The Call of the Wild | Themes
The Call of the Wild is a mythic romance, a beast fable, in which the transformation of Buck, the canine protagonist, offers readers a vicarious return to life lived immediately, a life which transcends civilized restraints and regulations. The book's central theme traces the development of a hero through rites of passage that lead to self-knowledge, and the story follows the archetypal pattern of departure, initiation, growth, and apotheosis. Buck's decivilization is a quest for the essence of life, a journey which begins in the sheltered world of Judge Miller's California ranch,...
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