解读《野性的呼唤》中的自然主义_英语论文

A Naturalistic Reading on The Call of the Wild

摘要

法国作家左拉最早确立了自然主义的基本原理，之后被弗兰克·诺里斯引入了美国。后来，杰克·伦敦在他的小说《野性的呼唤》中将这些原则与美国的现实主义结合，描绘了一只生活在自然法则世界之下的狗。在这部小说中，作者创建了一个文学形象-巴克，从他的经历中，我们可以看到“棍棒和獠牙法则”，它代表了自然法则和规律。主人公巴克其实是人类的象征。他的生活经历表明，人是完全由环境和自身遗传决定的。环境是如此恶劣，以至于人们被超自然力量所控制。这导致了很多人和狗的死亡，包括约翰·桑顿。巴克的恩人桑顿之死象征他失去了爱。它切断了巴克和文明世界之间的最后联系，也使巴克后来回归到大自然，当然，巴克的回归是他的内部本能和遗传所决定的。自然主义者认为世界是如此残酷以至于每个人都必须为了生存成为最强大的。他们必须尽可能地依靠自己活下去。有时，他们可能会失去理智，有时他们可能会伤害他人。但是，他们不应该受到批评和责备。对此，笔者将从自然主义切入，探讨自然主义的含义，然后结合自然法则即“丛林法则”和“适者生存”来分析杰克伦敦是如何从环境和遗传两个角度刻画人物形象，再然后分析环境和人物形象在文中的象征意义。更重要的是，笔者也将总结自然主义关于人类社会发展的一些结论。

关键字：自然主义 自然法则 适者生存

Abstract

Naturalism was first formulated by French writer Emile Zola who set up the basic principles of it and was later introduced to America by Frank Norris. Later, Jack London mixed those principles with American realism in his novel The Call of the Wild, depicting a group of dogs who lived under the laws of nature. In this novel, the author created a major image-Buck, from whose experience we can see the law of club and the law of fang which represents the law of the nature. The hero, Buck, is actually the symbol of man. His life experience shows that man’s life is wholly determined by the environment and heredity inside himself. The environment is so bad that people are determined by some forces beyond their control, which in the book leads to the death of many people and dogs, including John Thornton. The death of Buck’s beloved is a symbol of his loss of love. It has cut off the last tie between Buck and the civilized world. Thus，later, Buck responses to the call of the wild, which is in fact the instinct and heredity inside himself. For naturalists, the world is so cruel that everyone has to be the strongest to survive. They are thrown upon themselves to keep alive as best as they can. Sometimes they may lose reason or sometimes they may harm others. All in all, they should not be criticized. As for this, the author will start her paper with the definition of Naturalism, then analyze how environment and heredity contribute to the description of the character with the law of nature, that is “the law of jungle” and “the survival of the fittest”, and then write about the symbolic meaning of environment and the character. What’s more, the author will also draw some conclusions on the development of human society.

Key words:  Naturalism, the Law of Nature, the fittest survive

Contents

Introduction 2

1. A Brief Introduction of Naturalism 3

1.1 A Brief Introduction of Naturalism 3

1.2 A Brief Analysis of the Appliance of Naturalism 5

2. The Portrayal of the Character 6

2.1 The Influence of the Environment 6

2.1.1 Buck’s Adaptation to the Environment 6

2.1.2 Buck’s Amorality 7

2.1.3 Buck’s Desire for Leadership 8

2.2 The Biological-determinism 9

2.2.1 The Wakening of Buck’s Heredity 9

2.2.2 The Completely Wakening of Buck’s Instincts 11

2.3 Buck’s Response to the Call 12

3. The Symbolic Meaning of Naturalism 14

3.1 The Symbolic Meaning of the Wild Nature 14

3.2 The Symbolic Meaning of the Character 15

Conclusion 17

Bibliography 18

Acknowledgements 19