Nearly every person at some time during their life is brought face to face with the awe-inspiring power of nature. That experience can change a person’s life forever in ways beyond their imagination. Jack London was one of those people. He was born on January 12, 1876 as John Griffith Chaney in San Francisco. He took his name, Jack London, from his step father, a civil war veteran. He grew up in the working class and had to work from a young age to help his family. In 1903, he published his most famous story “The Call of the Wild”, which would ensure his place in American Literature. Over the next 16 years of his life he published over 50 stories that expressed many of his beliefs including women’s suffrage, prohibition and socialism (Stasz). Jack London’s encounters with the sheer power of nature influenced him to write in the naturalistic style to convey humankind’s powerlessness against nature.
Jack London did not grow up rich and had to work from a very young age to support himself and his family. While in his teens he shoveled coal, worked on a sealing ship, pirated oysters, and worked for the fish patrol. While on one of is voyages at sea, him and all of his crew was nearly killed by a typhoon. After continuing to work for a few more years he joined Kelly’s army on unemployed working men, and traveled throughout the country, homeless. He was arrested for truancy in New York and then returned to San Francisco to finish high school (Stasz). After this he traveled to the Yukon region in search of gold as part of the Klondike Gold rush. The Klondike gold rush began in 1896 when a group of men discovered gold in a tributary of Klondike River in Northwestern Canada. Thousands of people migrated to this region is search of gold in the following years. It is estimated that over 20,000 people traveled to the Klondike in search of gold in the first years alone. The route to the gold fields was very dangerous and difficult. All of the supplies had to be carried either on one’s back or by animals, but some portions of the trail were too difficult for animals to pass through. These animals would often be overworked and would die. From that point on the gold seekers would have to carry all of their supplies on their backs. While on the trails the temperature could drop to as low as 50 degrees below zero. Some people did not complete the trail and many died on the journey. (National Park Service) The entire experience was an overall frightening one, as said by Robert Service, “The Arctic trails have their secret tales; that would make your blood run cold.” Jack London was one of many people who traveled to the Yukon in search of gold (Smithsonian Institute). He managed to make it to the gold fields but could not find any gold. While there he contracted scurvy, and became very sick. He was forced to return to California without any gold though he did gain the ideas that would let him earn lots of gold through his stories.
One of his famous stories “To Build a Fire” takes place in the Yukon. It is a story about a man who is travelling between two towns in the Yukon. It is a very cold day and his only companion is a dog that he forces to travel with him. The dog’s instincts tell him that it is too cold to be travelling, but the main character does not realize this truth. An older man had told the traveler previously, that he should not travel when it is this cold without a companion. The main character is young and thinks he knows better and tries to travel anyway. “Those old men were rather womanish, he thought. All a man must do was to keep his head, and he was all right” (London 72). Even after the man stepping in a small creek and having his foot become a block of ice he is still convinced that the old man was wrong and he could travel at these temperatures. The only way to thaw his foot is to build a fire which he promptly does, but then disaster strikes. “The snow fell without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was dead” (London 73). After this he tried numerous attempts to save himself and build another fire but they all failed. Soon he realizes that he will die in this wilderness, and that the old man was truly wise. As he comes to terms with his death he thinks, “Freezing was not as bad as people thought. There were many worse ways to die” (London 78). With this he becomes content with his death and lays down and dies.
This story expresses many elements of naturalism as well as elements from Jack London’s life. Naturalism is a literary movement that began in the late 19th century in literature, film, and art. In naturalism nature predetermines the actions of the person making them act and do certain things. It is based on Darwin’s theory of evolution and “survival of the fittest”, nature will always be ready to claim the lives of the weak and dumb. Naturalistic stories often have person vs nature conflicts to help demonstrate the idea that humans are powerless against the forces of nature (Campbell). This story shows many of these ideals. The man in this story is over confident and choses to travel alone during extremely cold weather. Because of the main character’s inability to think on his feet and unwillingness to take advice from his wiser elders, he is not the fittest and does not survive the tests of nature. The man is also fighting a hopeless battle against nature, after his fire goes out, where it is very clear he can not survive but tries anyway to no avail. This man’s actions are also being forced by nature, “The man ran blindly in fear” (London 77). This running clearly does nothing for him, but his instincts are telling him run away from this attack on his life by nature. This story also connects to Jack London’s life in numerous ways. Like this man he was also in the Klondike during the gold rush. The terrible conditions in this region caused London to get very sick and relegated him to his bed for many weeks. During this period, he came close to death and eventually had to return to California without any gold. (National Park Service). London was also put into mortal danger by nature during other times in his life including when he encountered a monstrous typhoon while sailing.
Another one of London’s well known stories is “The Law of Life”. The story is about an old man named Koskoosh. Koskoosh was the leader of his tribe a long time ago but it is now led by his son. In this tribe when an old man becomes too weak to carry on and has become a nuisance for the tribe, they are left to die out in the wilderness. For Koskoosh this time has come and he shall leave the same way as he entered this earth; as one with nature. While he realizes this is the end for him he recalls all of the events of his life both good and bad. “There was the time of the great famine. He had lost his mother in that famine” (London 33). In this recollection, he remembers the hard times of his life, but after this he recalls the better ones. “But he had seen times of plenty, too, when the meat spoiled before it could be eaten” (London 34). These two quotes show the extent of time of which Koskoosh has lived through. It also shows how much the natural conditions changed from great famine to great plenty in just one man’s life. He recollects many of his other favorite memories including the first time he saw a moose, hunted and killed by wolves. During his recollections, he is surrounded by a pack of wolves. He takes a stick from the fire next to him try and fend them off, but realizes that there is no point in this hopeless fight against his fate. In this moment, he puts down his stick and like his father before him gives in to nature.
This story shows numerous elements of Naturalism. The main character is powerless against the forces of nature that are trying to take his life. His last memories of his life are primarily include times when nature showed its force both in positive and negative ways. An important part of naturalism is that nature determines the destiny of a person. This tribes “Law of Life”, the old are left to die, is a perfect example of how nature will take everyone in the end no matter what you do. Naturalism is also illustrated in this text by showing how the weak members of the tribe, and the weak moose that was killed by wolves, that Koskoosh recalls from earlier in his life, are killed. Survival of the fittest, and death of the weak is an important principle of naturalism. (Campbell). Jack London’s life was filled with many incidences where he encountered these same ideas as shown in the story. Even though he tried numerous blue collar career paths he was guided back to his destiny, to be a writer. He tried to be a fisherman, pirate and gold miner but each time fate turned him down until he finally reached his chosen path of becoming a writer. Even those failed experiences guided him towards being a writer by providing him with stories he could tell. This idea of fate was a very important part of the naturalistic movement that London was a part of.
During Jack London’s life, he encountered the awe-inspiring power of nature numerous times. Those experiences influenced him to write in the naturalistic style as a way of conveying mankind’s inability to create their own path as their path was predetermined by nature and fate. Two stories in which those ideas are shown are “The Law of Life” and “To Build a Fire”. Those two short stories, may tell different stories, but they have very similar themes. Both show mankind’s powerlessness against the forces of mother nature, and the constant battle humanity is losing against fate. Those ideas are based on the experiences that occurred during his own life, specifically when he traveled to the Yukon region of Alaska in search of gold. Jack London’s travels and adventures often made for greater fiction than the novels he wrote. However, that fiction inspired the fiction that would make him one of the most famous authors of the 20th century. As he said, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” London lived by that quote for much of his life and became an inspiration to the poor and afflicted all across America
Works Cited
- “As Precious as Gold.” Literature of the Gold Rush, Smithsonian Institution, postalmuseum.si.edu/gold/literature.html
- Allen, Janet, et al. Holt McDougal Literature: Grade 11. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, pp. 768-777.
- Campbell, Donna M. “Naturalism in American Literature.” Literary Movements, Dept. of English Washington State University, 18 Mar. 2017, public.wsu.edu/~campbells/amlit/natural.htm.
- “Gold Rush Writers.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 27 June 2017, www.nps.gov/klgo/learn/historyculture/writers.htm.
- London, Jack. To Build a Fire. The Century Magazine, 1902.
- Stasz, Clarice. “Jack London: Biography.” Jack London, Sonoma State University, 2017, london.sonoma.edu/jackbio.html.
- The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Jack London.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 30 Jan. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Jack-London.
- “What Was the Klondike Gold Rush?” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 7 Dec. 2017, www.nps.gov/klgo/learn/goldrush.htm.
- “The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters.” UNISDR News, The United Nations, 23 Nov. 2015, www.unisdr.org/archive/46793