Essay on Jack London

Submitted By littlelittleliz

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Jack London, author of “To Build a Fire,” grew up in San Francisco in a working-class family. His life experiences encouraged London to write numerous collections of novels leading to his title as one of the most well-known writers of his time. Stephen Crane, also a well-known writer, is the author of “The Open Boat.” Crane grew up in New Jersey but traveled from Florida to Germany. London and Crane have a unique style of writing and interpreting naturalism, “action, inclination, or thought based only on natural desires and instincts” (Merriam-Webster). Both author’s base their writing on real life events leading to death, but they illuminate a deeper meaning by revealing the characters inner thoughts and emotional state while struggling for survival. And although “The Open Boat” and “To Build a Fire” are written in different styles, they equally exemplify the power of nature set against man each story struggle for survival in addition to lose of hope. The stories express how men’s thought of power to defeat nature is indifferent to that of Mother Nature, man will never compare to the great forces of nature.
In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” a smart, observant man is traveling along the Yukon trail with extremely cold weather. On his journey he encounters an old-timer who warns him about traveling any father if the weather was below fifty, yet he ignores his warnings and chooses to continue. Although the man is “quick and alert to the things in life,” he does not realize that nature sets out to defeat him after he ignores his warnings. Before continuing his journey, the man encounters a husky and states of it that it is “the proper wolf dog… It knew it was no time for travelling. Its instinct told it a truer tale than was told to the man by the man’s judgment” (page 128). Throughout his journey the husky is the man’s protection as he uses his instincts to watch for signs of danger, yet the man still manages to step through the ice into freezing water. The man tries to build a fire before his

Essay on jack london

one of the authors Chris McCandless admired very much was Jack London. Jack London was an American author, journalist and a social activist. he was born on January 12,1876 in san Francisco, California and died in 1916. attended university of California at Berkeley. by the age of 30 he was internationally famous for his "call of the wild" in 1903 and also "the sea wolf" in 1904 . he wrote more than 50 books , some of them were published after his death. his stories were about his personal adventures…

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Jack London Diction

much technology present today, nature is still strong enough to have more control over humans. Humans tend to think that they will be able to overcome anything nature throws at them but are actually underestimating it. In To Build a Fire, by Jack London, the author uses character, diction, and imagery to show that if you don’t have experience and common sense in freezing cold weather conditions you will not be able to survive. One of the elements used to describe the man’s inexperience in the cold…

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Jack London Analysis

Bret Harte and Jack London are two incredibly gifted naturalism authors, however the stories are similar yet very different. Harte's story is Outcasts of Poker Flat, and London's story is to Build a Fire. Harte and London's story share very similar elements as naturalism authors. Obviously both Harte and London are similar since they both write about realism, more specifically naturalism. Both authors works exhibit accurate depiction of detail. In Harte and London's tales, the ending is realistic…

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Jack London Flaws

In To Build a Fire, a short story by Jack London, the main character is trying to survive a trek on foot in bitterly cold weather. Along the way, character flaws bring about mistakes, which ultimately cause the man’s death. The personal flaw that contributed most to the man’s death was his carelessness. One reason why this trait caused his death was his inability to make a fire successfully. The man made the mistake of building his fire under a spruce tree: “ He should not have built the fire under…

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Jack London Research Paper

Jack London said “The proper function of man is to live, not exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” I believe Jack London is saying that you should live a full life. He is saying that you should not just try to live as many days as you can, but you should make them memorable. I agree with him that you should do things that are important to you and make you feel alive. Living life to the fullest should be everyone’s goal. Extreme sports provides the kind of…

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Jack London Research Paper

Many authors write about topics like life, love, happiness, and even sadness. Jack London in particular wrote about lives with a little twist. Jack London was making survival novels, but they had a part of his life or others in them like the novel “Sea Wolf,” about a man’s adventure at sea tragically stops due to a boat crash and then got rescued by another captain (“Jack London - A Brief Biography”). Jack London’s early life consisted of him being born on January 12, 1876. When born, he lived…

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5.05 Jack London Essay

Jack London Part 1 1. “Survival of the fittest” means that the strongest, most favorable species for the environment will survive and thrive best. The phrase comes from Herbert Spencer, contrary to popular belief. 2. Socialism is public ownership of the means of production; London was attracted to this idea because in theory, it means that everyone’s wealth would be used to benefit everybody, no one would be left at the bottom of the “social pit.” 3. Social Darwinism is basically the idea that…

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Jack London Research Paper

Jack london was born in 1875 in january, 12, in san Francisco california. When he was little his parents were father flora wellman and unwed mother william chaney.he was never close to his father his mother married john london a civil war veteran. #2 London, J. (n.d.). Biography of Jack London. Retrieved October 16, 2017, from http://www.online-literature.com/london/ Before he was a writer he was a pirated oysters shoveled coal worked on sealing ship and rode trains.when he returned home he wrote…

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The Call Of The Wild, By Jack London

The Call of The Wild, by Jack London, is about the transformation of a pampered, gentle, house dog into a wolf. He starts off loved, cared for, and he had a good life. Then the protagonist becomes a hardened killer. Buck is no longer a gentle loving dog. Now he is a wild animal. "During the four years since his puppyhood he had lived the life of a sated aristocrat" (London 5). Buck was the king. He was bigger, stronger, smarter, and even better loved than any other dog on his home in California…

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To Build A Fire By Jack London

In the short story, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, the main character, “the man,” was responsible for his situation because he didn’t took people’s advice and didn’t listen to people. He was responsible for everything because he didn’t listen to the advice from the old man. The evidence from the stories are that the old man said that don’t go out when the temp is 50 and below. The reasons are that if the outside is cold it can be dangerous. The second evidence is that the traveled when the man…

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