摘要

    杰克·伦敦是美国19世纪著名的现实主义小说家之一。其小说作品多以个人亲身经历为写作背景，在美国甚至全世界都享有盛名。他的名誉很大一部分来源于他的“荒野小说”，《野性的呼唤》就是其中的经典作品，一直被公认为是杰克·伦敦最好的小说，小说通过一只名叫巴克的狗的命运来表达了作者不同的主题思想。本论文将从“爱、自由、适者生存、社会生活的折射”这四个部分来分析小说《野性的呼唤》中的多重性主题。

关键词  杰克·伦敦，《野性的呼唤》，主题分析

Abstract

Jack London is one of the most outstanding realistic novelists in America in the 19th century. Most of his works are based on his personal life experiences, which win London a high reputation both in the United States and all over the world. His “wild novels” makes a great contribution to his worldwide fame, among which, the classic novel, The Call of the Wild is well known as Jack London’s best work. In this work, London expresses different themes from the different aspects through a dog——Buck’s experiences. This paper will discuss from the aspects of “love, freedom, the survival of the fittest, the refraction of social life” to explore London’s multiple themes.

Keywords  Jack London, The Call of the Wild, thematic analysis

1  Introduction
    Jack London (1876~1916) is supposed to be one of the most popular realist authors in America. He is also a short story writer, an essayist, a dramatist and a social activist. During his whole life, he creates about 19 novels, 3 plays, 152 short stories and 8 autobiographical novels in total, among which are The Son of the Wolf (1900), The Call of the Wild (1903), The People of the Abyss (1903), White Fang (1906), Love of Life (1907), The Iron Heel (1908), Martin Eden (1909), Lost Face (1910), Burning Daylight(1910). Most of his stories are originated from his rich personal life experiences and extraordinary ideas. Jack London was born as an illegitimate son, in Jack’s adolescent years, he had a quite tough life, working as a newspaper boy at 10, a child labor in a factory at 14, going hunting on the sea at 15, spending thirty days in prison for giving fiery speeches in the public at 18. Finally, temporarily tired of some kind of venturesome life, London returned to Oakland and started studying. Due to Jack London’s hard working and natural gift, he was even admitted to a college, however he left the college in the second semester because he enjoyed adventure and wanted to find gold and fortune in the snowy north during the gold rush.