The Life and Writings of Jack London Essay

Jack London had a naturalistic philosophy that made him a blockbuster writer. His short stories, such as “To Build a Fire” and “The Law of Life”, express London’s perception of life. The realistic endings to his stories were often brutal, but for this reason, they became very popular. While both stories — as mentioned above — have different plots and elements, they both contain similar ideas.

“Jack London is King” this was carved in to a block of wood found at the bus where Chris McCandless’s body was found. Chris McCandless admired Jack London as a man and a writer. Chris went into the wild’s of Alaska to prove that he could live off the land, with no modern conveniences, and no human contact. Jack London wrote stories about men and animals experiences against the environment, and survival against hardships, which were written from his own life. His works included individualism and the study of the laws of nature. Chris wanted to explore his own individualism, who he was, and how he was to live the rest of his life.

“In the end we only regret the chances we didn’t take.” - Lewis Carroll. The quote discussed is Jack London “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.” In order to support this I will use evidence from articles and studies. I agree with Jack London’s claim that people should live not exist, and use their time wisely. I agree because risk taking actually has health benefits, people often take risks and then love the outcome and research has found risk taking can actually be eye-opening.

Throughout the book, the author Jack London was mentioned numerous times. Many of the excerpts from his writings were placed in the beginnings of the chapters. “London

One such factor that is constantly pointed out in Gladwell’s book is what home lives these successful people were subjected to as children.

Jack London was born in 1876, and died in 1916. He was born in San Francisco, California, and was the son of Flora Wellman Chaney. When he was a child, he would sometimes living with the Prentisses. Mr. and Mrs. Prentisses were African Americans who served as London’s surrogate parents. When Jack turned 15, he sailed the San Francisco Bay as an oyster pirate. During his time on the water, London developed an alcohol problem, which would eventually become alcoholism. In 1894, London was arrested as a vagrant and spent 30 days in Erie County Penitentiary.

Sinclair was exposed to poverty at a young age, but experienced the wealthy lifestyle when visiting his mother’s immediate family. At the age of ten, Sinclair’s father moved the family to New York City. Already in the prime of his developmental years, and an avid reader, Sinclair excelled as a student and, at the young age of fourteen, “started selling children’s stories and humor pieces to magazines” (Biography.com). After graduating from high school in 1897, Sinclair attended Columbia University where “using a pseudonym, wrote dime novels to support himself” (Biography.com). After completing his studies at the age of twenty, Sinclair began actively pursuing a career as a novelist while working as a freelance journalist.

Forced to live with relatives from a young age, grew up without stable parental figures, and struggled to find himself and where he belonged, even as a child. While some might see this as an unfortunate way to grow up, Truman Capote used his experiences as an opportunity to make art in the form of literature. His novels changed the way people thought of nonfiction and journalism writing styles, both during his time period and even today. Although his background and somewhat flamboyant personality contributed greatly to his literary success, it also was a key factor in his eventual downward spiral into social ruin and substance abuse.

The saying, “Always be prepared,” could not be more true than for the character of The Man in Jack London’s short story, “To Build a Fire.” The Man is very ignorant as the old-timer warned him not to go out alone when it is fifty below zero. The Man is also shown as a survivalist when he shows his skills in life or death situations. The Man, in Jack London’s story, “To Build a Fire” is an ignorant character because he thinks he could do anything without anyone’s help and he is also a survivalist willing to go to extreme measures to live.

Looking at a long history of hero’s through time, regardless if they are billionaires, rock stars, or entrepreneurs, a majority of successful individuals seem as though they defeated the odds and rose from poverty or considered a “self-made man” (Gladwell, 2008, p. 18). Gladwell (2008) believes that “People don’t rise from nothing,” rather, every successful person owes some of their success to parentage and patronage (p. 19). While Gladwell states innate talent exists, he also deems each extraordinarily successful person has entertained hidden advantages and cultural legacies, which helped pave their path. Immense success is shaped merely by talent but also preparation, and the circumstances one is exposed to.

Nature is always pushing man to his limits. When man heeds the warning signs that nature has to offer and those warnings of other men, he is most likely to conquer nature. When he ignores these warnings, nature is sure to defeat man. To build a fire is a prime example of this scenario. In the short story, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, an inexperienced traveler in the Yukon travels alone with his dog, even though it is ill advised to do so. The man is strong and smart but nature humbled him during his quest to reach his friends. The man’s inexperience with traveling in the cold subzero temperatures doomed him from the beginning, but his strong focus under extreme pressure and his keen sense of

Jack London was born in 1876 in San Francisco, California. Sadly, his father was never part of his life, and his mother was the only one who cared about him. London’s writing career essentially began in 1893 when his mother saw an announcement in a local paper for a writing contest. She pushed London to write a paper and join the contest. With just an eighth-grade education, London captured the $25 first prize, beating college students from Berkeley and Stanford.

Jack London and Stephen Crane obsessively fixated on the theme of death in their writing. The two writers were both similar and dissimilar. Both died young: it is unsure whether or not Crane committed suicide. Both wrote about contemporary and realistic topics and both dwelt heavily on existentialist themes. Both too were very realist. In 'Buck', London has the character live in the real world not escape it, whilst Crane has his character thoroughly absorbed in the vicissitudes and realities of war. Both also use mediums to convey their message: with London it seems to be the dog (for instance in To Build a Fire who connotes superior friendship and loyalty to that of the man) and in Crane it is the extent of human fear in the human when faced by war.

Jack London, an American author known for his thrilling adventure stories, showed the world that even an exciting story that takes place in exotic settings can include all the intricacies of great literature. This is seen in many of his stories with the implementation of symbolism, many times a recurring theme in his work. Also, London used many ideas of the day such as Darwinism and Spencerism in his writings in order to better portray his views. However, perhaps one of the most telling signs that London wrote good literature was through London's mastery of a rising literary movement known as naturalism.

Charles Dickens came from a working class background and was taken away from his family to work in a dirty, filthy warehouse. Some of his brothers and sisters died when they were young. He did not have a good childhood. All his work, his novels were based on the main characters being poor, working class, uneducated with some sort of disability.