Journal of Jack London's Writing

The writings of Jack London parallels the writings of the other Romantic writers when it comes to nature. The earlier romantic writers described and wrote about nature's beauty and her magnificence... They constantly personified the unique traits of nature and boasted of her strength and wonder. Similarly, Jack London paralleled the Romantic writers when he described the vast desolation of the unforgiving wintry land, and the affect it has on those who dare to enter into her territory. Yet, in contrast Jack London interspersed ideas of personal thought and one of self reliance in his writings. In his piece "To Build a Fire" the man was the main character and he didn't have a connection with nature, instead he took things as they were. Also, when the man was about to die he didn't think about how nature would encompass him, or the afterlife, rather he imagined how is group would find him, which notifies the reader that there definitely is a transition from romanticism to realism. Additionally, The man coped with the wintry tundra by thinking logically and methodically. The fact that the character didn't view nature on a spiritual level helps the reader understand the transition from spirituality to self-reliance and logic.

Self-sufficiency, Independence and activism were the new main ideas for Jack London's writing. Through the writings and the messages conveyed by the author we can infer about what some of his deals and morals were. For example, in his writing "the Mexican" the protagonist is an 18-year old Mexican boy. Everyone who is in contact with him could attest to the fact that this young boy has definitely experienced some tragedy to make him so cold...the boy was stoic and rarely spoke, but they could always see an intense passion and hate in his 'black eyes'. This young boy's only goal was to do whatever he could to help the Mexican revolution. This boy's hatred and his loss of love, can show that the author believes that this could happen to anyone; the boy's only source of love, his parents, was brutally murdered and he saw them taste their deaths...from them on, his entire personality was changed from love to bitterness.

Jack London's audience is anyone who openly questions the strength of human will in the face of injustice and impossibility, and who favors the human logic over feeling. I believe Jack London's stories were not just light-reading, he had a very significant message and he was speaking for a specific audience. The writer writes for those who recognize the possibility of human power, intelligence and daring to find one's own way rather than accepting the status quot. When Jack London takes the reader trough the series of adventures and conflicts that arise in the lives of his characters, London helps the reader indulge in those sentiments and ponder about those ideas.

In the piece "How to build a fire" it demonstrated that as humans we have an instinct to want to discover and try new things, even if the cost is dear. The man in "How to build a Fire" was given the general information and important advice, by a Wise old man, on how to live and survive in the cold environment to where he was adventuring. The man's disregard to the most important advice the Old man gave, clearly reflects the way that as humans we try to do things our way and sometimes it may not work out so well. That idea transcends the story and goes into real life for me, as a christian the bible gives me 'advice' and 'general information' so that I can live a good life, but as a human I try to do things my own way, thinking that I can handle the situations...and just like that man, negative conflicts always result, but in the case of the man, his disregard for essential advice cost him his life.

"...The Mexican boy sat down in his corner and waited. the slow minutes lagged by. Danny was making him wait. It was an old trick, but it never worked on the young new fighters. They grew frightened. sitting thus and facing heir own apprehensions and a callous, tobacco-smoking audience. But for once the trick failed. Roberts was right. Rivera had no goat. He, who was more delicately coordinated, more finely nerved and strung than any of them had no nerves of the sort. The atmosphere of foredoomed defeat in his drift age of the fight game, without honor, without honor, without efficiency. And they were chilled, as well, with certitude that theirs was the losing corner..."
The young Mexican boy is waiting to face his opponent and he isn't faltered by the tricks of his enemies, he is strong and determined because he so much to fight for. While Reading this expert I feel pity for the young boy who always had to fight and the only people he was able to loved (and that truly loved him back) were his parents and they were brutally murdered and the young boy was a witness to that. London is able to evoke emotion without being too deep his words and phrases are so well chosen that the reader can take what they can from the text. Jack London has a keen ability to say a lot without saying too much. When it comes to giving the description of the settings in his work he gives an almost poetic illustration, and sometimes he makes the description raw and able to be understood and felt by the reader.