THE PRIMITIVISM CHARACTERISTICS EXPRESSED IN THE CALL OF THE WILD BY JACK LONDON

Abstract

“The Call of the Wild” is one of the adventure stories of Jack London that makes him one of the most popular writers of his day. Taking a closer look into the novel, readers tend to be attracted by the topics that the novel discusses including the naturalism, the natural selection,….However, in this thesis, I would like to discover another theme: the primitivism that is expressed in the novel. Specifically, that is how the characteristics of primitivism are shown in this work of literature. With the aim of carrying out how the primitivism characteristics expressed in the novel, I have conducted a research as my thesis entitled: “The Primitivism Characteristics Expressed in the novel The Call of the Wild by Jack London”. The thesis is divided into four main parts. The first part is introduction which contains the rationale, aims, significance, methodology, scope and organization of the study. The second part is about literature theories and it consists of two chapters: chapter one is the brief information about primitivism and primitivism in Jack London’s works, chapter two is the general knowledge of Jack London’s biography and “The Call of the Wild”. The third part, also the most important one, is development. This part includes three chapters showing the primitivism characteristics expressed in the novel: the dominant role of physical power over intellectual power in Buck’s successful survival, the praise of the past and the dominance of intuition over rational awareness. The last part sums up what is discovered as the result of this research and gives some suggestions for further research about the relevant topics of the novel. I hope that this research will somehow show you how the primitivism characteristics are expressed in the novel as well as give you a new look into the novel “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London.