Exploring Symbiosis: A Critique of Anthropocentrism in Jack London’s The Call of the Wild and E.B White's Charlotte's Web

Abstract

This research work entitled“Exploring Symbiosis: A Critique of Anthropocentrism in Jack London's The Call of the Wild and E.B. White's Charlotte's Web”explores the relationship between human beings and animals with the ecocritical lens. It finds a symbiotic relationship between the two species that leads the work to critiquing pervasive speciesism inhuman.The critical and theoretical insights used in this study are Peter Singer's equal considerations of interest,Charles Darwin's principle of common descent, David Schlos berg's idea of environmental justice and ecological justice,John Bruni's idea of kinship, Jacques Derrida's idea of relative existence and other philosophical,ethical as well as biological views of the scholars are special considerations of this research to critique human and nonhuman animal dichotomy and to bring out the state of symbiosis. The human and nonhuman beings appear in the contesting relation in the culture leading to the state of negation,exploitation, consumption and extinction. From wild to tamed, aquatic to terrestrial,small to the big,powerful to the powerless all nonhuman animals have to live defensive lives and humans always behave in offensive way against them.The discourse that human is endowed with prerogatives over the nonhumansis self-created. So, the rivalry between human and animal is a suicidal contest between culture and nature. This research work attempts to address the questions:What is the original relation between human and nonhuman beings? How do the humans understand and be have with animals? Why do humans have such attitudes towards animals? How is human identity and existence shaped by animals and how can the symbiotic bonding between human and nonhumans be established for sustainable existence of all?- Human–animal relationship is shown through the study of the literary texts-The Call Joshiv of the Wild(1903) and the Charlotte's Web(1952) by Jack London and E.B White respectively.Jack London's The Call of the Wild exposes human behavior to animal community. It talks about the human purpose in keeping dogs and what do human beings think about other animals. The narrative shows dog's honesty and fellow- feeling towards its owner. The owner's maltreatment and commercial motives towards dogs are presented in the novel. As suggested above, the novel portrays Buck (the dog)as kept in a hostile manner by the owner and who only wants to sell it. E.B. White's Charlotte's Web exposes how human beings are cruel to different livestock to satisfy their greed. It also presents how the animals demonstrate mutual help in order to save themselves from human attack. It also shows that animals are equally conscious of their safety as the other animals can show in tra species integrity against external dangers. The growing human attitude from innocence to experience, friendly to unfriendly to animal is expressed in the novel to support the idea that human civilization runs on speciesism.