he was half drowned. Thornton was saved, and Buck had his three ribs broken.
It was a shocking scene that Buck led a sled with one-thousand pound sacks of flour just because Thornton’s casual bluff with other gold rushers.
In The Wolf Child, the big wolf showed his great love for his pup as a father. People are usually told about the fierce wolf’s tale in their childhood. But a Chinese saying goes that even fierce beasts will not eat their children. In this story, knowing that his adventure would be a never-to-return way, the big wolf was determined to save his child. When he was trapped by the iron clip, he crashed against the stack, panting fiercely with great pains, but he didn’t leave his child from his mouth. When it knew there was no way to escape, it surrendered and without looking at the crowed of people around, it slicked its child and put it under its body, protecting its own child until the last minute.
Referring to the female wolf, after it took Xiao Long away from his home, it regarded him as his own child and whenever it goes, it will bring him beside. When Xiao Long was attacked by ptarmigans, the wolf spared no effort to save his life, making the evil birds withdraw, and slicking the bruise of Xiao Long’s body. Seeing her “child” so painful and lifeless, she howled pathetically, uttering the sharp sound which haunted over the ancient town and the vast desert.
2.3 Cruel people’s tragic fates
The Call of The Wild and The Wolf Child explore the way in which people should learn to get along with others and wild creatures. The two authors believe that as a part of the ecological environment, animals should be well treated as our friends; otherwise we human beings will be punished.
The Call of The Wild discusses about the relationship between animals and human species. It is said that you reap what you have sown. Judge Miller treated Buck well, and Buck paid back with his honesty and loyalty. John Thornton, giving all his love to this big dog, was saved three times by Buck. However, referring to Pete and Hans who showed their cruelty for Buck and other sled dogs, their fate was to miserably drop into the ice hole and lose their lives.
In The Wolf Child, the theme of exploring harmonious co-existence between man and nature, man and society, as well as man and man is represented very well. The desertification of the Horqin Steppe is proportionally as a result of people’s willful exploration. Similarly, the decreasing number of wolves and other animals in the wild nature, according to the story, is somewhat related to human’s slaughter. In this novel, Hu Lama was the leader of the village and he was used to bullying and oppressing villagers. He was an anti-hero image and sought for every possible ways to gain profits. It was he who killed the wolf cubs mercilessly and made the wolf revengeful. He spoiled his son and allowed him to make fool of other children. He casted his greedy eyes on his daughter-in-law and raped her. Although he lived a sort of rich life, but he didn’t expect that one of the wolf cubs survives and could recognize him and killed him at last. What’s more, Hu Lama didn’t know that the wolf was released out by his eldest son who knew about the relationship between his wife and his father. Hu Lama’ sad ending was that he died of White Ear’s bite and what he was hated by his sons, and his family got separated at last.
Ⅲ. The Two Writers’ Ecological Consciousness
Jack London’s fondness of animals could be seen everywhere in his real life and novels, especially when he built the magnificent “Wolf
House”. This was not a coincidence but an expression of his great passion for animals. Jack London was nostalgic about the good primordial days when human and animals lived happily in nature. Therefore, whenever he caught the sight of people’s poor lives and animals tragedies, he would condemn the so-called civilized society and dreamed of going back to nature. He thought that back to nature was the ideal destination for humankind. Jack London might not have expected that his dog stories could not only influence the literary circle but also awaken people’s awareness to praise the animals and rethink the relationship between human and nature.
Guo Xuebo is a writer who speaks of the desertification of the grassland three times whenever he talks with others. Having experienced a lot in the wild steppe, he has a deep love for his homeland and shows great concern about the environment. In his view, the animals should not be of instrumental value, but an indispensable part of the universe. Therefore, he shows his awe and respect for the nature and starts his attempts to maintain nature as a whole, man and nature alike.
Their depictions of the environment also show us the love for the environment and the responsibility for protecting the environment. One good turn deserves another. So the balance between men and nature should be pursued.
Ⅳ. Conclusion
In modern times, the novels about environment and human beings are really unique and valuable. The paper gives a comparison between such novels as The Call of The Wild and The Wolf Child with the analysis of the motifs and images.
Although the novels The Call of The Wild and The Wolf Child are created in different period and different nations, after being compared with each other, however, the writers’ intention are agreed, that is, the same concerns about human species. Jack London and Guo Xuebo show the same concerns about the environment and the animals. Whatever the kind of animals they write in novels separately wolfs or dogs, their same concerns
about the relationship between men and nature thus can be seen. They also aim to awake us to take care of the whole environment and the animals on our planet. To reach a wider range of communication between Chinese and Western ecological novels, more common features of the literary works are to be found.
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