Jack London's Apparent Conflict in Novels
In history, many extraordinary authors have written about struggles among two or more forces. Even in the earliest times, Homer, one of history's greatest writer and philosophers, has written such pieces as The Odyssey, the fable of a common man who challenges elements he has no control over, and successfully overcomes them to achieve glory. Jack London, while a great philosopher in his own way, does not write about common mortal men overcoming fate, but instead focuses on many different categories of struggles, including man versus man, man versus nature, and man versus society. Examples of London's intertwining of struggles can be seen in such stories as White Fang, The Call of the Wild, and "To Build a Fire". Jack London, whose life symbolized the power of will, was the most successful writer in America in the early 20th Century. His vigorous stories of men and animals against the environment, and survival against hardships were drawn mainly from his own experience. An illegitimate child, London passed his childhood in poverty in the Oakland slums. (Walcutt 8) At the age of 17, he ventured to sea on a sealing ship. The turning point of his life was a thirty-day imprisonment that was so degrading it made him decide to turn to
In "Local Color," London attempts to demonstrate how backwards society is by taking on the role of a philosophical homeless man, bent on the idea that it would cost the town more to convict him of peddling than it would to accommodate a tramp in the most exquisite hotel in town (Walcutt 29). London loved to insert these "twists" in his stories to make fun of society. In the short story "The Shadow and the Flash," London writes about two rival scientists who become obsessed with the notion of discovering the secret of invisibility before the other does. Because of this, they both discover the invisibility secret and kill one another in the struggle. Clearly a man versus man struggle. (Wyler 300) One of the oddest stories London has written, it still has the same concept; man has lost sense of his roots and, therefore acts like a savage beast over petty differences. Another of London's famous story, where the reader again sees the conflict of mankind versus nature, is White Fang. White Fang is a novel based on the concept of a wolf becoming domesticated and part of civilization (Walcutt 22) London describes White Fang as a strong, quick, and agile wolf, taken in and domesticated by society to better accommodate a human. White Fang took on a moral trait of man; suppress the weak and obey the strong (Magill Master Plots 582). Because of this, White Fang represents humanity and its attempt to tame nature. London ends the story by allowing the idea of man conquering nature, by allowing White Fang to become domesticated and life a luxurious life. (Walcutt 22) London again shows mans flaws and the inner conflicts they have among them in John Barleycorn. In this story, London writes about himself and his own struggles against alcoholism. This story about his own personal wars within him shows why he writes about so many different conflicts; he is constantly in conflict within himself and displays these conflicts in his stories. (Walcutt 41). "To Build a Fire" has often been called London's greatest masterpiece. It is based on the struggle of the intelligence of man versus the intuition of animal (Magill Survey 1810). "To Build a Fire" continuously expresses the man's dwindling warmth and bad luck in his journey al
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Approximate Word count = 1512
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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