Anderson Lee-ding the Pack!

It was a perfect chilly night at Anderson Lee Library in Silver Creek to collaborate together and discuss Jack London’s The Call of the Wild.  Our group spanned a large range including a family who had read the short novel aloud to each other, the library’s normal book club members, as well as several SUNY Fredonia students!  This range proved to bring many interesting topics of discussion up and a large array of perspective!  It was very helpful that everyone involved had finished reading the novel, and for some this reading was a second experience. 

Gender:  We all noticed the lack of female characters throughout The Call of the Wild.  There were two female dogs.  The first was literally torn apart by other male dogs, perhaps because she couldn’t handle a lifestyle this demanding.  And the second female dog lost her mind, chased Buck around the tundra, and was axed to death.  The only other female role was the high-maintenance woman named Mercedes.  She had no intellect to survive in harsh conditions and often road inside the sled, forcing the dogs to take her weight as if their lives weren’t difficult enough.  As a group, we decided that in this time period women weren’t the people out searching for gold and adventure in the Arctic tundra, women were homemakers.

Personification:  One of the most stimulating topics of discussion was the personification of the dogs.  Given that they were given in depth emotional capacity, what was Jack London trying to say about the dogs?  We overall concluded that the dogs can represent humans, but they also stand in representing themselves, dogs.  There was a lot of interesting feedback in this discussion and it eventually led to the idea of racism.  Man is represented as superior, yet all of the human characters in the novel were not near as developed as the animals.  The only exception we could think of was the rabbit that caused the raucous leading to Buck becoming the lead dog.

Wealth:  Another topic we discussed was the concept of wealth throughout the novel and how it was represented.  Buck was kidnapped and sold in order for a man (with a gambling problem, no less) to afford to feed his family.  When the dog team receives Mercedes and her husband and brother as new masters, Mercedes is forced to leave behind most of the wealth of their possessions in order to seek out gold during this gold rush, in order to gain more wealth.  It seems to be a vicious cycle that results in only negative, especially for Mercedes and her family.  But on the other hand, can we might be able to attribute Buck’s freedom to the desire of wealth, even if it wasn’t his personal desire.

 

We would like to thank the Anderson Lee Library for making this such an enjoyable experience as well as everyone who was able to attend!  Thank you all for your company and pleasurable discussion on the Call of the Wild!