Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
Mercedes’ Possessions
Mercedes loads the sled up with so many of her things
that the dogs cannot possibly pull it; later, she herself gets on
the sled, making the load even heavier. Her insistence on having
all of her possessions with her emphasizes the difference between
the wild, where the value of an object lies in its immediate usefulness,
and civilization, where the value of an object lies in its ability
to symbolize the wealth of its possessor. Material possessions and
consumerism have no place in the wild, and it is at least partly
Mercedes’ inability to recognize this fact that leads to her death
when the overburdened sled falls through the ice.
Buck’s Traces
The significance of Buck’s traces—the straps that bind
him to the rest of the team—changes as the plot develops. The novel
initially charts his descent from his position as the monarch of
Judge Miller’s place in civilization to a servile status in which
it is his duty to pull the sled for humans. But as he becomes more
a part of the wild, Buck begins to understand the hierarchy of the
pack that pulls the sled, and he begins to gain authority over the
pack. After his duel with Spitz, he is harnessed into the lead dog’s
position; his harness now represents not servitude to the humans
but leadership over the dogs. Finally, however, John Thornton cuts
Buck free from his traces, an act that symbolizes his freedom from
a world in which he serves humans. Now a companion to Thornton rather
than a servant, Buck gradually begins to enter a world of individual
survival in the wild.
Buck’s First Beatings with the Club; Curly’s Death
When Buck is kidnapped, he attempts to attack one of the
men who has seized him, only to be beaten repeatedly with a club.
This moment, when his fighting spirit is temporarily broken, along
with the brutal killing of Curly by a group of vicious sled dogs,
symbolizes Buck’s departure from the old, comfortable life of a
pet in a warm climate, and his entrance into a new world where the
only law is “the law of club and fang.”
Buck’s Attack on the Yeehats
In the closing chapters of the novel, Buck feels the call
of life in the wild drawing him away from mankind, away from campfires
and towns, and into the forest. The only thing that prevents him
from going, that keeps him tied to the world of men, is his love
for John Thornton. When the Yeehat Indians kill Thornton, Buck’s
last tie to humanity is cut, and he becomes free to attack the Yeehats,
killing a number of them. To attack a human being would once have
been unthinkable for Buck, and his willingness to do so now symbolizes the
fact that his transformation is complete—that he has truly embraced
his wild nature.
