Jack London

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.

As seen in multitude of London’s works, symbolism plays a major role in his writings. One of London’s greatest works of short fiction, “To Build a Fire” is a prime example of this inclusion of the literary technique that is so crucial in so many of London’s greatest stories. In this story fire is a major symbol, symbolizing life in a world of cold, the freezing Klondike. This symbol helps London to show his belief that to survive in nature one needs nature. This is a recurring symbol/theme in London’s work, also appearing in “Law of Life.” Here, an old Native American must harness fire to survive the harshness of the wild. When the old man’s fire finally expires, as happens in “To Build a Fire”, so too does the old man’s life (Hamilton ). Along with the use of fire as a symbol in many of his stories, London uses the symbolic canine in the majority of his stories, including “To Build a Fire”, “Law of Life”, Call of the Wild, and White Fang among many other stories. In all of these stories some sort of canine, whether dog or wolf, appears, becoming a motif in the works of Jack London. London often uses these characters to portray his belief that it is the fittest beings that survive in a world that is as harsh in his stories as he believed reality to be. In “To Build a Fire,” a mysterious man, referred to as “the man” (Rhodes 1) in many literary critiques, must survive a hump over the frozen tundra of the Klondike, and with him he takes his husky. The two characters act as foils to each other, each experiencing the same situations as the other, but it is their responses to the situations that show the difference between the two. For example, both the husky and the man break through the ice and got their paws/feet wet: “Suddenly it (the husky) broke through… the water that clung to it turned to ice” (London 500) and then later “…the man broke through (the ice)” (London 501-502). It is the husky, however, that proved more adept to coping with the freezing climate of the North, especially after having gotten wet in a freezing creek. Because of this innate ability of the husky, he survived the ordeal whereas the man died of hypothermia after his fire, which was meant to dry out his foot, was snuffed out by the Northern snow. “It was as though he had heard his own sentence of death. For a moment he sat there and stared at the spot where the fire had been” (London 503). It is this symbol of survival that is perhaps the most characteristic and recurring theme in London’s writings, known as Spencerism.

Many ideas of the late 19th century and early 20th century are apparent in London’s writing, chief among them being his belief in Spencerism. This was an idea created by Herbert Spencer who believed that only the fittest organisms will survive. This “survival of the fittest” as it is called today, shows up in quite a few of London’s works. In The Call of the Wild this is exhibited through Buck, whose odd perspective the story is told through. The reason that the story being told through Buck’s perspective is so odd is because Buck is a dog. This helps London to illustrate however, his idea that it is the fit that live and the weak that die. London achieves this by having Buck survive in the harshness of the North where many weaker beings fail. In contrast, or perhaps in balance to this harsh view of life, London also portrayed other ideas of the time, including those of Carl Jung. “Like Argus of Ancient Times” is one of the stories that