Paste your essay in here… Born on 12 January 1876 in The Golden City of San Francisco, Jack London became to be known as a trailblazer for commonplace fictional commercial magazine writing. Jack London used his writing skills to excel in the world and he became one of the most influential writers known to this day. Jack London’s novels all have similar themes ingrained within them, and all of them entertain his personal life experiences, thus meaning that all of Jack London’s books are, to an extent, autobiographical or at least based on events that happened in his life and time period. Jack London has his own archetypes in his writing and especially including his novel The Sea-Wolf, Jack London presents themes and philosophy of evolution, social-Darwinism, societal pressure, and political rivalry (like Socialism and Communism versus Capitalism). All of the stated themes were very present and a hot topic during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Jack London indirectly uses his writing in a way to convince people or at least educate the audience of his beliefs and integrates them so that a specific belief corresponds to the protagonist and antagonist. The influences of Jack London morphed his writing into more than a fictional novel, but rather into a story with an ultimate purpose of education and social activism. Jack London was a known socialist later in his life as he has said and through the novels he wrote. He promoted progressive causes and rebelled against traditional ways of society and tried to make a difference as a young man. In this research paper, I am going to be analyzing how the Panic of 1893 influenced Jack London and his writing, the correlations of the philosophies in his novels and events hat may have had an impact on determining his own writing and the political activism that Jack London engaged in.
The 1890s were a time of much economic distress with unemployment rates soaring to twenty-five percent in the United States of America during the Panic of 1893. Homelessness and hunger were abundant, as workers were laid off and were unable to pay their rent or mortgages. The Panic of 1893 can ultimately be traced back to an Argentinian bank, causing a drastic drop in wheat crop, then President Grover Cleveland repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act with the help of Congress. Both of these events caused a concern brewing within the United States’ population causing the people to withdraw their money from banks which is known as a credit crunch. With no fluidity (money flow in and out of banks and the private sector), causes a downturn in economics and commerce is at an all time low, with demand high and supply low. When the depression of 1893 devastated the United States of America, Southern states were especially hit hard because a drought and an agricultural recession that also took place concurrently. This rural discontent prompted the establishment of a third political party in Kansas known as the Populists. The Populists started to gain political control and popularity amongst the South, Midwest and West. There are two catalysts in the rise of the Populist Party: Jacob Coxey and Charles T. Kelly. Jacob Coxey was the leader of the Populists Part in the Midwest and Southern regions, and he organized a march from Ohio to Washington D.C requesting that the federal government provide federally funded work programs to escape depression and return to a well-functioning economy. The second man, Charles T. Kelly had gained over two thousand people from San Francisco to march with him through Utah to Denver, Colorado. This was known as Kelly’s Army and they would walk, ride trains, and use any means necessary to arrive at their final destination. Along the way to Colorado, the cities and towns welcomed Kelly’s Army and supplied food and money in support, many of the donors even joined in on the movement. Jack London, as a young man, was a very active person and believed in progressivism. London was actually apart of Kelly’s Army, and he departed with them out of San Francisco. In his work, “The Road,” London writes about his experiences on this journey, and that work later became titled the “Tramp Diaries.” As an eighteen year old apart of Kelly’s Army, London was a normal teenager and eventually got bored with the journey. London made it from San Francisco to Sacramento, where he intentionally missed Kelly’s Army’s departure to go on an adventure of his own. Most of the “Tramp Diaries” are about London’s experiences on his own during his individual escapade. He lived life as a hobo, riding trains aimlessly, and fending for himself to survive. London traveled through many states and eventually reunited with Kelly’s Army in Omaha, Nebraska. This event in Jack London’s life, obviously had much influence. London not only had experienced first hand what it is like to use actions to speak out to eventually make a change, but also the experience of living on your own with no home traveling the nation. Much of Jack London’s novels portray a journey like no other, they show the brutalizing affect society has which eventually lead to a common theme in London’s novels: self-sufficiency. London is a “politically avowed socialist, he held fast to his convictions in public essays and spoke publicly to make the case for a sociable America of material well-being for its expanding population” (Tichi 4) and tends to show social-Darwinism in his writings, the idea that only the fittest to survive will survive, and those who are not fit will die and die for the betterment of the species. In London’s real life, he put himself in situations where he experienced mother nature and the fight for survival, like when he lived as a hobo during the early 1900s.
With the Panic of 1893 occurring in the midst of Jack London’s life, establishing his social-Darwinism view, it also changed the way Jack London philosophized politically and economically. The Populist party was fighting for federally funded work programs. They wanted much needed government intervention and more control over the society so a panic or depression would not occur again. Socialism also believes that the government should have ultimate control over the people and the way the country operates. Because London lived through this panic, seeing much homelessness and hunger, government intervention would only be appropriate in his mind. London understands the brutality of society and the world, so he began to believe that Socialism would be the remedy to situations like this, preventing more homelessness and hunger. Jack London originally grew up believing in Capitalism and believing in the “American Dream,” however, shortly thereafter London was not living a fruitful life working for ten cents an hour for twelve to eighteen hours a day in a jute mill. He was a working class man, and London began to see the brutality of Capitalism which later caused a paradigm shift in his way of thinking into Socialism. London uses his prior experiences as a working man to show the idea that Capitalism fails when labor becomes abusive and intensive, and that Socialism will resolve this issue because the government will supply every human necessity. London integrates his ideas in his novels and uses Capitalism as just the environment, and the people are animals fighting for wealth. Much like the idea of gladiators fighting in battle to survive, there is no peace and it is a very dangerous and hostile place to thrive. But if the government is able to provide for everyone, and people are not fighting for wealth it will be a much more peaceful society. Jack London discreetly uses his philosophies in his novels like the book The Sea-Wolf where it is takes place on a sealing ship where anarchy and hostility is rampant and every member of their crew is essentially fighting for their life between each other. As stated previously, London uses his book to educate others about his views and he does this so that people can see society at its simplest forms through writing. London also portrays his characters in his novels as parts of himself, in The Sea-Wolf there is a little bit of Jack London in both the protagonist and the antagonist. The protagonist, Humphrey Van Weyden, is a wealthy educated man who is helpless in the real world. Humphrey is unable to function in high stress situations, unlike the antagonist Wolf Larsen, who is a brute man, a man who fits his own name. Wolf Larsen has killed his cremates and enjoyed doing so, but Wolf is also an educated man. Wolf Larsen self-educated himself and read an overwhelming amount of informative books for his own good. Wolf is able to understand complex philosophies and debate with a man of academia like Humphrey Van Weyden. In comparison to Jack London, London is a peaceful man, a writer who can portray vivid imagery and make his readers be compelled by the story he writes, much like Humphrey Van Weyden. London is also a self-educated man like Wolf Larsen, London is able to engage in deep philosophical ideas with others, just from his own self-taught knowledge. London always had an idea for political economic revision and it was, “[a] debate that he entered–one that still stirs in the twenty-first century asks what level of expertise defines such intellectuals to what purposes their efforts are directed, and to what extent is the public moved to act on the ideas they advance…London preferred to pace his reformist messages, to touch down throughout his narrative with graphic exposition that alternated with glancing blow and subtle jabs” (Tichi 5). London is also an adventurous man who set out to live an unexpected life knowing he would gain experiences which he can turn into stories and attract an audience. If London, did not set out on his own and continued in the working class like many people, he would end up like Wolf Larsen, a hedonist. Wolf Larsen is obsessed with himself and only his pleasure. London believes that Capitalism will turn an entire population into a bunch of sybarites, only living for their self satisfaction and sensual pleasure in the moment without taking the future into account. Unlike Socialism, London believes that Socialism will ensure total equality and happiness for everyone, because you provide to the state and the state will provide for you. As a self-proclaimed Socialist, we know London was very politically active, “During his early years in Oakland, California, London joined the Socialist Labor Party of Oakland. By 1897, the Oakland Times labeled him the "boy socialist." London's involvement in the Socialist Party continued through most of his life. He even ran for mayor of Oakland as a socialist candidate in 1901 and 1905. He lost in both elections, receiving 245 votes in 1901, and 981 in 1905. His candidacy were more a political statement than a serious quest for a career in government. London was always a great believer in individualism, but individualism must also be mixed with a social concern for the welfare of other.” (Sciambra). If individualism is not mixed with the social concern for the welfare of others, and it is mixed with materialistic items, this results in hedonism, just like London’s character Wolf Larsen.
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