Jack London (1876-1916) was born in San Francisco of an unmarried mother Flora Wellman. London grew up in extreme poverty: from earliest youth he supported himself with mental and dangerous jobs, experiencing profoundly the struggle for survival that most other writers and intellectuals knew only from observation or books. By the time he was eighteen he had worked in a cannery and as an oyster pirate, seaman, jute mill worker, and coal shoveler. Realizing that he could never become great by doing odd jobs, he determined to educate himself and prepare himself for better than grueling labor. He attended Oakland High School at age nineteen. A thirst for knowledge snatched young London and he read every book he could get. London consciously chose to become a writer to escape from the …show more content…
He read many philosophical books and his philosophical thoughts were greatly influenced by the four great teachers of him: Darwin, Spencer, Marx and Nietzsche. London believed in Darwin's evolutionary theory of “survival of the fittest.” He studied other writers and began to submit stories, jokes, and poems to various publications, mostly without success. “Fate brought him the answer and gold was found in Klondike” (Pizer, 1984). On July 12, 1897, London and his brother-in-law, James Shepard, sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he would later set his first successful stories. London's time in the Klondike, however, was quite detrimental to his health. Fortunately London survived the hardships of the Klondike. Spending the winter of 1897 in the Yukon provided the metaphorical gold for his first stories. There he got familiar with the northern life and especially with kinds of dogs. The materials he collected there prepared him for the writing of his two famous novels The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906) and his other early works that are a series of short stories called “northern stories”. Most of them are adventurous stories set in a primitive
John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902. Even when he was growing up, he had a passion and love for writing. Once he entered high school, he would stay up all night just to write. He would even invite friends to listen to his readings. Researchers have found out that Steinbeck would often sent short stories or pieces of his works to magazine companies under a fake name and add no address. At age fourteen, he knew he wanted to be a writer. After he graduated from Salinas High School, he went to Stanford to study marine biology. Steinbeck attended Stanford for six nonconsecutive years, then he dropped out, in 1925, without any degree. Had decided to travel to New York and worked many odd low paying jobs. Steinbeck started out as a reporter but was fired, then became an apprentice for painting, a surveyor, then finally a fruit picker. It wasn’t until
Jack Kerouac, was born on March 12, 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts, as the youngest of three children. Jack decided to be a writer after his brother Gerard died at the age of nine. From the life and death experience of his brother's death, and the Catholic faith of his childhood, he developed a spiritual tendency in his character that would last throughout his life. The fact that Kerouac was a spiritual "seeker," may be the most vital aspect of his life. In post WWII, Eisenhower America, Jack Kerouac came from a poor rustic industrial community to change the face of American Culture forever. He chronicled the wild rebellious culture of "the Beats" in the late 50's and early 60's, paving the way for a more accepting American Society and the tolerance of alternative lifestyles enjoyed today.
The story of Jack London's life really is one of rags to riches. He was born in San Francisco on January 12, 1876 as John Griffith Chaney. I'd like to take you through the story of his life and examine a few of his significant literary works along the way.
John Griffith London, better known to us as Jack London, was born to Flora Wellman January 12, 1876, in San Francisco. (Ranch Album) His father was presumably W.H. Chaney, who left Flora after finding out she was pregnant. (Stasz, 9) Flora met and eventually married John London on September 7, 1876 bringing John's two other children, Ida and Eliza, into the family. (Ranch Album) Flora enlisted the help of a wet nurse and, with the help her and Eliza, Jack London was raised. For the next ten years, John and his family relocated several times within California, moving from farm to farm trying to become financially successful. (Marshall) Finally, the London family moved to Oakland where Jack began to attend school. At the age of eleven, Jack was put to work to help support the family due to his father's business failures. (Stasz, 19-28) This began what would be many years of odds and ends jobs for Jack.
The Summary This is a short story written by an American writer named Jack London who is revered in Oakland as a hero and there are many places which are named after him. There is another village named Glen Ellen in Sonoma where there is a park which is named after him. He was born on January 12, 1876 in Alaska and later moved to Oakland. He was borne to an unmarried mother. He lived under very difficult circumstances by working hard in factories.
Jack London whose birth name is John Griffin was known for his fiction adventurous novels. Although he was a sailor, gold prospector, rancher and served his country in the Army he still have yet served the time in the wilderness of Alaska. Jack London wrote ‘’The Call of the Wild’’ as if he lived it before. His words jump at you so viciously you had no choice to swallow, savor, and meditate on your life just like Chris McCandless. In the book ways of reading page 429 the dark knight of the soul by Richard E. Miller said that Jon Krakauer wrote about how Jack London actually persuade Chris McCandless that he could possibly escape the bonds of the corporatized world and reach a space of greater calm.
John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California. He had a pretty average childhood with a supportive family and a decent education. While growing up his mother, Olive Hamilton, was a major factor in his education, since she was a schoolteacher and made it her duty to educate him. His mother most likely was the reason he developed a love of reading and literature and ended up going to Stanford. In his child there were only two major events that affected his writing. These were when he worked on a ranch with migrant workers, and when his father’s business failed and the family was temporarily thrust into poverty. These two events most likely sparked his interest in the poor lives of the migrant workers. His experiences on the ranch taught him about the harsh and impoverished lives of the migrant workers and his experience of being in poverty enabled him to understand what life is like when one is poor, as the migrant workers were. This understanding inspired some of his most famous writings such as: Of Mice and Men, In Dubious Battle and The Grapes of Wrath. These experiences also allowed him to add a sense of realism to the stories. After graduating from his public high school in 1919 Steinbeck went to Stanford. He went there for 5 years before dropping out without a degree and moving to New York. The following years were highly tumultuous for Steinbeck and he held many odd jobs while trying to get his writing published. In 1935 he finally got his first big break when his critically acclaimed novel, Tortilla Flats, was published. After this he became quite successful and well known although the skill in his writing seems to fall after WWII. After researching his life I decided to focus on using his most famous n...
The article continues to say that London won a prize of twenty-five dollars and continued on to attend the University of California at Berkeley after entering the contest. He then decided he wanted to write at least one thousand words per day for the rest of his life (“Jack London Biography”). According to a website sponsored by Sonoma State University and dedicated to providing information about London, London’s first works were some articles in the newspapers such as Overland Monthly. In his later career, London went to the Klondike to gain money from gold. Although he had no success; this experience was his inspiration for Call of the Wild and White Fang (“The Jack London Online Collection”).
Stoneburner Upchurch College Intro to Lit Jack London Jack London was born on January 12, 1876. During his life he was a pioneer in the world of commercial magazine fiction, as well as one of the first writers to become a worldwide celebrity. He was also a social activist and was an innovator in the science fiction genre.
Jack London wrote the novel The Call of the Wild; it was also his first success (Feast). The Call of the Wild is an exciting beast fable which dramatizes the unforgiving harshness of existence but shows that suffering can lead to heroic self-awareness (Buckner). London was big on the philosophical idea of Naturalism. As well as having links with literary naturalism, "The Call of the Wild is also a mythical book informed throughout with such traditional myths as the Myth of the Hero." Although Buck is always a dog throughout the story, his predicament is highly relevant to the human condition in a novel beginning with concise patterns of description and moving toward an increasingly lyrical style (Williams). The protagonist of The Call of the Wild is a dog named Buck. He's part German Sheppard and half Saint Bernard, he's labeled the "hero" of the story. The story takes place primarily in the Klondike region of Alaska except for in the first chapter it takes place in the Santa Clara Valley of California. The story is centrally focused around Buck; if it wasn't for him not having any speaking parts the reader would think he was a human because of the personality traits he possesses. In this paper we will discuss traits such as Buck's ability to adapt, Buck's bravery, his mental and physical strength, his loyalty and love and his instinct of the wild.
Now being famous, he decided to marry a woman named Bessie Mae Maddern. Sea of Wolf was loved by critics because they were tired of sad romance novels, readers responded to the tough realistic portrayal of life in London’s stories. During the winter, he wrote his next novel The Call of the Wild. A year later, Call of the Wild became the nation’s best-selling work of fiction (London, Jack 1876-1916) However, Patricia E. Chu said that there was some people that “attacked Jack London for being a “nature faker” that is, of lying about or being ignorant of how “animals really behaved in the wild.” (Chu). According to Sue Walsh, university of reading, this instance came to be known as the Nature Fakers controversy (Walsh
Jack London is the name you can hear everywhere, his writing appealed to millions of people all around the world. London was an American novelist and short-story writer, who wrote passionately about questions of life and death, surviving. The writer had a lot of adventures, experienced the life at sea, or in Alaska, or in the fields and factories of California, all of these influenced his writing style. Jack London descended from the family of his mother Flora and astrologer and journalist William Chaney. The writer has got his education by himself and with help of a librarian Ina Coolbrith - he has a passion to read books at public libraries. Later in life, Jack finally graduated from high school in Oakland. Jack London's work carrier was so variable, he has been a laborer, factory worker, and oyster pirate on the San Francisco Bay, member of the California Fish Patrol, sailor, railroad hob, and gold prospector. Yes, gold prospecting was the big part of his life, when the young writer with his brother-in-law sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush where he would set his first successful stories. Jack London was a hard-worker, he tried never miss his early morning 1,000-word writing stint, what helped him to write over fifty books between 1900 and 1916. In addition to it, he corresponded with his readers, and made huge researches for improving his writing style, what is, obviously, genius. The consequences of such a hard work became the fact that Jack London had become the best selling, highest paid and most popular American author of his time. Many authors and social advocates have been inspired by Jack London’s heartfelt prose, and readers travel and experience so much through his books.
Jack London was an American man of many talents, which included being an author, journalist and a social activist, despite being minimally educated. Nonetheless, he was undoubtedly most recognized for his short stories and novels that fixated on the harsh, cold climates that Mother Nature crafted. London focused on a deeper level of the wild and the literary devices in his work are littered throughout every one of his novels and short stories, including The Call of the Wild, White Fang, as well as “To Build a Fire.”
The slot is a metaphor of the “class cleavage of society”. There was a contrast between the North and South of the Slot in terms of building types: in the North were the higher-class centers of diversion, lodging, and business; and in the South were the lower-class centers of lodging, unskilled work/business. The buildings are figures of two contrasting classes that were segregated (?). In order to study the southern people (the working class) a sociology professor of the University of CA, Freddie Drummond (FD), decides to work temporarily as an unskilled laborer. Initially he experiences social problems of adaptation and acceptance by his fellow workers. For example, he doesn’t understand their insistent admonitions to reduce his work pace. As a result of his fierce competition against them, by the 6th day FD doubles his earnings. He misunderstands their lack of loyalty to the business, and looks down on them. Being unable to convince Drummond, and as a last resort, his co-workers jumped on him and attacked him so badly that he becomes ill. Once recovered, Drummond changes job. He finds himself working as a fruit-distributor among the women and decides not to change their work conditions. In six months, Drummond works at many jobs, and succeeds in imitating a genuine worker. As FD makes tentative generalizations about the working class, he is applauded by the business people, who divulge and spread his studies to the working cl...
Jack London was born on January 12,1876 in San Francisco, California. He grew up in a working class his whole childhood. London rode trains, pirated oysters, shoveled coal, worked on a sealing ship on the Pacific Ocean, and found employment in a cannery. When London was about 22 years old he went to the Yukon which gave him things to write about. London found his fame and fortune by age 27 with his novel "The Call of the wild". In 1900 London