Jack London & The Law

of Life
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Jack London
(1876 - 1916)

Born: January 12, 1876

San Francisco, California, United
States
Died: November 22, 1916
Santa Rosa, California, United
States
 Londons Childhood
Born in 1876 on the Barbary Coast of
San Francisco
Raised by mother, Flora Wellman, and
stepfather, John London
Childhood marked by poverty &
unhappiness
 Became an avid reader at age
10 when an Oakland librarian
encouraged him to escape his
life of poverty through
reading.
Bought his first sailboat at age
12loved to sail
YouthAdventure/Responsibility
Dropped out of school at age 14 & had
series of low-paying jobs:
Seaman delivered papers
sweatshop worked in cannery
freight train hobo cleaned local saloon

Loved to listen to stories about the

California Gold Rush of 1849
 Forming Ideas/Attitudes
Experiences that shaped Londons life and attitudes:
-oyster pirate
-seal hunter in the North Pacific
-1894arrested & jailed in Niagara Falls for vagrancy
-adopted socialistic views

Educated self by reading in public library

Attended University of California at Berkeley
Left school after 1 year to seek his fortune in gold
fields
 Adventure
Traveled to Klondike Gold Rush in
1897
Spent one winter at Split-Up Island,
near the Stewart River
Did not find gold; had a wealth of
experiences he would later use to
write stories and books
Returned home to support himself
and his family by publishing his
writing
Bess MaddernLondons first
wife
Becky and Joan London
Londons daughters http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London
/Images/
 Charmian London
Jack Londons second wife
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/Images
 Londonthe Author
Began avidly writing in 1897
He commonly spent 15 hours a
day writing
Daily quota of 1000 written
words a day
Became recognized as a
talented & successful writer
Jack London wrote 50 books and
1,000 articles between 1899 and 1916.
 The greatest story
London ever told was the
story he lived.
Alfred Kazin
Literary critic
 By 1916, London was the
highest-paid writer in the
country and the most widely
read American author in the
world.
 Jack London's "Credo"

"I would rather be ashes than dust!

I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze
than it should be stifled by dry rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor,
every atom of me in magnificent glow,
than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time"
He was paid three cents per word for
the story, which he had shortened by
5,000 words.
 Setting
-Jack London's story takes place in the
Northwest.

-The story is set near the Klondike

region of Yukon, which is in northwest
Canada
Characters:
Koskoosh- He is an elderly former indian chief. He is
left alone in the snow.

Sit-cum-to-ha- She is Koskoosh's young

granddaughter.

Koshoosh's Son- He is the current chief, and the one

who leaves Koskoosh behind
The elderly Koskoosh is left alone in the snow to die as his tribe migrates to
better land.
1. Due to his poor health, and therefore inability to travel, Koskoosh is left
behind in the snow as his tribe readies to migrate.

2. At first, the chief clings on to the hope that his granddaughter or his son
will rethink their decision, and allow him to join them.

3. After realizing there is little hope for him, Koskoosh meditates on nature
and the "law of life." He peacefully accepts that all men must die.
4. Koskoosh falls into a reverie, remembering
his childhood. He recalls times of famine, and
times of great excess.

5. Still reminisicing on his childhood, Koskoosh

remembers a hunt with Zing-ha, where they
tracked a moose that was under attack by
wolves.

6. Unnverved by the memory of the moose's

demise, Koskoosh yearns to live longer, and
begins to blame his granddaughter's carelessness
for his inability to continue living.
 7. Suddenly, Koskoosh hears the cries of wolves.
A pack of wolves encircles Koskoosh as he lie in the
snow. Remembering the harrowing fate of the moose, he
resolves to fight the wolves for his life.
Koskoosh, surrounded by wolves, accepts the Law of Life
and embraces his death.
 The story is a short internal contemplation/
meditation on death, our relationship with nature and
the meaning of life.
The main character has outlived his value to society.
Because of this he is essentially euthanized by his
tribe
One of the major conflicts in the story is Koshoosh
learning to accept his fate.
Naturalist perspective on life
and death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfu9wTAhv8E
 Theme: Purpose of Life

Koskoosh constantly reminisces about his past.

He talks about great famines and times when
the tribe had plenty.
He talks about when the tribe had so much
food they would fight other tribes in the Yukon.
This shows the nature of humanity as something
cyclical and fluctuating.
This contrasts with nature being absolute
 Life is depicted as a series of struggles and
triumphs
One of the characters Koskoosh describes is a
missionary that brought painkillers
Koskoosh describes the value of his
painkillers but views his special book with
apathy
In the end the missionarys corpse is
desecrated and eaten by dogs
A similar fate as Koskoosh
 The story seems to be suggesting that the
human condition is simply a series of events
that we must endure before we die.
Not all of these events will be negative
 Concept of death in the story:
Death is described as this terrible event throughout most
of the story.
It is associated with being eaten/ devoured by beasts, or
being killed in battle
To Koskoosh death is when nature defeats you and steals
your soul.
But at the end of the story he realizes that death is not
nature defeating us it is simply our way of returning to
nature.
 Group Questions:
1. Does Koskoosh seem to have regrets in his life? What are
they?
2. Does Jack London seem critical or against the Eskimos
way of life/death?
3. What are the main ways that this story differs from The
Open Boat?
4. How do you think we should view death according to
this story?
5. How would you describe the relationship the characters
have with nature in the story?