Money is one of the most powerful materials in the world. In the plots of both, The Call of the Wild and The Metamorphosis, the main underlying concern for the characters is the pursuit of money. While The Call of the Wild is a story oriented around a dog, his life changes into that of a sled dog because of the search for gold. Also in The Metamorphosis, there is a search for money. The family falls into an impoverished state because Gregor, the financial provider, turns into a bug and loses his job. The effect of money is commonly shown on human relationships. However, these two stories show its effect on people and also non-human animals. The drive for money creates similar effects on nonhuman animals like arguments and controversy. In The Call of the Wild and The Metamorphosis, the drive for money through work causes violence and ultimately creates transformations in Buck and Gregor.
In The Call of the Wild, the pursuit of money is driven by gold. The sled dog owners are motivated with a “testimony” of “nuggets” as “no living man had looted this treasure house, and the dead were dead” (London 73). Men who have previously sought the gold were said to have never “looted” the treasure. Looted is a term anonymous to stealing, meaning this pursuit of money is not only dangerous but also illegal. While the search for gold is a risky endeavor of humans, due to the low probability of actually finding gold, the search for gold also has a huge impact on dogs. This search for gold is physically driven by sled dogs; “Buck and half a dozen other dogs, faced into the East on an unknown trail to achieve where men and dogs as good as themselves had failed” (73). The path to this gold is “unknown” and currently impossible as everyone else who has attempted has “failed.” The pursuit of money in all situations is simple, to make more money and gain wealth.
In The Metamorphosis, the drive of money is simply to support Gregor and his family. The family’s income up until Gregor’s transformation is solely from Gregor’s job and “his family depended on it” (Kafka 84). Gregor has the stress of keeping his family financially stable, which is a heavy weight to carry. The work life of Gregor is described quite bluntly, “The porter was a creature of the chief’s, spineless and stupid” (69). Gregor was simply just an object to his boss as he’s described with no human defying organs, like a backbone. While we do not know why Gregor suddenly woke up as a large insect we can infer it had something to do with how hard he worked or his lack of sleep. Even before his transformation, Gregor was just a mere, inanimate tool, which is considered equal to or worse than being an insect. After his transformation, Gregor’s father is forced into the workforce. Both stories are ultimately driven by money and work and create interesting effects on Buck and Gregor.
The pursuit of money causes the dog owners and the dogs themselves to become selfish and turn to violence against one another. Buck’s abuse started from the man in the red sweater and since then he no longer fears it. Buck is abused again by Francois, who “threw down the club, thinking that Buck feared a thrashing. But Buck was in open revolt. He wanted, not to escape a clubbing, but to have the leadership. It was his by right. He had earned it, and he would not be content with less” (38). The competitive lifestyle of gold rushing leads to violence inflicted upon the dogs. They need to act better and move faster. However, Buck didn’t fear “thrashing” because the dogs are also motivated to be the best at their job. This leads to interesting violence between the dogs themselves. Conflict begins when the dogs start to bully each other. The dogs are “striving constantly to start the fight which could end only in the death of one or the other” (London 24). The dogs want to be the leader of the pack and to become a leader they need to kill the others to show dominance. Money leads to foggy minds of the humans, as they lose intention and care for the dogs. The same thing is happening here with the dogs, they will fight no matter if it leads to the death of “one or the other,” meaning they do it at the cost of their own life too. The humans will abuse the dogs if it leads to money and the dogs will hurt each other if it means they will be the leader on the search for gold.
In The Metamorphosis, the drive for money leads to family turmoil and violence inflicted upon Gregor. Gregor’s father, upset because Gregor can no longer support the family financially, repeatedly threatens Gregor. In one of their first interactions, “Gregor’s father drove him back, hissing and crying “Shoo!” like a savage” (Kafka 86). Glimpsing over this sentence one might think Gregor was the one hissing, however, it was his father. His father turns to animal noises mixed with violence to scare him off. His father is also referred to as a “savage.” Savage is a word most commonly used to describe wild animals. His father is called a savage because of his violent and threatening actions. Gregor becomes deprived of life’s necessities and lives in horrible conditions. Gregor’s current physical state is described, “He too was covered with dust; fluff and hair and remnants of food trailed with him, caught on his back and along his sides” (120). While Gregor’s family’s treatment of him is violent it is also a result of their poor financial state. They may not have the time or resources to take care of him in this state anymore. Gregor is imagined having “hair and remnants of food trailed with him,” which is ironic as he is no longer a human anymore, yet appears to have hair. This hair and food trailing behind him are a representation of poverty and filth but also his old human life.
The humans’ drive for money lead Buck, in The Call of the Wild, to find a drive of his own. He senses a primitive call, which leads him to a transformation to the natural world. The gold rush led to violence among Buck and other dogs where “he fought by instinct” (London 36). Instincts are traits associated with nonhuman animals. Buck is initially drawn to the wild because of the camaraderie he feels with the wolves he crosses paths with. Buck turns this pursuit of money by the humans to a personal pursuit to kill animals. Buck experiences a high peak of vitality when killing a rabbit; “This ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist, caught up and out of himself in a sheet of flame; it comes to the soldier, war-mad on a stricken field and refusing quarter; and it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf-cry, straining after the food that was alive” (34). Buck experiences a primitive lifestyle and turns “war-mad,” exemplifying a change of character within him. Turning into a sled dog and helping search for gold leads him on his own personal pursuit. Like money can cause humans to forget about the real world, Buck has “forgetfulness of living.” There is a “flame” and “ecstasy” resulted from connecting with the wild and from answering his “wolf-cry.” The drive of his leaders, the men, for gold led Buck to be controlled, however, he says, “the claims of man no longer bound him” (86). Buck was once bounded by “man” but was able to escape their pursuit and transform into his primitive side.
The Metamorphosis portrays Gregor’s happiness to come from his job, however, once his ability to make money gets taken away he undergoes a transformation. This fulfillment from Gregor’s work is mentioned, “he felt great pride in the fact that he has been able to provide such a life for his parents and sister[…] But what if all the quiet, the comfort, the contentment were now to end in horror” (Kafka 89)? As he looks back on his past life he finds joy in how he was the money-maker of his family. Gregor contemplates life now, replacing positive words of “comfort” and “contentment” with something extremely negative like “horror.” Gregor’s extreme drive for money ultimately led him to be a savage. His own reaction to his new image is captured, “This made him realize how repulsive the sight of him still was to her, and that it was bound to go on being repulsive” (99). This mainly expresses the extent of his physical transformation. Gregor, overworking as a stressed businessman, drove himself into a “repulsive” body. Gregor, in his words “repulsive the sight of him still was to her” makes one question how long his mother has thought of Gregor’s looks as repulsive or unsettling to the eye. Maybe this appearance was always how he was perceived as a workaholic. Money drove Gregor into a place where everyone around him depended on him, making him look like a tool or a savage, somebody with no respect for themselves. While Gregor’s obvious transformation is from human to insect, his personality and values also change. As an insect, Gregor realizes a change in self, “He felt hardly any surprise at his growing lack of consideration for the others; there had been a time when he prided himself on being considerate” (120). Gregor’s new feelings expressed in the phrase, “he felt hardly,” makes the reader first realize how worn down emotionally Gregor is without money. He worked his whole life up until this point for others, for his family.
Now that he has lost that purpose, Gregor transforms from priding himself on helping others to lacking the desire to help others.
Buck in, The Call of the Wild, and Gregor, in The Metamorphosis, are involved in violent relationships driven from the need and desire for money. This pursuit of money causes Buck to be able to pursue his own transformation into the wild and Gregor undergoes a transformation due to overworking. The effect of money is frequently looked at in relation to humans and how it changes motives, personalities, and relationships. However, these two stories are unique. They show how humans, who are driven by money, affect others, specifically nonhuman animals. Analyzing these stories around money and work show that humans’ drive for money can drastically affect the lives of others. Pursuing money made Buck find a new drive in life much like the humans’ drive for money. Also, pursuing money brought realization to how work can negatively take over and consume one’s life, like it did to Gregor and his family. Ultimately, both stories bring light to the idea of how all lives are oriented around money and how there will always be a constant pursuit for more.