Critical essay of Jack London's Works
The idea of peaceful rebellion through nature is the basis for many books. Kipling was one of the first one to do it through many of his novels, but Jack London got a lot deeper into that concept. He was born in 1876 in San Francisco, an illegitimate child born to a single woman, but his mother did marry a man named John London, and named her son John London. This family moved a lot, but ended up in San Francisco again where John London, now known as Jack London worked in the bay patrol. Jack was one of the first ones to go to Alaska in the time of gold rush, he did not get rich with gold, but he recorded the Alaskan life and put it in his books. The series of books about Alaskan life are some of his most known works, such as "The Son of the Wolf" and White Fang, in which Jack London portrays the similar themes of the hard life in Alaska, the learning experience of men and animals, and the lifelong fight for survival.Oh what a hard life it was in Alaska. But why would anyone go there if it was so hard, one might ask. Well it was the gold rush of eighteen ninety eight, many looked north for a way to get rich easy, some looked for adventures, but there were not many of those. Jack London portrays the hard lives of the adve
Whoever would live under those conditions, had to fight for survival. Jack London describes a character, from one of the stories from "The Son of the Wolf", who had to struggle all his life to survive in the rugged Alaska. He fought animals, to not be eaten, and humans, not to be killed of greed. Just like White Fang, the main character of White Fang, had to fight all his life for survival. At first it were small things like birds, and small predators, to puppies, to bulldogs, and cold and hunger. The fight never stopped, just after his birth he had to fight extreme coldness and hunger. After being adopted by humans, the only problems he had is fighting off the pack of puppies just like him, who for some reason did not like the newcomer. Then, after years of fighting the nature, he has to fight a bulldog for sport, to entertain his master humans. It never stopped, a price had to be paid for living in such extreme and savage environment. Jack London portrays that environment of constant hostility with remarkable accuracy. One of the most unique traits of Jack London's books is that he somehow gets into the mind of the main character, either human or animal, to help the reader understand the character better. In another story from "The Son of the Wolf", a man has to cope with the death of his partner, and his partner's wife has to learn to kill, to protect herself from the sharp teeth of the wolves. The harsh fact of life in Alaska is that everyone looses a friend, either to the coldness, hunger, or wolves, and has to cope with the loss. Others, who work alone, attain a such distorted mind that they are ready to murder for a piece of gold that is worth a measly ten dollars, not even enough to get back home. Learning to kill becomes a necessity, in order to survive, either kill for food or protection, or be killed out greed, or hunger "The she-wolf turns wolf against wolf untill the weaker ones fall, reddening the snow in the 'sex tragegy of the natural world', which inevitably leads to socialization and the family" (Manfeild, 91). The same thing happens in the White Fang, where this young wolf, used to protection from his mother, is left in the wild on his own ":White Fang learns to cope when his mother is taken away from him:" (Votter, 259). Not only he has to cope with the loss of
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Approximate Word count = 1560
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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