Answering “The Call of the Wild” on New York’s Amish Trail

     One community member at our discussion held at Randolph Free library in Randolph, New York shared an interesting story about her labradoodle, “Polly”. She said that during the summer Polly would walk up the street to the local ice cream stand and wait in line where the employees would give her a bowl of ice cream. She would then take the bowl back down the street and bring it back home to eat in the front yard.

     Our audience at the Randolph library was very intrigued with how Jack London’s Call of the Wild contemplated human and animal interactions. Polly’s owner saw her dog as a family member who she shared a special bond with, much like the intimate connection that John Thornton shared with Buck. Our group contemplated how the introduction of a dog as the main character of the novel affected the way we felt about the events in the plot. Are humans a part of the primal order just as Buck is in London`s novel? Buck’s transformative experience of changing from a domesticated house pet to a primordial ruler of the wild was of particular fascination to our discussion group.

     We traveled to Randolph on Monday February 25^th, 2013 at 6pm with the intention of leading a discussion of The Call of the Wild focused on the historical and political context of the novel.  The historical richness of the Randolph community inspired this topic. We prepared to present information on American imperialism, the economic climate prior to the London’s writing, Jack London’s life, and the Klondike gold rush. We prepared a visual that our attendees found appealing and fun to look at. There was a wide variety of knowledge about these historical events among our three participants, and they were happy to actively participate in this part of the discussion. The life of Jack London particularly interested the group due to his brief incarceration in Buffalo, New York.

     Our discussion even went beyond the novel itself, as we seemed to spark an interest in literature in general. The discussion centered on how the novel compared to similar novels of the time, other author’s writing styles, historical events happening around the time of the novels publication, major events that have taken place since, and Jack London himself. Our participants showed a deep appreciation for the literary world and clearly saw how the novel functions in a social sphere.

     The community members in attendance discussed how having university English majors leading the discussion made for a much more interesting and beneficial conversation. Quite often community members who are intrigued by the idea of discussing literature in the public sphere lack an environment that provides a beneficial and enriching analysis. Specifically, our discussion participants spoke of how their own book club discussion did not necessarily meet the same standards as the discussion we were able to provide. Also, the experience proved to be mutually beneficial, as it provided an opportunity for us to apply our skills developed as English majors in a real-world situation outside of the classroom.

     Our experience while putting together this event was exciting and informative. We learned a lot about Jack London’s Call of the Wild, about how warm and welcoming the community can be, and how we as English majors can have a positive impact in the community.

     We would like to thank everyone who gave us the opportunity to have this wonderful experience with the NEA’s Big Read and in particular we would like to thank the Randolph Free Library for hosting the event.