Review of The Wild Child

L'Infant Sauvage, or The Wild Child, is the story of a young boy found in the woods in the 18th century and a French doctor's attempt to introduce him to civilization. The wild boy, later named Victor, was in what the philosophers Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau would call one's "state of nature". The boy was abandoned in the woods for around 8 years or so and grew up without any form of socialization, therefore no societal boundaries, or "chains", as Rousseau would speak of. The boy originally lived in a state of nature where he had free will and lived by the motivating factor of self- preservation. When he was taken from his environment and brought to Dr.Itard, it was as if he joined (unwillingly) a Hobbesian society where all his rights were taken away but he was offered protection. The main things Dr. Itard wished to study were what kind of qualities the boy possessed without society's influence, such as compassion, sense of language, and ability to judge justice (or right from wrong). The boy had mostly animalistic instincts such as the ability to return to where he knew he would be provided food, such as after his one attempt to run away. These instincts also showed during his lessons and observations with Dr.Itard, he seemed more keen on memorization of something rather than actually learning it. It was however tested if the boy new the idea of justice when Dr.Itard punished him for something he did not do incorrectly and victor did seem to question why this was being done. Overall the boy was not successful in ever talking though he did seem to become accustomed to human ways such as wearing clothes. The question still lingers in the film if it was right to force our civilized lifestyle upon him or is a good life one that is lived with accordance to happiness and therefore humans brought Victor or the Wild Boy out of this state.