Below is a sample novel analysis for Jack London's The Call of the Wild. Since students are limited to course resources and their novel, it is unnecessary for students to include formal documentation (such as MLA style). For that reason, internal citations for the novel and the critical resources applied to an understanding of the novel are not included in this sample essay. However, as demonstrated in this example, students are required to use a running acknowledgement where they explain and introduce each critical approach used in the analysis.

This sample analysis is longer than the minimum length required of students and includes references to more resources than the minimum required of students. For more information on my process and thinking while working on this sample paper, see Writing the Novel Analysis: Call of the Wild

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Call of the Wild by Jack London is set during the Klondike Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century after gold was discovered in the Yukon. A wave of prospectors moved into the area, where the primary means of transportation and hauling was by dog sled. This led to a need for sturdy dogs, which becomes the premise for this novel. Buck is a half St. Bernard, half Scots Shepherd dog living in the Santa Clara Valley at the home of Judge Miller. Unlike the other dogs owned by the Judge and his family, Buck is an outdoor dog, participating in outdoor events with the family, including hunting and swimming trips. When Manuel, the Judge's gardener finds himself in trouble over gambling debts, he steals Buck and sells him to someone looking for potential sled dogs. Buck is captured, beaten, and sold into servitude as a sled dog in the Yukon, where Buck must learn, not only how to work as a sled dog and part of a team, but also how to survive in an environment that is harsh and demanding. While other domesticated dogs from the United States fail to measure up to the demands placed on them, Buck excels, and, despite being driven to exhaustion, becomes a dog that all recognize as superior. His adventures carry him back and forth across the North, carrying mail and supplies for prospectors, and all the while, as he grows stronger and wiser, Buck feels drawn to his wild ancestry, to the call of the wild.

Many of the critical approaches to the study of myth can be applied to novels in ways that reveal the significance and meaning of the works. Joseph Campbell's monomyth, Waller Hastings's abbreviated version of Propp's 31 functions of the Fairy Tale, Sigmund Freud's analysis of the psyche, Carl Jung's archetypal characters, Mircea Eliade's views of sacred space and Arnold Van Gennep's approach to ritual, and Claude Levi-Strauss's view of myth as a conflict of oppositions can all be profitably used to examine and illuminate an understanding of Jack London's The Call of the Wild. All these approaches to myth illuminate the central conflict within Jack London's The Call of the Wild, whether Buck will surrender to the call of the wild (nature and freedom) or continue to follow the call of humanity (domesticity and conformity).

Joseph Campbell argued that all myths followed the same basic pattern of the cycle of the seasons, a pattern he referred to as the monomyth. In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell outlined a detailed explanation of the monomyth. The Office of Resources for International and Area Studies at the University of California Berkeley has simplified this approach to eleven stages. A modified explanation of these has been included in this mythology course. These eleven stages can be applied to a variety of works, including London's The Call of the Wild.

The first stage of the monomyth is the Birth of the hero, usually filled with unusual circumstances. In Buck's case, he is the offspring of a huge St. Bernard and a Scots Shepherd dog and owned by Judge Miller in the Santa Clara Valley. Buck is described as king of his domain and has free access to the entire estate, unlike the Judge's other dogs. The second stage of the monomyth is the Call to Adventure, when the hero is led into the adventure by some messenger or event. Unknown to Buck, gold has been discovered in the far North, and the Judge's gardener, Manuel, deep in gambling debts, steals Buck to sell as a sled dog. While this begins Buck's subjugation as a tool for humans, it also marks his journey toward freedom. The third stage of the monomyth is the Guardian /Amulet, where, early in the journey, the hero meets a guardian or guide who may provide the hero with an amulet for protection or a weapon. For Buck, this guide is the red-shirted man who breaks dogs into submission with a club. Buck submits but is not broken and realizes that he cannot defeat a man with a club.

The Crossing the Threshold moment of the monomyth is when the hero leaves the normal, everyday world for the world of adventure. This occurs for Buck when he is purchased by the French-Canadian Perrault and taken from Seattle to Canada. The safe, domestic world of the Santa Clara Valley is lost, and Buck is brought to a world of danger and adversity, where he must learn to survive. Once in the world of adventure, the hero faces many Tests and is assisted by various Helpers, the fifth and sixth stages of the monomyth. For Buck, these tests and helpers both teach him the necessary skills to be a sled dog and prepare him for his eventual role as the leader of a wolf pack. Curly, a dog taken with Buck, becomes an unexpected helper when Buck observes her killed by the other dogs and learns that he must, always, protect himself. François, Perrault's partner, teaches Buck to accept the harness and pull a sled. Dave, the wheel dog, Sol-lecks, and Spitz, the lead dog, also helped Buck learn to become a good sled dog. To survive the harsh cold, Buck learns from the other dogs and his own wild ancestors to steal food, to bury himself in the snow at night, to scent the air to know the coming weather, to clear his toes of ice, and to break through the ice to find water to drink. Another test Buck faced was in fleeing Dolly's rabid madness, and he is helped by François, who kills her as she races past in pursuit of Buck. One of Buck's greatest tests was against the lead dog Spitz and then his claim to and excelling at Spitz's position as lead dog, with the team making a record run on its first trip with Buck in the lead. Another test occurred when Buck refused to pull a sled out on the thawing ice and was rescued by John Thornton. Out of love for Thornton, Buck is willing to do any task. When, on a whim, Thornton commands Buck to jump into a chasm, Thornton and his friends must wrestle Buck back from the rim. Buck nearly kills a man who attacks Thornton and risks his own life to pull Thornton to safety from a raging stream. The seventh stage is the Climax, when the hero faces his greatest test. Buck's greatest test came in winning a wager for Thornton, breaking a sled loaded with a thousand pounds free of the ice and pulling it one hundred yards, a feat everyone believed impossible. His love for and service to Thornton represents his domestic role, but also demonstrate his heart, courage, and strength, all skills needed in the wild.

The eighth stage is Flight, where the hero begins the journey home. For Buck, the flight occurs when Thornton and his friends search for the lost gold mine, even though this is not a journey back to the south. Instead, this marks the turn toward Buck's ultimate destiny as Buck has the freedom to roam the wilderness while Thornton and the others work their claim. The ninth stage is the Return Across the Threshold. Normally, this involves the hero returning to the ordinary world he or she had left. However, the imagery of the monomyth sees the Crossing the Threshold moment as metaphor for dying and the Return as metaphor for re-birth. For Buck, the Return is not a return to the southern world of comfort, but re-birth as the wolf, fully and permanently a creature of the wild. This occurs gradually with Buck's excursions into the wild while Thornton and his friends pan for gold, but ultimately when Buck, savage and furious, rips through the tribe of Yeehats responsible for Thornton's death. Because of his battle with the Yeehats, Buck reaches the tenth stage of the monomyth, the Elixir. The Elixir represents some attribute, skill, ability, power, talisman, or other object, knowledge, or blessing that defines the hero's new role in society. For Buck the elixir is his realization that humans, separated from their weapons, are easy to be killed and not to be feared, which frees him forever from their domination and control. The final stage of the monomyth is Home, when the hero now has the power to provide for and support his society. Buck faces a pack of timber wolves, defeating their strongest, and is accepted into their ranks, a terror to the native Yeehats, who avoid the valley where Thornton lies, a valley protected by a great ghost dog, Buck, now leader of the pack.

Vladimir Propp was a Russian structuralist who identified 31 functions or actions that appeared in a variety of fairy tales. These 31 functions can also be applied to the study of myth and novels influenced by myth. A simplified version of Propp has been developed by Waller Hastings. This simplified approach can easily be applied to The Call of the Wild by Jack London. Hastings begins with #1, there is a lack of something. In The Call of the Wild, there is a lack of sled dogs for gold prospectors in the Yukon. Hastings' #2 states that this lack forces the hero to go on a quest to eliminate the lack. Buck is kidnapped and sold to dog traders to become a sled dog. This experience demonstrates how Buck has no control over his life but is at the mercy of humans, whose actions are only in their own self-interest. Hastings' #3 is that the hero encounters a magical helper. In the story, this role is probably that of the red shirted man, who beats but does not break Buck, preparing him for his role as sled dog. This experience also reinforces the control and domination that humans have over animals. Hastings' #4 is that the hero is subjected to one or more tests. These may be divided into two: an initial, qualifying test necessary to secure the helpers' help, and additional tests related to the quest itself. For Buck, the initial test is in establishing himself as an alpha dog. He must learn to fight, to find food, and to survive in the Arctic cold. An additional test he faces is in his fight with Spitz, the lead dog, whom he kills and replaces. Buck then leads his team to record times. All these tests reinforce human domination over Buck while, at the same time, preparing him for life in the wild. Another test comes when he is forced to carry heavier loads for the mail runs. When a crueler master tries to force Buck onto thin ice, Buck refuses and is beaten until he is rescued by John Thornton. The proof of his passing this test is when the rest of the dogs and the owner are lost in the ice. This also represents a shift as Buck exercises his will against a man, but he is only successful because of the intervention of another man, John Thornton. Buck's tests continue with his new owner Thornton. He saves Thornton from drowning and attacks a man who picks a fight with Thornton. He is even willing to leap from a cliff at Thornton's command. His most amazing test is when he wins a bet for Thornton, breaking free a sled loaded with a thousand pounds and frozen to the ice and then pulling the sled one hundred yards. Hastings's #5 is that after passing the tests, the hero achieves his reward. For Buck, the award is finally answering the call of the wild and becoming the leader of a wolf pack after the death of Thornton releases him from all obligation to humans.

Sigmund Freud developed an approach to human personality based on a three-part division of the human psyche: the id, the superego, and the ego. Freud saw the id as the natural self, that part of the human psyche driven by the same instincts for survival, reproduction, and food that influence all living creatures. The superego Freud saw as the conscience, shaped by the demands of society that govern the expression of the id. Finally, Freud believed the ego was the rational self that chose between the natural instincts of the id and the social constraints of the superego based on a rational evaluation of the circumstances people found themselves in. In The Call of the Wild, Buck dreams about a hairy man, sitting by his fire and frightened of the nature around him. This figure represents the human id, the instinctual human terrified of the dark and using fire to keep nature under control. Before domesticating the wolf, early humans huddled around their fires at night, frightened of the glowing eyes of the wolves hidden in the flickering shadows just beyond the reach of their firelight. John Thornton represents the human superego, a man who calls to Buck through his love for him, representing the domestication of the wolf, changing it into a dog, a human companion. For Freud, humans negotiate between the desires of the id and the demands of the superego through the rationality of the ego. For Buck, these two figures represent binary oppositions, the choice before him, continue to answer the call of civilization or give into the call of the wild. This opposition is later repeated in the story when Buck, leaving the camp and John Thornton, makes friends with a timber wolf, representing the wild. Buck gives into the call of the wild but then, remembering John Thornton (the call of civilization), returns to camp. For some time afterward, Buck remains at camp but then, as Thornton and his friends continue to gather gold, Buck returns to the wild for days and weeks at a time although he does not find the timber wolf. Eventually, with the death of Thornton, Buck gives into the call of the wild, and abandons human society forever.

Carl Jung, a student of Freud, saw within myth certain patterns, which he called archetypes, which seemed to him to be universal to a variety of myths, dreams, and works of literature. Jung identified several archetypes representing the male divine. Two of these archetypal characters that are applicable to Buck are the trickster and the shaman. The trickster is a character who, among other roles, is a rule breaker and hunger-driven manipulator. Early in his time in the North, Buck learns from Pike, another sled dog, how to steal food without getting caught. In Buck's rivalry with the lead dog Spitz, Buck constantly undermines Spitz's authority with the other dogs but is always careful to do so without being seen by Perrault or François. Later, Buck chases after squirrels, but not needing food, at the last moment, lets the squirrels escape, taking delight in frightening them.

The shaman is an individual who can move between worlds, whether the world of time and space and the infinite, eternal world, or between the worlds of humans and animals. The description of Buck's changes between his behavior at the camp with Thornton and his behavior in the wilderness strongly suggest the shaman type. Admiring him as he was "marching out of camp," "they did not see the instant and terrible transformation which took place as soon as he was within the secrecy of the forest." He is described as a "passing shadow." When he discovers the indigenous tribe, the Yeehats, in camp after the slaughter of Thornton and his friends, Buck plunges into the midst of them, killing freely, so much so that they scatter from what they believe is an Evil Spirit. Later, seeing him roaming the forest, they refer to him as a ghost dog. All these descriptions are in line with the shaman archetype and represent the conflict between the two roles of Buck's existence: the domesticated dog and the wild wolf.

Mircea Eliade divides human activity into two spheres: the sacred and the profane. Sacred space and sacred activities are marked by ritualistic behavior while profane space or activities are everyday, ordinary space or actions. Arnold van Gennep, who studied various rites of passage, has suggested that three broad categories of ritualistic behavior. Initiation rites are those which represent a character being "reborn" into a new role or society. The behavior of the dogs toward their role as sled dogs suggests ritualistic behavior. Each dog on the team is aware of its role. When Buck first joins the sled team, both Dave, the wheeler, and Spitz, lead dog, bring his actions into compliance by nips and tugs. Once the dogs were fastened into their harnesses, they were eager to work. Dave and Sol-leks, normally passive and taciturn became alert, active, and impatient with delays. When Buck became tangled in his traces, both Dave and Sol-leks set on him, and Buck learned not to repeat that mistake. Each of these experiences represent Buck's initiation into the role of sled dog. As lead dog, Spitz kept the other dogs in line, and when Buck, looking to resist Spitz's authority over any of the other dogs, defended them, he was whipped by the sled masters unless he was clever enough to not get caught. When Buck killed Spitz, François moved Sol-leks to the lead position, but Buck insisted on taking the lead until, ultimately, Perrault and François gave in. Buck's behavior and the sled driver's ultimate acceptance represents incorporation rites, where an initiate becomes a member of the community, often with new social status. As the new lead dog, Buck was even more effective in leading the team until all the dogs were performing at a higher standard than previously. When Dave became ill, he was removed from the team to run along behind, with Sol-leks taking his place. This action represents a separation rite, where a member of the community is separated from the community. Dave, however, resisted, insisting on his role within the community, finally biting through Sol-leks' traces to take his place directly in front of the sled. The next day, too ill, to travel, Dave still tried to drag himself to his place, whining when, unable to stand, he was left behind, shunned. All these actions by the dogs suggest a ritualistic importance to their roles as sled dogs and would fit what Arnold Van Gennep would see as initiation and incorporation rituals, rituals that transform the individual and then incorporate the individual into the community at large. The behavior of the sled dogs also represents their domesticity, their acceptance of the social roles imposed on them by the humans who dominate them.

Claude Levi-Strauss argues that the underlying structure of myth is based on conflicts between binary oppositions. The way a culture manages these oppositions are manifest in their myths. In Jack London's The Call of the Wild, the dog Buck is torn between two forces, the call of the wild, exemplified by the wolves, and the call of civilization, which is centered in Buck's love for John Thornton. When the novel begins, Buck is a domesticated dog in California, but is stolen to be used in the far North as a sled dog. This begins his journey away from civilization toward the wild. While Buck is trained to be a sled dog, his experiences also begin to teach him to live in the wild as he fights to become the lead sled dog, a role like the leader of a wolf pack, and Buck learns to survive in the frozen north. Buck's abuse at the hands of his owners further pushes him away from the civilized world. When he is rescued from abuse by John Thornton, he forms a deep bond with him, rebuilding Buck's connection to the civilized world, but while Thornton is prospecting, Thornton is killed by local natives. The death of Thornton cuts all Buck's ties to civilization, and he finally answers the call of the wild. This conflict between the binary oppositions of civilization and nature forms the crises around which the story develops. Parallel to the civilization/wild binary opposition is a North/South binary opposition where the North represents the wild world where people and animals struggle for survival under the "law of club and fang" while the South represents the easy, warm life of civilization, a world of plenty and no strife under the "law of love and fellowship." There is also a binary opposition between humans-control and animals-freedom. For most of the story, humans represent forces arrayed against Buck, making him a pack animal tied to their will and keeping him from the freedom of life in the wild until Buck learns that he is superior in strength and ferocity to humans and that he can defeat them easily when they are separated from the weapons that give them dominance. These various binary oppositions all drive the conflicts within the story and the challenges and choices that Buck faces in his journey to his ultimate destiny and identity.

The Call of the Wild is frequently seen as a popular children's novel. The application of these various approaches reveals that the novel has a depth that is rooted in mythic symbolism. The story of Buck is a story of triumph against impossible odds, a hero story, deceptively simple, a story that is not just the journey of a dog from the civilized world into the wilderness, but an insightful look into the evolution of the relationship between human and wolf, and a reminder that the call of the wild is still present, that the world of humans may be more fragile than people think.