[kelik]

Jack London, a world renowned and highly successful author throughout the world, came from humble beginnings. Jack London, called John Griffith Chaney at the time of his birth, was born on January 12, 1876 into a family that did not have much income. His biological father, William Henry Chaney, deserted both Jack and his mom, Flora Wellman, when Jack was born. Jack got his last name from his stepfather, John London, who wedded Flora Wellman in September, 1876. During his life prior to becoming a full time author, he had experiences as an oyster pirate, Fish Patrolman, seal-hunter, socialist, hobo, inmate, prospector, and journalist. Out of all these experiences, his socialist and prospecting experiences were the events that significantly influenced in his writings. Stories about the rugged and unforgiving Alaskan frontier coupled with stories about the oppressed hard-working society gave his writing an edge unique during his time. (Dyer 4)
The development of Jack London’s Socialist ideas, which can be seen in his writings, started when he joined Kelly’s Army during the American Depression. Kelly’s Army was protesting the lax effort the government had shown in making new jobs for Call ofthe unemployed. Jack, or back then known as Johnny, fresh from quitting his last job decided to join the march. He deserted Kelly’s Army near Chicago because he “couldn’t stand starvation”. (Dyer 43) After being locked up in New York for vagrancy, he made his way back west. Once he returned back to Oakland, he entered Oakland High School as a freshman at the age of eighteen. During his tenure there, he wrote various articles for the school paper, the Aegis. A good majority of his articles centered on the idea of socialism and how the American society during his time was divided into groups based on money and power. His opinion not only could be seen in the Aegis but from his letters to the local newspapers. “What Socialism Is” appeared in the San Francisco Examiner on Christmas Day in 1895. “Any man is a socialist who strives for a better form of Government than the one he is living in”. (Dyer 57) Even before he entered college, his Socialistic side of him could be seen. After a year at Oakland, he dropped out as his peers were much younger and immature than himself. In addition, his peers were not tolerant of his socialist ideas. After four months of cramming, he passed the entrance test and was accepted to the University of California at Berkeley, but he would soon drop out near the beginning of the spring quarter due to financial problems. After dropping out of UC-Berkeley, he joined the Oakland chapter of the Socialist Labor Party where he participated in a number of political activities. (Dyer 58-69)
The Socialist ideas Jack London acquired during his life can be found in three of his major works, The People of the Abyss, The Iron Heel, and The War of the Class. The People of the Abyss is a sociological study about the worst areas in London. London disguised himself as a homeless man living in the east End of London. From here he lived among the poorest of the poor and experienced what the poor had to go through as their everyday life. He wrote down these observations which he used to write The People of The Abyss. The Iron Heel had a plot that involved the capitalist class forming a plan to crush the working class. The Iron Heel, it can be argued, was based on an earlier article he wrote for the Aegis entitled “Pessimism, Optimism, and Patriotism.” Also regarding to The Iron Heel, some say that Jack London foresaw the rise of fascist dictatorship of Europe because in his book, he writes how The Brotherhood of Man use Fascist Ideals to take over the United States and the world. The War of the Class describes how Jack London became a Socialist. He explains how his life as a tramp pushed him to become a Socialist. Furthermore, The War of the Class also contains a collection of speeches about socialist ideas and his path to becoming a socialist. His socialist views and out looks seen in his writing therefore could be verified by the life he lived. (Dyer 56-75)
After dropping out of the University of California- Berkeley, he was one of the hundreds of thousands of people who got caught with the “Klondike Gold Rush” bug. His step-brother, James Shepard, agreed to travel to the Great Alaskan Frontier or Yukon Territory. Yet, when the two reached Chilkoot Pass, Shepard said he could not go any further for health reasons. He left Jack with enough money and supplies to finish the journey. In October 1897, London finally reached his destination seventy-five miles away from the closest town and placed “Claim No. 54” on the left fork of a creek along with other companions in his party. From the one winter London spent in Yukon, he found little gold, but made great friends. He met travelers from all over the world, along with American Indians. He also learned many skills while in the Yukon such as, gold mining, traveling by dog-team, surviving Yukon winters, and the Yukon wilderness itself, and “white silence”. White silence was the view that anyone living in Yukon had, snow and ice end to end. Also in Yukon, he met a dog named Jack, whose owners were the Bonds, a family that resided in Dawson City, seventy-five miles away from where London’s claim was. London, grew very fond of Jack, the dog. The dog was a mixed breed; half was St. Bernard and the other a scotch shepard dog or collie. Jack London was amazed how strong the dog was when he pulled a sled load of one thousand pounds of firewood without any help. He used Jack, the dog, and his accomplishments in future novels such as Call of the Wild and White Fang.
As spring rolled around Jack developed scurvy, a disease caused by lack off vitamin C. Symptoms included swelling of bleeding of gums, loosening of teeth, dark spots on skin, and weakness and pain in muscles and joints. Scurvy was all too common in the Yukon because fresh fruit was not available all winter. He, along with Doc Harvey, a member the party London traveled with to get to the prospecting site, dissembled their cabins that they had been living in for the past six months sold them in Dawson City for six hundred dollars all together. Jack used this money to get some treatment for his scurvy. However, with the lack of fresh fruits, he and Doc traveled down the Yukon River until they reached the city of Anvik. Jack said that “These few raw potatoes and tomatoes are worth more to me than an Eldorado claim.” (Dyer 98). His statement showed how bad his scurvy was. London left Alaska with no gold, what cash he had from his sale of logs, and a bad case of scurvy. Yet, he also brought home with him another kind of gold that could only be seen in his writings, specifically two of his best selling novels. One of those novels was White Fang, a story of the life and times of a wolf growing from a baby cub to a vicious adult wolf. White Fang shows the overall theme of survival in Yukon. It also introduces an idea that man and beast have followed since the beginning of time. “The aim of life was meat. Life itself was meat. Life lived on life. There were the eaters and the eaten. The law was: EAT OR BE EATEN. He did not formulate the law in clear, set terms and moralize about it. He did not even think the law; he merely lived the law without thinking at all.” (I London 166). London uses the law in this story because he found it true early in his life also. He had to work and help pay off debts at home in order to survive. London’s middle class status gave his White Fang and his other writings a “blue-collar” feel. White Fang was one of his best selling novels, second to Call of the Wild. Call of the Wild is about a dog named Buck who is stolen from his home in Santa Clara and sold to a life as a sled dog. Bucks travels mirror Jack’s experiences and same route that Jack took through the Yukon. “The sled lurched ahead in what appeared a rapid succession of jerks, through it never really came to a dead stop again…half an inch…an inch…two inches…The jerks perceptibly diminished; as the sled gained momentum, he caught them up, till it was moving again.” (II London) In this quote, Buck is moving a sled loaded with a thousand pounds of flour. Jack London used his memory of Jack, the dog of the Bonds, in his writing of Call of the Wild. In conclusion, Jack London’s failure to find gold in the Yukon was far from failure; as he acquired a large amount of material and experiences that would be portrayed in novels that would soon pay off later in his life. (Dyer 76-98)
In conclusion, Jack London: the Socialist and Jack London: the Prospector had a immensely large effect on his writings. His writings are filled with pure experiences that actually happened or were closely based during his own life time. They were truly from the heart. Sadly, Jack London died while in his prime on November 22, 1916 at the age of forty. He would never experience in his lifetime the success of his writings, what kind of effect they had put on many readers around the world, and the effect his writings had on the generations to come. With him writing this well early in his life, who knows what kind of writing we would be reading besides Call of the Wild.

This post has been edited by kelik425: 19 January 2006 - 04:09 AM