Article Published In Vol.2 (Sept-Oct-2014)

Upshot of Heredity and Environment on the behaviour of a character, with Special reference to The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Author : Faroze Ahmad Chopan and Mamta Dave

Nature is indifferent force acting on the lives of organisms, and there is no doubt that one’s heredity and social environment decides one’s personality and manipulates the conduct of its subject. The paper has explored that the effect of both heredity and environment decides the future of an organism. London has intensely described the countryside, absurdly merging a menacing animism with a baleful misery. Keeping the environmental theme in mind, it is written with social and genetic determinism. Jack London has vividly portrayed his characters as pawns in the hands of nature. London has depicted the life journey of Buck from a pampered to a wild. Buck, a domesticated and pampered dog was forced by the surroundings to transform his character, and those hard situations arouse his traits of wildness. The law of club teaches him the law of the survival of the fittest. He faced each hard situation bravely, and survived by making the use of his heriditical assets and the life experiences. Buck’s struggle, heredity and survival have been clearly defined. At the end of the novel one can see buck a totally transformed creature from what he has been introduced in the beginning of the novel, leaving human society and wandering freely with his wild mates. So it is an attempt to display both the forces by the entire description of the character Buck.

Keywords: Genetic determinism, Heriditical assets etc.