The Call to the Wild, I: Goodness is Strong

     In the first few chapters of The Call of the Wild, there is a near immediate death; a sweet but naive dog named Curly. She didn’t die because she was sweet, but because she was weak. The Call of the Wild was written by the naturalist Jack London in 1903. Naturalism is the belief that people are largely shaped by heredity, instincts, and their environment. London applies this idea to his animal characters, including the main character Buck, showing how their behavior changes in response to the conditions they face. Through Curly’s death and Buck’s sudden loss of his comfortable life, London explores the danger of entering a world for which one is not prepared.

     Curly’s death demonstrates that goodness alone is not enough to face every challenge. She approaches the other dogs in a friendly way, expecting them to respond as she would. However, she does not understand the danger she is in until it is too late. Her kindness is not the problem; her inability to recognize and respond to danger is. In a different environment, her friendliness might have been an advantage. But in the world she has entered, she needs awareness and adaptability as much as she needs a good nature. Being good does not mean much if you are completely defenseless against everything around you.

     Buck demonstrates a different kind of weakness. At the beginning of the story, he is a large, powerful dog who has lived a comfortable life and has little reason to suspect that someone might deliberately hurt him. Despite his size, he trusts the man who puts a rope around his neck and takes him away from everything he knows. Buck has physical strength, but he has not yet learned how to recognize when that strength needs to be used. His comfortable life has left him unprepared for a world where other people may take advantage of him. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Buck begins in a state of innocence, unaware of the dangers that exist beyond the life he knows. His experience shows that even someone who possesses strength can be vulnerable when they do not know how to use it.

     Strength, however, does not have to mean physical power. Consider the Joker: he may not be the strongest person in the room, but his intelligence, unpredictability, and ability to manipulate others make him dangerous to underestimate. There are many ways to become strong enough to face the world, and not all of them involve being physically intimidating. Awareness, intelligence, self-control, and adaptability can all help a person resist being controlled by others. This connects to the idea that being good is different from simply being harmless. A person who cannot fight back is not necessarily more virtuous than someone who has the ability to hurt others but chooses not to. Genuine goodness involves having the ability to make a choice, including the choice to do wrong, and choosing what is right instead.

     Curly and Buck show two different ways that a person can be unprepared for the world. Curly lacks the awareness to recognize danger, while Buck possesses physical strength without the experience to protect himself. Neither of them needs to become cruel, but both need qualities beyond their natural strengths to survive. The goal is not to become bad enough to survive the world, but strong enough to remain good in it.