Jack London is known as a great storyteller who focused on the theme of man against nature, and the wisdom of animals’ instinct (Labor 150). At one point, London was earning around $75,000 a year, an almost unheard of amount in those days (Verde 9). London came out of obscurity to this almost celebrity status. When he was young, he was abused and his family was poor, but he persevered to make life worth it. Jack London had a difficult childhood and an early working life. This influenced his view of man and greatly influenced his writing.

Born on January 12, 1876, Johns Griffith London (Stasz 1) had a bleak and trying childhood. It gave him the cynical view of humanity we see in his works. London’s father denied being his father, and gave complete control of him to his mother. She wasn’t much better, and was cruel to him. His teacher was a drunkard who constantly beat him (Verde 2). In his short story, “To Build a Fire” this mean arrogant side of humanity is reflected. His one ray of hope was the local librarian. She introduced him to the classics, like Washington Irving, and Herman Melville. He read many adventurous books, and they influenced him to travel, and later write his great works (Forging 606).

A tough childhood helped to throw London into the world. In the winter of 1987, London headed off to the Yukon for the gold rush. Though he returned empty handed, it left a permanent influence on him. He was shown a lot about the naivety of humanity, and the instinct of animals, dogs in specific. London said “It was in the Klondike that I found myself…You get your perspective. I got mine” (Verde 3). “The White Silence,” “To Build a Fire” and “The Law of Life” are all based in the Yukon and show the cleverness of animals and man’s huge reliance on them. In “The Law of Life,”

London demonstrates the cruelty and harshness of the north. It shows animal’s are given the instinct to survive in such environments.

“To Build a Fire” is the story of an ignorant and cruel man trying to make his way across the Yukon. He was very poorly equipped, and did not listen to people who knew what they were talking about. Though his dog was a natural to the wild, and would have helped him if the man had not been so mean to him. He also chooses to travel alone, even though a wise old man told him it was too dangerous to be traveling alone. He ended up stepping into water which started to freeze, so he knew he had to build a fire. The first fire was extinguished by snow falling from a tree, and by the second fire he was so numb he could not light it. He died alone in the cold because he would not listen to people who knew what they were talking about.

In “To Build a Fire”, London once again shows the cruelness of nature, and that death favors no one. A major theme is man vs. wild. It is demonstrated in the man trying to survive in harsh conditions. Because the dog belongs there, it has the instinct that it should hunker down and try to be warm. Man vs. man is shown in that the main character ignores those who more experienced than him. This is probably shadows of London’s poor view of man during his childhood. The man’s arrogance and self reliance are in the end, the death of him. As death is approaching, London presents irony in that the main character admits, the old expert was right.

Almost all of London’s work can be pointed back to his early life. Most of the stories show men as being cruel, like his father and schoolteacher. “The Sea Wolf” was influenced by his first big job as a seal catcher. “The Call of the Wild” and “To Build a Fire” are from his adventures in the Yukon. Unknown to many people London wrote from a socialist point of view. This was influenced by his childhood at the library. “As a boy, the first heroes that I put into my Pantheon were Napoleon and Alexander the Great. Later on I destroyed this Pantheon and built a new Pantheon in which I began inscribing names such as David Starr Jordan, as Herbert Spencer, as Huxley, as Darwin, As Tyndall”

(Sciambra Sonoma 1). Just because he was a great doesn’t mean he didn’t have bad influences. Some of these people were racist and sexist (Sciambra Sonoma 1).

London wrote many stories; some of which were true, but a good bit of them were false. Many people have tried to write biographies on London, but often have conflicting stories. He never got around to starting his awaited autobiography, and so it takes careful research to sift through the stories. Accesses to the archives of Jack London’s works are restricted, so this makes it even more difficult for people to get information about him (Hamilton 1). Therefore, most of the information is taken from his works, which are often exaggerations, or not even loosely true, so one must be careful about rumors about London.

“The Law of Life” has a similar theme and setting to “To Build a Fire” and shows how harsh the wild can be, and that animals have instinct on their side. An old blind man is left by his group because he cannot keep up. He thinks about a time when he saw a moose hunted by wolves, and thought the animal had held them off for a while it got to him in the end. Koskoosh, waited in the wild thinking about his life, until a pack of Coyotes came, but even then, he gave in because it was the law of life. One theme of this story is man vs. wild in that Koskoosh is left to its mercy. Koskoosh is wise though, and knows the law of life; so he does not fight it. He calmly waits beside his fire for his life to come to its end.

London shows the harshness of life, and that the law of life is natural and cannot be broken. When Koskoosh thinks about the old moose that had survived for a while, but was eventually overpowered by nature, it is ironic because that is exactly what happens to Koshkoosh. The point of view is from an old blind man, and so the reader cannot get a visual image of what is happening, but has to imagine it like Koskoosh. The reader sees most of the story from Koskoosh’s memories, or what he hears.

“The White Silence” is very similar to London’s other two short stories. Mason, his wife, Ruth, and Malemute kid are traveling across the North Lands, and there is trouble. First, Mason whips one of the dogs, and that makes Malemute kid mad because there was no good reason to do it. Shortly after, a giant pine tree, burdened by the snow, falls on Mason. He is badly crushed, and they have to make camp to try and heal him. Things go from bad to worse, when the dogs start to get very hungry, and attack their master’s. Malemute kid tries to find a moose so they can keep Mason alive, but he has no such luck, and so is forced to shoot him.

Like many of London’s other writings, “The White Silence” is morbid, and shows the cruelty of nature, and the Yukon. London develops the theme of man vs. wild, when the dogs start attacking their masters. Irony is shown when bad luck befalls Mason after he whips his dog almost to death. In all of London’s works he emphasize that animals have better instinct for the world of snow, and that man should treat his animals well. It is also ironic how Ruth gets her hopes high for a new life in the white man’s culture, but it is ripped away from her by a cruel act of nature. Mason never got to see his child, and it just goes to show that nature does not discriminate.

When London came back to the United States, he had no skills or particular talent that he knew of. He was forced into odd jobs, such as mowing lawns, and beating carpets (Labor 42). He started writing just as a means of making money, but he was planning on finding a better job later on. He started writing, but most of what he wrote was rejected. Overland Monthly was the first magazine to start publishing his writings, and though his pay started at five dollars, it soon went up (Labor 44). London had perfect timing (Verde 4). People were enthralled with upper class sentimental writing (Verde 4).

A reoccurring theme in the three works is man vs. wild. London likes to show that man is not always the dominant species. Despite all our technology we still have to fight against the cruelty of nature, and the instinct of animals. London shows dogs as almost a greater species in the Yukon because they were built to do it, and they have the blood of their ancestors, and natural instinct. London

shows that when humans don’t treat animals with the respect that they deserve it usually comes back to bite them in the end. In “To Build a Fire” the man’s beating his dog becomes a reason for his death. If the dog have loved its master like most do then it might have run to the camp and gotten help. Though it stayed with its master to the end, it was not out of love. As soon as the man breathed his last, the dog sought shelter.

Jack London would no longer be a little poor man trying to make his way in the world; he became very famous. His beginning hits were “To the Man on the Trail,” and “The White Silence” in 1889 (Verde 5). People liked his writing and soon it began to show up regularly in popular magazines. In 1900, he sold “An Odyssey of the North” to the well known magazine, Atlantic Monthly. Also in 1900, he married Bess Maddern and had two daughters (Stasz 1). In 1903 London published one of his most well known works, The Call of the Wild, and became internationally renowned. Jack London is arguably the first celebrity. He gained many fans, including Charmian Kittredge, whom he had a scandalous affair with and eventually left Bess.

Though Jack London is known for the most part as a great writer, he still receives much criticism. Most of the criticism centers on whether or not there is a center to his writing, or if it is just jumbled nonsense (Pizer 1). Donald Pizer says that London writes parables and fables, and not the great works we are accustomed to seeing. “By fable is usually meant a work in which beasts (and occasionally inanimate objects) both speak and represent human qualities, and by parable is meant a work in which the principle agents are human (Pizer 1)”. He says that the reason London’s works are appealing is because they are nothing more than parables; or easy reading. Despite his criticism, London is still a great writer.

London was a celebrity, and every celebrity has their downfall. London wrote an autobiography, Martin Eden, and after it his novel sales began to decline. He started working overtime so he could make a comeback, and he did till his income was 75000 a year (Verde 9). Despite this huge amount of money, London was largely in debt due to risky investments. Kittredge lost two babies, and began to leave him, and his daughters rejected him (Verde 9). He was heavily addicted to alcohol, and despite a four month sober cruise, he kept drinking when he got back. He found out his kidneys were falling apart in 1913 when a doctor went in to remove his burst appendix. To top it off his $100,000 mansion burned to the ground a week before he was able to live in it. After a few more miserable years of diseases, and obesity, he tried to take his 40 year old life on November 22, 1916, with an overdose and woke up in a coma. After a day of skilled doctors trying to heal him, John Griffith London died at 7:45 that night. London left behind almost 50 novels, many short stories, and a large mark on literary history (Verde 9-12) (Stasz 1).

Works Cited

-”Forging new froniers.” Timeless Voices Timeless Themes. Saddle River N.J.: Prentice

Hall, 2004. 606-06.

-”The Jack London Online Collection.” Jack London. Ed. Roy Tennant and Clarice Stasz. Sonoma State University. 5 Feb. 2009 .

-Labor, Earle. Jack London. New York: Twayne, Inc, 1974.

-Verde, Tom. Twentieth-Century Writers, 1900-1950. New York: Facts On File, Incorporated, 1993.