Survival of the Fittest
"Eat or be eaten" (92). This is said to be the law of nature as stated in Jack London's novel, White Fang. It is a law, which is very simple, both in words and in meaning. If every living thing abided by this rule, then obviously only the strongest would survive. This is a theory proposed by English philosopher Herbert Spencer and is also a theory in which Jack London had a great belief (Sciambra). One of the main focuses in London's writing is the survival of the strongest beings driven by the primitive desire to live. London shows this belief in many of his novels and short stories, however it is most apparent in those involving strong animals and brutal men. Within these novels, London illustrates this theory of the survival of the fittest through the forces of nature, animals, and through mankind.The first way which London portrays this theory is through the forces of nature in the novel, The Sea Wolf. One of the main characters in the novel is a vicious man named Wolf Larsen. He is a massive man who is smarter, stronger and faster than any other man in the world. London seems to use Wolf Larsen to bring some of his own opinions and ideas to the reader. The following quote definitely prove
One further piece of evidence is gathered in The Sea Wolf when Humphrey VanWeyden is forced to take brutal action against Wolf Larsen. London wrote this when talking about the change in Humphrey VanWeyden: "It marked, further, the decay or going to pieces of his moral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle for existence" (153). London is saying in this sentence that in order to stay alive, you sometimes need to go against what you believe in and just do what is absolutely necessary to survive. Another method by which London tells us that only the strong will survive is through the many animals in his stories. In the novel, The Call of the Wild, an enormous dog named Buck is taken to the Klondike as a sled dog in the days of the Gold rush. Since Buck is a city dog, he must get accustomed to the ways and laws of the northern wilderness. London gives this description when he is telling the reader about the laws of the wild north: "The big eat the little that they may continue to move, the strong eat the weak so that they may retain their strength. The lucky eat the most and move the longest, that is all" (50). By using this law of nature, London depicts how the world of animals works and how it determines which ones live and which ones die. He is also saying that animals have to adapt themselves to different situations if they want to survive. London tells of this when he wrote, "Buck had a great capacity to adjust himself to changing conditions, the lack of which would have meant swift and terrible death" (53). In The Call of the Wild, London gave Buck the size, strength, and intelligence to conquer all other dogs and survive to live happily ever after. s that London believed in the survival of the fittest. Wolf Larsen is talking about the forces of nature when he says: "Life? Bah! It has no value.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1247
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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